OMGWTFBBQ! Someone make a hopper shell that doesn't BREAK!

[slade]

jeez, i was just throwing carbon fiber out there, no need to rip my throat out, and the proflex thing would probably be illegal.

what? sheesh, i was being nice. you should see me when im mean.

and yeah, of course that things going to be illegal at almost every field, its the same reason you cant use hopper covers, or layer jerseys.

that reminds me, at the last tourney i was at someone was caught with 7 layers

[FiXeL]

The best material for hoppers is polycarbonate i think. It is tough as nails and can resist a beating. The reason why shells made from this material break is because they have sharp edges. Bodies for RC cars are about 0.03-0.05 inches thick and can can take a hell of a beating before breaking. But if you cut a fine line in the material it will crack along the line you cut.
RC car bodies usually break at sharp edges also.

A way to prevent this is also used in hardened steel parts, inner edges are rounded off to prevent a weak point. I've seen tool steel parts that were milled at our company that came back in 2 pieces after harding treatment because the inner edges were not rounded off.
Can this also be done with the molds that make hopper shells? Sure, but the company selling that product has no interest in making a shell that never breaks. It's simple economics, you make a product that can eventually break so the customers that have your product will come back for replacements. This is not just done by the paintball related companies, but almost all companies that make consumer products.

Kinda makes you feel screwed.... Well you are and there is nothing you can do about it unless you want to give up your consuming socieity life.

BigEvil:

Actually, the tooling costs JUST to make the molds are incredibly expensive. So if your a business that makes shells, you want to sell as many as possible in order to recover the start-up costs and then eventually make a profit. You make them just as strong as they have to be so you dont have to replace them for free due to them failing under normal use.

I work in the moldmaking buisness. :)
A deeper explaination on BigEvil's post:

A mould for hopper shells would roughly cost about $100.000,00 to make, both left and right shells and a battery door.This figure is just an indication of howmuch it would cost, i really don't know what my company charges our customers for our moulds since i am merely a CNC milling machine operator.
For all the parts you would need 3 molds (1 for every part) that is made up out of:
- two forming cavities (sometimes more if the part to be made is more complex)
- Cooling plates
- Ejection plate(s)
- Ejection pins
- Base plates

Or make a huge mold that can form all 3 in one shot (a single mould injection is called a shot) but will cost allmost the same and you need a bigger and more expencive injection moulding machine that can fit the mould.

What i want to say it is impossible to make these molds if you do not own a company. Also the price times amount of shells you sell must be greater than the cost of the mould, the injection material, (lexan) costs of running the injection moulding machines, operator costs, etc. So you will have to sell alot of shells before you come to the break-even point and start making some profit. Ever wondered why alot of stuff is made in low-labor cost countries like china? this is why.

I am willing to bet that Hybrid has not broke even on their suicide shell for the halo yet, and Viewloader still hasnt on their new Vlocity. But they eventually will when they sell more of them.

[ShooterJM]

Just saw this. I've been tinkering around with a solution for awhile, but need to redo my mold. Anybody have a broken set of halo shells they want to sell cheaply?

[slade]

Just saw this. I've been tinkering around with a solution for awhile, but need to redo my mold. Anybody have a broken set of halo shells they want to sell cheaply?

maybe, if you make it worth my trip to the post office.

[ShooterJM]

I think we can come to an agreement, I'll pm ya