The more people you ask, the more you will be told that barrels are BS. A tube is a tube, pick the one you think is the prettiest.
I have found this to be true of bolts, as well. With the main exception being that the material matters for things like reducing reciprocating mass, some materials swell from absorbing oil... but venturi vs open face bolts just don't seem to matter anymore. Nobody bothers using venturis as marketing hype, and nobody wastes their time denouncing the bolts with or without a venturi. It's almost like a bolt is a bolt.
Springs are springs. Some materials and manufacturing methods produce more durable springs, but their functions all remain the same.
Valves... this should matter, right? When looking at, say, poppit valves, you can see the whole spectrum of design principles. Valves with tiny ports, valves with medium to large ports, valves that have entire halves removed, angled ports, flared ports, square ports, thin stems, fat stems, flat stems, no stems, onion cupseals, ball cupseals, tophat cupseals, flat cupseals, too! And some perform better than others, but all can be made to perform well with the right combination of supporting parts.
That last sentence can be said about most things, I suppose. However, you have this highly recommended and overall respected valve, right? And if you were to wash away the "AKALMP" laser engraved on the side, it is literally indistinguishable from a stock Spyder valve. The price tag should include more than laser engraving, but what did it change that you can't do yourself with a Dewalt drill? Does it have a "burst pocket" like the PPS low turbulence valve? Is the aforementioned burst pocket pure BS snake oil marketing hype?
I look at Impulse valves and see that they have angled and flared ports... probably because of their massive size, machining these angled features becomes less expensive. But I have found it on 11/16th valves, as well, even of relatively unpopular aftermarket valves. Whether or not this is a desirable feature, or something that has quantifiable benefits is up for discussion. The most recommended valve for Autocockers is the stock valve. Which is a plug with perpendicular holes drilled through it... literally nothing more.
I ask because in the automotive world, these things freaking matter. Still talking about fluid dynamics, but a valve isn't a valve, a spirng isn't a spring, the shape of the ports matter very much, the size of the ports matters very much, the angle of the ports matters very much... people pay good money to have every little transition port matched. Speaking of good money... you can get a SET of v8 heads ported for ~$1000, and that's 16+ ports to hand polish. How do people sleep at night charging so much for paintball markers when they only have one valve instead of 16? I guarantee you that mass produced Luxe 1.6's or whatever don't get the TLC Tony Mamo gives to his cylinder heads.
This is meant to be an ongoing discussion... I have more on my mind, but I am at work.
I have found this to be true of bolts, as well. With the main exception being that the material matters for things like reducing reciprocating mass, some materials swell from absorbing oil... but venturi vs open face bolts just don't seem to matter anymore. Nobody bothers using venturis as marketing hype, and nobody wastes their time denouncing the bolts with or without a venturi. It's almost like a bolt is a bolt.
Springs are springs. Some materials and manufacturing methods produce more durable springs, but their functions all remain the same.
Valves... this should matter, right? When looking at, say, poppit valves, you can see the whole spectrum of design principles. Valves with tiny ports, valves with medium to large ports, valves that have entire halves removed, angled ports, flared ports, square ports, thin stems, fat stems, flat stems, no stems, onion cupseals, ball cupseals, tophat cupseals, flat cupseals, too! And some perform better than others, but all can be made to perform well with the right combination of supporting parts.
That last sentence can be said about most things, I suppose. However, you have this highly recommended and overall respected valve, right? And if you were to wash away the "AKALMP" laser engraved on the side, it is literally indistinguishable from a stock Spyder valve. The price tag should include more than laser engraving, but what did it change that you can't do yourself with a Dewalt drill? Does it have a "burst pocket" like the PPS low turbulence valve? Is the aforementioned burst pocket pure BS snake oil marketing hype?
I look at Impulse valves and see that they have angled and flared ports... probably because of their massive size, machining these angled features becomes less expensive. But I have found it on 11/16th valves, as well, even of relatively unpopular aftermarket valves. Whether or not this is a desirable feature, or something that has quantifiable benefits is up for discussion. The most recommended valve for Autocockers is the stock valve. Which is a plug with perpendicular holes drilled through it... literally nothing more.
I ask because in the automotive world, these things freaking matter. Still talking about fluid dynamics, but a valve isn't a valve, a spirng isn't a spring, the shape of the ports matter very much, the size of the ports matters very much, the angle of the ports matters very much... people pay good money to have every little transition port matched. Speaking of good money... you can get a SET of v8 heads ported for ~$1000, and that's 16+ ports to hand polish. How do people sleep at night charging so much for paintball markers when they only have one valve instead of 16? I guarantee you that mass produced Luxe 1.6's or whatever don't get the TLC Tony Mamo gives to his cylinder heads.
This is meant to be an ongoing discussion... I have more on my mind, but I am at work.
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