Look Ma!! It's a Dimpled Paintball!!!

[AGD]

Well sort of, it's nylon and the right size and weight. The idea of dimpled paintballs comes up every couple months and we always have to tell them sorry we tried that and it didn't work.

Here is a pic I have been meaning to post. I thought I would share it with all of you before I move it to deep blue.

AGD

Bunny- Couldn't find picture - 5-28-2017

[Mossman]

Put em in the store...I'll take 3!

[pito189]

Ahhh it's cute like a baby golf ball. Can these balls be used for chrono testing and such?

[Jack & Coke]

I wonder how much that thing would curve if I shot it from my Tippy Flatline...

Damn thing would probably fly around and hit me in the forehead...

[Dslexik]

There was a lot of hype a couple years ago on how the dimples really help with flight trajectory and wind resistance. Companies were coming up with baseballs, footballs, etc, even bats that had dimples in them. They said it was going to revolutionize sports. Well guess what, you don't see em at all today do ya, except on golf balls.

[dio91]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but are those the same nylon "paintballs" used to chrono and test before shipped out to distributors and sold? The same ones in the video right?

dio

[yeahthatsme]

/me applaudes agd!!!!!

[HoppysMag]

so tom, what was wrong with them? fly funky?

[sniper1rfa]

i have a feeling i know why they didnt work well. dimples that large would be no different, or possibly worse, than a rough surface.

AGD, did you test these agains paintballs or other, smoother nylon balls?

[FalconGuy016]

I think dimples would be a great idea...??? Look what they did to golf balls, I think sniper is right. They are way to big (out of proportion to a golf ball dimples)

[Emagster]

not sure what it would do for paintball and it's flight in the air or anything. but the dimples actually do have advantages in golf and skiing(yes skiing). Not sure what they do in golf since i ahven't ever played and never pay attention to it. but skiing thats another thing. the ski's I have are dimpled like the surface of a golf ball to lower the friction and turbulance the ski aquired as it goes across the snow

[FalconGuy016]

I would expect it has a great effect on any round hard surfarce that flies through the air at high speed... like a paintball

[sniper1rfa]

actually, they ARE in proportion to golf balls, sorta. and thats the problem.

the problem is, on something this small, tiny impurities in the surface can do the same thing as dimples. in a fluid dynamics book a read, a 3 inch rough sphere had 5 times less drag at 125 mph winds than a smooth one. and the roughness was in the form of scores only .003" deep.

we want a lot of turbulance in the boundary layer on paintballs, and i think at this size and speed, dimples arent the way to get it. a rough surface woulde be better.



AGD, have you tried smooth against one roughened with, say, 100 grit sandpaper?

[deathstalker]

I thought dimples on golf balls were beneficial because of spin. I don't think paintballs spin so fast that dimples would make any difference whatsoever (as shown in the data thread). Wouldn't this be the same reason you don't see dimpled baseballs, footballs, etc.? It's not like I want my paintballs to land 10 ft. past my target and roll backwards to it.

[sniper1rfa]

nope, the point of dimples is to cause a turbulant boundary layer, thereby decreasing drag (funny, huh, decreasing drag by making it turbulent). this moves the point of seperation (of the boundary layer and ball) backwards, so the "wake" of the object is smaller. because its the wake that causes drag. this works at high reynolds numbers (moving fast or with a really thin fluid).

with golf balls, the dimples are the perfect solution, because they can do that without creating wierd flight patterns (like taking your drive to the back of the head...) when there is a bit of spin. this wouldnt really be important in paintball because they dont spin very fast, especially when compared with a golf ball. most of the time you can see the spin while watching a paintball (with two-tone shells).