Marker Evolution

[DoomWithAnXmag]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have been following a thread about a new Angel along with one on the WDP owners page. I also see many threads about markers and which is the best or better then another one etc. There has been debate about the style of marker WDP is going to release and the benefits of diff designs of markers in general. I think a thread dedicated to Marker future design would be worth while.
The topic being what do you think companies need to or should change in modern markers. What would benefit buyers the most, efficiency, weight, accuracy, etc. Should companies work on making current designs better or is it time for a revolutionary marker.
After some thought I believe modern markers are pretty damn good. They are light and fast but could use less air and be more accurate. Since accuracy is dependant on paint and barrel design should companies move to a new projectile or maybe redesign paint balls. A new size or shell shape maybe. A new loader/hopper design?
We all know the whole paintball physics debate so please lets not re hash that.
Stacked tube and spool valve designs are taking over. Is it time for a completely new system?
How about markers using the Propane system? Smaller tank and almost unlimited shots per tank!
Is there a need for more electronics? Marker eye systems could be used to chrono the ball while in the barrel! How about a marker that automatically chronos each ball and re adjusts velocity on its own.
my opinion? Build a new marker. Toss the whole solenoid and ram contraption. Use electromagnets to move the bold. The bolt motion could be synchronized with a valve that controls air to the chamber. The marker could be very small and light. Advanced lith-ion batteries would power the electronics. Double eyes would automaticlly chrono the balls and the velocity would be adjusted perfectly every shot. A ball break could trigger a "clean mode" which would automaticly rapid dry fire the marker several times in a second to clean out the paint then re engage fire mode. Ball breaks could also cause the board to dial back velocity and ROF to compensate for brittle paint.

[warbeak2099]

Cool, magnets. I'm interested, could it be done though? And what would fire the ball? The bolt only pushes the ball into the barrel?

[personman]

You cant effectively chrono a ball until it stops accelerating. A gun that chronos itself would be complicated, innefficent, inconvienant, and bulky.

Propane is being worked on but the tippmann propane gun was kind of a flop and I dont think it will catch on.

I dont think adding electronics to a gun is going to make it better. An electromagnetic bolt might be great for marketing but I doubt there would be much of an advantage over a ram.

[68magOwner]

i think as soon as a marker is desighned specifically around the MQ valve, we will see our new era of markers

[mag_lover05]

i thought we should get a nice, cheap, fast, EP gun with eyes and a spool valve.

or wait....the ion revolutionized the sport. ha, imagine that.

[FinchMan]

i think as soon as a marker is desighned specifically around the MQ valve, we will see our new era of markers

QFT

MQ-based guns will be lighter, smaller, and faster than most guns we've seen before.

[topazpaintball]

Use electromagnets to move the bold. The bolt motion could be synchronized with a valve that controls air to the chamber. The marker could be very small and light. Advanced lith-ion batteries would power the electronics.

thefool and I actually drew up a design for a single tube marker that had a completely hollow bolt as part of a large solenoid, which moved it open and closed and syncronized with an MQ-type valve behind it. Takes a LOT of electricity, however, and a lot of coils. Too impractical until next-gen batteries IMO.

[jenarelJAM]

I'd like to see oval shaped paintballs. Better accuracy would help soooo much. Maybe just in a magazine for starters, in a mil-sim-like gun. But eventually people would be able to sort them and load them quickly like halos do.

[Jotsy]

how about a slightly oversized paintball with a slightly elastic (and naturally well lubricated) shell? this way, it would form a perfect seal all around the paintball when it's in the barrel and increase efficiency (in theory). maybe it could improve accuracy too since it should have a perfect ball to bore match everytime. also, if you could make it so that they had a sort of shape memory feature thing, they could acctually come out of the barrel slightly elongated, which would mean rifling would actually have a purpose (plus, since the shell would be kind of soft, u can probably use rifling groves just like in a real firearm.)

[dahoeb]

oh wait wait, how about this....
how about manufacturers just make lasers to tape onto our markers, and with those lasers we can direct down guided weapons (ie. 2,000lb bombs, cruise missiles, etc...) onto the bunkers of the opposing team! sweet!
come on smart parts, i know you got the money for this sorta thing!

[Jotsy]

hey i just had another idea. what about an evolution on the angel air reg?

seeing as how its already electronic, you could install a more sensitive guage (or whatever it is they use to measure the PSI). then you could add a feature where you can set it to record the change in pressure over a set number of shots, and then from that the reg could calculate how many shots you have left (of course you would have to program in the size of your bottle tho)

[FiXeL]

I'd like to see oval shaped paintballs. Better accuracy would help soooo much. Maybe just in a magazine for starters, in a mil-sim-like gun. But eventually people would be able to sort them and load them quickly like halos do.

Pick up a box of very cheap paint, and you have your oval shaped balls.

[DoomWithAnXmag]

new gun

Personman, chronoing the ball in the gun would not be hard. It would be a small matter to create an equation the board could use to extrapolate the muzzel velocity from what it sees as it passes the eyes in the barrel. As for as being bulky no mor bulky then having a second set of eyes or pickups somehere. I can thing of at least two easy ways to do it right off the top of my head. Apart from the second set of pickups the system would really be mostly mathmatics and fairly simple ones at that compared to the code already in use.
An EM bolt would have several advantages. Among the things people want from a marker are reliability (simplicity is a good way of getting there. Less moving parts = less things to go wrong), speed, efficency, adjustability and fewer ball breaks/better performance with diff paint under diff conditions. An EM bolt would do all these. It would do away with the ram and any associated mechanics. It would also use a VERY simple and stone reliable sealed coil. Since the bolt would be moved with an EM field there would be no loading of the bolt against the bore meaning less wear and less friction. Speed would be increased only limited by the loaders speed. Efficency would increase because no air would be used for motion of the bolt. As far as adjustability and fewer breaks an EM operated bolt what could be better then a marker that could automaticly vary air charge pressure, bolt spped and bolt pressure on the fly? Never break a ball! never have to adjust dwell! never have to set a regulator! OK, true this part would not be the bolt's doing but with the dual eys and proper software anytime a ball does break the gun could automaticly clean the break and reset. Imagine a ball breaks. two things happen. One the resistance on the bolt in its stroke changes. The board senses the voltage change from the coil and the eyes pick a blockage with no ball passing the second eye set. The board would activate the bolt stopping it 3/4 of the way into the breach, just enough to block another ball from entering. It would then fire air through the gun several times till it cleared the paint. Then it would retract the bolt and resume normal firing.

New ideas on paint? Some interesting things were said. I think the easiest most simple change would be a more consistantly round ball. After that I think a jellatin fill that would have a uniform consistansy and density.

[Shingo]

Here's an idea. Have the new marker design monitor the size of the ball as it feeds. Then have a special breach and barrel to automatically resize itself to the exact size of the paint... it'll be a perfect match with every shot to increase efficiency and accuracy. It'll do that for every ball that drops into the gun.

~Shingo~