Mechanical Hoppers?

[un2xs]

What are the options for mechanical hoppers? For a non-PAL gun, is there currently only one option... the V-Mech?

I still have hope for the DT1, but I believe the inventor is going at the speed his resources allow. I hope I am still on any purchase order list that has been started. Look here if you are not familiar with the DT1: https://web.archive.org/web/20170720...ed-loader.html

For anybody who actually knows, what are the differences between these two hoppers besides size?

[Meleager7]

there is the APP turbo one

[un2xs]

Interesting. My first thought involved a Slammer System Speed Collar in the back. However, these require a Cyclone Feeder. I should have specified mech loaders for normal feed necks.

Still, the T-3 looks interesting. I may have to check if they take the old view loader sized lid. If so, it might be scalpel time.

[BrickHaus]

Lets think one up, this place seems to be a think tank of colaberation and tech skills. I would think you would almost have to make a barrel adapter that had a channel in it. With a littlebarbed fitting on it. That used the shot air preasure to actuate. The hopper.

it would be the only way I can think of thatll geta similar force of air across all markers it threads i to... then a little cocker hose up to your hopper to run an auger or something.

[Jonnydread]

I feel like an air assist could rig up to a splitter hopper in some way.

[Toestr]

In a similar thread before the crash, someone had the idea of putting cyclone guts into a revvy shell. I assume they meant agitated, but a forced feed style might not be much harder.

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[Meleager7]

i've thought of this puzzle myself here and there. If you're designing a loader and omitting batteries and motors, you're next goal is figuring out how to get at that potential energy stored in the tank, and turning it into mechanical energy.

Tippmanns, and now Emeks, i think are the only guns that have ports that will meter out some high pressure air for the purpose of driving accessories.

The automag RT had output ports too, but they were not metered, just another port providing air at whatever the tank pressure was. No accessories ever appeared to make use of it that i know of.

The last innovation was that novel Tippmann Raider chain or bead drive, that was attached to the ion based bolt assembly , which drove the cyclone like integrated loader in stock. But that gun was a flop before it even released, so no one really has any idea how well it actually worked. But kudos to Tippmann for briefly showing their old stripes and trying something new and innovative!

[Bow]

The Raider was trash.

We had 10 at the field ats rentals and they literally fed maybe half the time.

They all got sent back to never be seen again.

[Jordan]

Shocker Sports have a vent on the body that can be used, and a Cocker with a QEV could work too...

[Bow]

For anybody who actually knows, what are the differences between these two hoppers besides size?

The Dust Devil is slightly wider but shorter length wise than a mini pals. Picture has a JOLO in there too. The V mech looks massive. I haven't seen one but it looks like a full size hopper and all of these are minis. A full wind on the v mech won't get you through a full hopper, the DT1 will. The V holds 160 I think where as a stock DT1 holds like 50-60.

The actual mechanisms in both are different. The DT1 is damn near silent, from the videos I've seen of the V it sounds super loud and can popcorn. The Dust devil uses a feed tray kinda similar to a Z2, at least in an abstract way. The V mech uses an auger. Also the DT1 is wound Clockwise, where as the V is wound counter clockwise.

The V has an indicator for how much you've wound it. The Dust devil does not. It's not a big deal though, at least IMHO. The Dust devil needs some extra grip on the knob, so I took a wood burning tip and stippled it. It's kinda a PITA to wind in a low profile feedneck, and won't fit on some where the collar can't rotate.

Also the knob on the dust devil has some kind of disconnect gear for the knob, so It doesn't spin when you shoot it. The V has its little handle twirling in your face.

Hope that helps.

[Nish]

Is there a way to take something like a rotor with the manual pull lever on the bottom back and make it so that it what you do to charge the mechanical feed?
obviously a pull would need to work for more than just a couple balls.

[XEMON]

I feel like we should go back to the "air assist" with a puff from the blowback or the valve ...

[Hp_lovecraft]

I feel like we should go back to the "air assist" with a puff from the blowback or the valve ...

I bought an original turbo hopper for my VM68 way, way back in 1993. Thats how long they have been around, and the technology hasnt really improved. At least with the vm68, that gun had a convenient port located behind the feed to tap a blast of air from. There was another product for the VM back then that was just an elbow with a port that connected to the same place. But that one didn't work at all. It was just as likely to blow balls up the elbow, then down.

Tippmann seems to have the system figured out with the cyclone/FA system. 98customs were designed to take it as an add on, but it doesnt seem like something that could be adapted as a "bolt on solution".

and you had those weird "delayed boltback systems" popular in the early 90s. I thought they were cool, but havelbue did a high-speed camera test, and found they only really work without paint.

[Toestr]

I think the turbo loaders would probably work better for cockers since the air is tapped from the pneumatics instead of firing pressure.

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[XEMON]

The point of the air is just to push a few balls down the feedneck ...
what about a pall and we just blow air on the ramp?

[glaman5266]

I like Nish 's idea. A ratchet system with a spring that unwinds & spins a drive cone as balls leave the feedneck stack. Not sure what the spring is called, but maybe one that looks like one of those mosquito coil incense thingys, so it stays relatively flat. A ratchet and one of those in place of a motor/board.

The point of the air is just to push a few balls down the feedneck ...
what about a pall and we just blow air on the ramp?

Might have issues coming up with a standardized system for getting air to it. Each manufacturer would want things done their way, as we've seen more the last 10 years. I'd guess manufacturers would sooner come up with their own proprietary hoppers or ways to route air to a hopper, and I'm not sure that's appealing to even them because so many people already have a standardized loader and with manufacturing being the way it is now. I don't see any universal standardized air-routing system or a multi-marker-compatible air powered hopper happening.

[Nish]

Really it's the exact idea of the dust devil. The only part I can take credit for is saying maybe it could be a kit that replaces the electronics in a current force feed hopper.

[glaman5266]

Nish I've never heard of the Dust Devil until I read this thread. Hmm.

I have little desire to buy another high-end loader. But a loader with electric and mechanical guts you can swap out would be amazing IMO. I'd likely buy one. Though I don't know if it's practical within the industry to design/manufacture one, or if there's even a demand for such a product.

[Toestr]

I like Nish 's idea. A ratchet system with a spring that unwinds & spins a drive cone as balls leave the feedneck stack. Not sure what the spring is called, but maybe one that looks like one of those mosquito coil incense thingys, so it stays relatively flat. A ratchet and one of those in place of a motor/board.



Might have issues coming up with a standardized system for getting air to it. Each manufacturer would want things done their way, as we've seen more the last 10 years. I'd guess manufacturers would sooner come up with their own proprietary hoppers or ways to route air to a hopper, and I'm not sure that's appealing to even them because so many people already have a standardized loader and with manufacturing being the way it is now. I don't see any universal standardized air-routing system or a multi-marker-compatible air powered hopper happening.

May I introduce you to the vmech? It has a clock spring that works pretty much exactly as you described, except it uses an auger instead of a drive cone. I have one. It's a novelty item. It's loud as sin if you shoot multiple shots (single shots aren't bad). It only gets roughly 100 rounds per wind of the spring.

Don't get me wrong, it's usable, just not competitive if you're going head on with someone or trying to be sneaky.

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[glaman5266]

Oh, I'm aware of the V-Mech. I meant something like that but reorient the guts so it's flat & directly under a drive cone as per Nish's thought.

I wouldn't mind a V-Mech, but I also don't want to develop the winding habit that would pour over into other forms of play. :reaches up to wind pocket hopper:
Maybe some different gearing or something can reduce the amount of winding needed? Would a drive cone be more feed-efficient (balls per wind) than an auger feed?

[kevin qmto]

there is the APP turbo one

Those were god awful. I mean, they 'work'. But the prop jolts around so fast its just a popcorn machine, and would blend anything but the hardest walmart balls. Just not a good idea from the get-go.