| Re: The Comprehensive Thread on the Tippmann LPK
The reason the flatline likes to blow paint in the barrel is because of the whole system:
1. Really high pressure gas is hitting the ball. The ball goes from rest (0 feet per second) to 280 fps within the length of your barrel. This is a fairly high stress situation by itself.
2. A flatline barrel has a "ramp" which the ball HITS as it is accelerating which causes the ball to receive backspin... The backspin is what keeps the ball on a flat trajectory longer. This will stress the paintball further.
3. Palmer says that the paintball "deforms" or gets wider in the middle after the sudden impact of high pressure gas. That is why he makes his barrels elliptical in the middle so that there is room for the "bigger" ball. The ball gets hit and gets "shorter & wider" so to speak. This could also add to the stress that a paintball experiences in the barrel...
4. You take a ball that has just had a high stress impact and take into account that it is probably not round shaped any more while in the middle of the barrel and then you see that ball hit a ramp. It takes a mighty strong paintball to withstand all that stress. Most of the weak brittle paint out there can't handle it. If you are going to use the Flatline you need to use quality paint.
From what I understand after reading this lpk article (very well written by the way!!) When you use a low pressure kit, you are applying the same amount of force to the ball but over a much larger volume. The force is the same, but the impact is "softer" relatively speaking. By reducing the "suddenness" of the impact and by using less pressure to achieve the same velocity the ball has been treated a little "nicer"...
Now instead of sending a ball that is 50% weaker up against the ramp of the flatline (not for sure...just an example) now you are sending a ball that is only 15 or 20% weaker up against the ramp. Cheap / Brittle paint is more likely to survive the encounter.
Now there are probably better ways to explain this, and the % that I put are just made up... it is to illustrate that with a low pressure kit it will reduce the "stress" on the paintball which makes it more likely to survive.
So if you have a LPK you could try some "mid" grade paint... I still wouldn't put noname white label deformed paint through a flatline...you still want the paint to be as round as possible... but what ever paint you choose has a much higher chance of surviving the trip through the barrel |