Q-Loader

[diaboro919]

This might not be in the right area but im sure someone will point or put it in the right place.

Im currently working on a Staargate themed project (points for whoever can guess it XD) and i believe ive found a solution to a loading problem.

With a conventional hopper on the frame, It makes it look proper odd and i fear it will make the frame roll in the users hands and cause the staff to sit side on, not allowing it to load without a rip clip or cyclone.

someone suggested the Q-loader.

ive read up about it briefly with their pods being wound up and forcing the paint up but how reliable is it? does it jam at all? and possibly my most important two questions: can you link two or more of the pods together to feed simultaneously and how fast/easy are the pods to swap in the field?

 

[Tom]

Quick answers to the main questions:
The QLoader is fairly reliable.
Jams are possible
No - you cannot rig two QLoaders to feed one to the next
Pods are replaced momentarily
(twist & remove pod, insert and twist next pod. Job done
It's faster then pouring a pod into a hopper)

The longer answer on reliability etc:
The mark 1 QPod had to be 'tuned' to the right spring pressure before first use, and again if you ever took a pod apart.
Mark 2 was ready to go, possibly needed some adjustment for your setup, and did not lose the spring position if you took the pod apart
There is a theoretical mark 3 from reports of lower standard materials after the company changed hands


QLoaders consist of a q receiver which is linked to your feed by hose.
The hose needs to be measured fairly accurately to ensure it is the length of full paintballs. If it is say 15 and a half paintballs long then you cold have half a paintball between the hose and QPod when you change and then slice it in half

The QPods each hold up to 100 paintballs and are a large paintball pod. The centre of the pod has a spring and the balls are wound into the QPod in a helix around the spring.

To load into the QPods there is a hand crank. You must wind in without gaps. You could get away with the odd gap, but with any gap the QPod will accelerate when feeding and paintballs will be thrown into your markers breech. Expect breaks if that happens, either in the breech or the hose

The advantage of the QLoader is high speed, it feeds as fast as the spring pushes.
100 paintballs in very few seconds


QLoaders are not for everyone
They are not for people who throw pods, and must be kept clean.
Dirt etc will cause jams in the action


They are a true force fed hopper and defy gravity by pushing up, sideways etc
You need some paintballs in the feed hose and these must remain when changing QPods

Eg pre feed 15 paintballs to meet the length of hose to the breech, then the first QPod just presses paintballs against these. As you shoot it feeds the next ball by pressure.
When the QPod is empty it no longer pushes the hose and 15 remain again.
Load the next QPod etc



A well setup QLoader works like a dream

 

[GRIMLOCK]

If i remember rightly a few people use force feed loaders instead of the gravity backpack to load them while cranking to reduce the chance of it not feeding and leaving a gap

 

[Evil Rich]

The simple answer is you don't see them about much as they generally suck.
Pod are time consuming to fill and you carry much less paint in each oversized 100 round pod/hopper

 

[Tom]

The QLoader includes a giant 500 paintball hopper which allows you to fill it with a bag full then you were meant to hang it on your shoulder and wind them in

If you held it well and made sure there was paint down the hose it would wind well with no gaps
But you had to pay attention

Most people would use an electric hopper of some kind, my second QLoader came from funky diver and had an agitator modded onto the loader
If you used a true force fed hopper then you could be sure of a good feed to wind in. But as usual a force feed was
expensive (and why would you want a force fed hopper to load your force fed hopper)
Most people would use an electric agitated hopper

I became much quicker at feeding the QPods by leaving a short hose (or sometimes no hose) on the winder and dropping in handfuls of balls at a time, then winding
When using no hose I would have a few balls in my palm dropping probably 3 at a time into the winder
With this I was confident of a good no gap load and could fill my 10 QPods quicker then loading a hopper and then going on into the QPods

 

[Tom]

The simple answer is you don't see them about much as they generally suck.
Pod are time consuming to fill and you carry much less paint in each oversized 100 round pod/hopper

More to do with niche market, great expense in getting them into the uk

Plus a lot of people buying for the wrong reason of a fast feed hyped system
Then when they found it complicated and not what they thought it was then they would rubbish the QLoader

Also add disinformation and people buying generation 2 then messing it up by taking it apart fully to pre-tune as per generation 1 because of bad advice

 

[Evil Rich]

Get a warp feed

 

[Talfryn]

just use a normal force fed hopper and learn to pot up 1 handed before you shoot it dry

 

[Tom]

just use a normal force fed hopper and learn to pot up 1 handed before you shoot it dry

That is to do with constant firing without running empty
Does not help someone who is enquiring as to what a QLoader is so they can avoid putting a hopper onto a stargate staff marker

 

[diaboro919]

stargate staff marker

points to tommikka

this is great guys, thanks for your comments. this is gonna help the build a lot. So as long as the hose is full of balls and theres no gaps in the pods, it will work well for any Jaffa running arround Staargate