Got Z2 to stop blending paint, but why?

[subzeero]

So after reading multiple forums, tips, and discussions, I finally turned my Z2 into a paintball hopper as opposed to a blender. The two things that finally worked for me is this: slow speed down to setting 2, and raise hopper 1/8 inch out of the feedneck in the axe. My question now is why? Was it a fluke? Was it the paint? The hopper? What if I forget next time to raise the hopper in the feedneck again? Anyone who has broken paint in a hopper bad enough to have to do a total disassembly including gears, belts and board, knows it should be avoided. Am i brave enough to speed it back up again...heck no! At least not during the winter. Thanks in advance.

[Lane821]

It could be blowback from your axe, that's what seemed to be the problem with me. put two paintballs in the breach and shoot the axe, and if the 2nd paintball blows out of the feedneck, then you could have blowback issues putting force on paintballs, like a pinching effect, paintballs going up from blowback, and paintballs going down from the Z2. What solved the blowback issue with me was to use proper lube, I ran out of the Axe's stock lube, so I was using Hater Sauce which wasn't good I suppose, but I got some Sleek and problem solved.
Hope this helps

[subzeero]

I have always used lurker lube. Paintball solutions had me change my bolt guide o- rings and reset my poppet and then recheck blowback. I didn't notice a difference. There is some, but the ball doesn't come clear out of the feedneck. Is that still to much? I only seem to have the problem when firing with some speed.

[theboss33]

You want to try to get the blow back down to almost nothing. What bolt do you run? Have you changed the bolt o-rings?

[subzeero]

I use the lurker bolt with stock bolt guide o-rings that have recently been replaced. 140 psi, 5ms dwell, back cap 1.5 turns out. I have not changed the bolt o-ring. As you know the lurker bolt only has 1 rear bolt o-ring.

[theboss33]

Maybe Lurker will see this and be able to help you out. Did you tell PB Solutions what bolt you are running while they where trying to help you?

[subzeero]

I did not tell them about the bolt because when I told them I also run a virtue board and eyes they said they couldn't help because it wasn't a stock part. I did however return all settings to stock with stock bolt and had the same problems. I added a tag of "lurker bolt", maybe that will help them notice this thread.

[Simon]

Lifting the hopper in the feedneck slight can help stop the loader breaking paint if you are using very fragile paint, and you are often running the loader dry. It's because of the position the paddles come round and can or can't touch the balls waiting to go down the feedneck tube.

Typically the biggest issue we see with breaking paint is due to blow back actually shooting the balls back up the stack into the hopper and breaking them on the loader paddles. Was pretty insane the first time we saw it on the high speed camera.

It's why tuning your gun, if you are using an aftermarket bolt, to get rid of blow back is vital.

The Axe has a lot of "mechanical timing" in how it works. Aftermarket bolts, or springs, or adjustments in pressures or dwells can all affect this.

[subzeero]

Thanks Simon, I am beginning to realize that. However, I did put the stock bolt, dwell, and pressure back in the gun and didn't see any real difference in blow back. I actually have more with my empire sniper. I was supposed to get a motor and harness from PS for the z2 but I got a transmitter cable instead. I have had problems with the batteries going totally dead while in storage for a week or two. Also when shooting reballs it jams and doesn't reverse. I was hoping that maybe the new motor would fix a couple of my issues as well as breaking paint. Back to the blowback issues, I don't have enough experience to know if the small amount of blow back I have is enough. The ball pops up but doesnt clear the nano feed neck. I even sanded the feed gate part that protrudes down into the feedneck to not give the ball an edge to hit if it does pop up.

[Lurker27]

Check valve is the obvious answer, but that's not usually a problem. Same with front bolt pillow.


Blowback indicates the pressure behind the poppet is dropping faster than the bolt can close the feedneck.

Read that last sentence again.



This can mean that the bolt is taking too much energy to move forward (a friction or leakby issue; check all relevant seals).

This can mean your poppet orifice is partially blocked by dirt or dried grease. I would definitely check this. If the poppet was totally closed and the volume behind the bolt and behind the poppet were allowed to equilibrate through the noid path, the bolt would open long before the feedneck was sealed. You're counting on some flow there to hold the poppet shut. This is why the spring helped the axe or mini v3 so much - the poppet opening is delayed a bit more, and the return force is better.

I am working on a fix to intelligently resolve all these issues and make the poppet self tuning. Of course, the first prototype of it never even got to open the poppet because I went too far.