A good Idea

[Rabies]

Yes, a thicker fill would help slightly, but not enough, given that the ball is only in the barrel for a very short time. It would have to be very thick indeed for the paint to actually get much of a spin in the time.

And, like I said, putting a right- or left-spin on a paintball would actually send the ball off in the wrong direction anyway.

Oh, hold on, it's not quite the same as slicing or hooking a golf ball, the axis of spin is different for that. Still, a spin on a sperical projectile won't help its accuracy, the way it will with a bullet.

 

[MrPink]

You still have the initial inertia to overcome, basically Paintballs are no more accurate when fired down a rifled barrel as opposed to a non-rifled one as they are NOT perfectly round (And I don't care what the Manufactorers claim ) and the Fill might start spinning, but only after the Paintball has left the barrel which would mean the spin is uncontrolled and therefore useless.

And that's the most sensible I've been for at least 10 years!

 

[QuackingPlums]

So, apart from it being called paintBALL... and the fact that the loading mechanism would be a nightmare to build... what is there to stop paintball markers from using "bullet" shaped rounds, filled with an extremely viscous gel-paint, and have a thick enough shell to sustain the shear forces of rifling yet still break on impact?

ok, APART from praticality and PHYSICS... heheh

 

[Rabies]

Or maybe make the paintballs out of metal to be sure they hold their spin. You also deal with the issue of wipers -- they can't wipe off a hole in their chest.

Hmmm. I don't like the way this thread is going.

 

[QuackingPlums]

Hmm, wasn't quite where I was going with this... who's idea was this thread anyway?!

 

[Jones the Paint Magnet]

I thought the dimples on golf balls was to reduce drag? If you break up the surface area you reduce the drag of air vortices, in the same way that a shark's skin with its dermal denticles makes it more streamlined in water - no large vortex shedding from the surface to slow it down.

 

[Rabies]

The dimples don't just reduce drag, they (apparently) actually create extra lift when the ball has a backspin by creating a higher pressure zone under the ball and lower pressure above it. The physics are very complex, but it actually works. The dimples also increase the effect of hook or slice for the same reason; I don't play golf so I don't know if this is a good thing

 

[QuackingPlums]

errr.... yes, ok, so the golf ball reference was completely irrelevant to the issue about paintballs spinning...

 

[defyitall]

Originally posted by Rabies


However, if you suddenly spin the pot of paint very fast, it won't spin, at least for a couple of seconds until the paint gets up to speed.

Yeah, i work at a paint store and you'd be amazed how long it takes to actually get the paint moving enought to mix the color. we shake it for two minutes minimum.

i'm not sure what that has to do with anything but...

 

[QuackingPlums]

Surely that would involve a whole new chapter of physics - what it takes to cause enough turbulence in a tub of paint in order to mix two pigments together... in fact, spinning in a simple circular manner must be the least efficient way of doing that if you want an even distribution of paint?

Or do paint mixers stick a big spoon into the tin and just wiggle it about a bit?