Mechanical Hoppers?

[Trbo323]

I've always wondered why they went with a wind knob over a pull string. Seems an odd choice.

I would love to see something like a rotor but pneumatic. The way it works you only have to wind up the rotor. So take something like a cyclone piston assembly and rig that onto where the rotor gears turn and just make sure it can't go backwards. Bam, pneumatic force feed without the jackhammer action of the cyclone

[Cdn_Cuda]

Guy at the field I play at had one. So loud! Sounded like an egg timer

[Painthappy]

You turn the knob in the back and let er fly
https://vmechsports.com/

[un2xs]

Bump. (So its not buried too far down the stack.)

[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.

[tetsu_no_usagi]

I'm surprised no one has brought up the Q Loader pods. Oh wait, those were a bigger PITA than anything else described here, and more finicky than a Warp Feed system. Never mind, carry on.

[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.

[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]

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?

[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]

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.

[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?

[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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[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.

[XEMON]

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