Paintball

[Blender]

Here's my idea. Take a large Rubbermaid tub, cut a large hole in one of the small ends, and on the opposite end, glue on a large piece of eggcrate foam or upholstery foam. Then, every few inches along the inside, run a string across the top and hang some fleece over it. Cut the first few into strips kind of like a car wash roller. It might be good to put some weights on the bottom of the pieces too. Anyway, the fleece should slow the ball down pretty gradually and let you recover it.

[souz4402]

hanging sheet for FS rounds +1

[Darkapollo]

I made one to catch reball. Used 1/2" pvc with a few 45 and 90 fittings. Covered the frame with a heavy drop cloth.

[ta2maki]

Use of a shower curtain instead of fabric or cloth can make it easier to clean.

[splashkitsrock420]

I used PVC with layers of rabbit wire inside kinda made a L shape down innto an old paint bucket ....worked like a charm

[matteekay]

Thanks everyone! Some really great ideas here; I won't be able to tackle this until later this year but it's great to get the gears turning.

Originally Posted by toymachine

think ridiculously over-sized super soft barrel condom. well, more or less. fabric hood/cone/snake/sock is the way to go. I experimented with the kind of mesh that upon reacting to force proportionally tightens up, conversely expands, but never really got very far with that (lots of potential, I just never followed up given how well the fabric snake sock thing worked). I found shooting lots of balls, at high rof, would generally promote breaks in the collection device, but I don't know if this is a universal rule or just applied to my socky thing.

I'm most intrigued by this. So basically a wind sock with a closed end? What kind of material are you using?

Originally Posted by TornadoAlley

I have seen a big road construction cone used. you shoot into the cone and put a bucket under the to catch the paint dripping.

The tourney side of our local field does that for their chronos, lol.

Originally Posted by Darkapollo

I made one to catch reball. Used 1/2" pvc with a few 45 and 90 fittings. Covered the frame with a heavy drop cloth.

This sounds really good, too.

Originally Posted by splashkitsrock420

I used PVC with layers of rabbit wire inside kinda made a L shape down innto an old paint bucket ....worked like a charm

Did the rabbit wire shred the ball?

I have two ideas at this point, both of which would be used when shooting reballs (I think trying it with normal paint is going to be too messy).

1. Essentially a board with the chrono mounted to it. Directly behind the chrono would be a ring with a giant sock-like collection device. Shoot over the chrono into the sock and the balls gather at the bottom. The question is what material is most likely to slow the ball but not allow it to tear through...

2. Shoot over the chrono into the mouth of some large PVC piping that has an immediate downturn followed by another jog to route the ball away from the shooter. The whole thing could probably fit inside a tupperware-like tub.

Mainly leaning towards 1, though.

[Jebus]

Two 50g plastic drums, cut the bottom off one to mate up with the opening of the other. Use a rip saw to cut a few slits going horizontal across the tops, hang a few old sheets loosely into the slits you've cut. Build a brace for your rig to sit on, spray paint everything pink and call it a day.

Would be pretty cheap to do.

[matteekay]

Hmm... the pink part really takes it to the next level...

[Jebus]

Or Purple I suppose, but yeah, pink would really make a statement. I wonder if you could get a Government Grant if you call Art. Paintballs would represent something spectacular and the collection device could represent the Gutter...I don't know...

[uv_halo]

I'm not sure why you want to absorb impacts (i.e. keep the balls from breaking)

I used two sections of large diameter PVC Pipe and an Elbow, glued with PVC Glue. All of this tied down to a wooden stool I had.

First secion angled slightly downward so that the ball hits the tube at an angle and cracks while the spray and surviving fragments hit the elbow, then drip down the second section and into a bucket. If you're angle is good enough, and the tube length long enough, nothing will come back out. Here's a video of it sucking up a 100rd rope of full auto, and not a single drop came back at me:



With whatever design you go with, you want either disposable, or easily cleanable, anything between is a pain.