Any specific type? I have a handheld XRadar chrono that I could take apart and take a picture of.
I'm assuming they're using capacitive sensor systems, but it would be pretty impressive to be able to sense a paintball with a plate small enough to fit in that area, and well fast enough...
Maybe I'm on the wrong trail?
Any specific type? I have a handheld XRadar chrono that I could take apart and take a picture of.
That would be great actually. I would assume they're similar tech.
I have a yellow one, unfortunately it's packed away god knows where in my storage unit in another town.
Here's a few pictures: http://imgur.com/a/eYoM1
Unfortunately, the component that would be of most interest to you is soldered onto the board and isn't super visible. Hopefully those numbers can help you figure out what part that is.
Seems to be an hb100 microwave doppler sensor
I was actually just looking at this for something work related (that I can't talk about)
the DIY ones I've seen use IR sensors to time a projectile over a distance. not sure how the handheld models work, but I'd bet it's a doppler system that basically does the same thing.
basically (not meaning to sound patronizing) you just need to time a projectile over a known distance and calculate velocity that way (obviously since V=d/t)
there are plenty of ways to do that and plenty of sensors to accomplish it. main thing is making sure your clock/timing device is precise enough for your calculations.
here's a link to a DIY chrono I found
http://www.instructables.com/id/Pain...raph/?ALLSTEPS
Team Akkadian Paintball Squad
B.S. Mechanical Engineering UW-Platteville 2012
Originally Posted by neftaly
I wonder how much this type of system would be affected (I hope that's the right homonym) by the gasses leaving the barrel? I know this was something that we as a collective here have been mentioning every time this comes up.
Thank you kindly.
I honestly have no idea. I've never built one to know what the difference is between DIY designs and commercial designs.
Team Akkadian Paintball Squad
B.S. Mechanical Engineering UW-Platteville 2012
Originally Posted by neftaly
The gases shouldn't affect either the Doppler or IR system. The IR system detects the ball passing by, so it's just a binary sensor and doesn't detect the escaping gases. And unless the speed of light changes drastically because of the expanding gas, the Doppler system shouldn't be affected either. These are just my guesses though.
Only reason mentioned the gasses is that often it looks like smoke out of the end of the barrel, which could trip the sensors if the emitter light is attenuated enough through the gasses.