Airsoft Canada - View Single Post - A Question for the Pros

Mysteryfish · January 25th, 2006, 00:38

If you're designing it yourself, your best bet is probably to just test it empirically...

Alternatively, you can always try to fit existing parts into your design... Presumably they've already done the research you're proposing.

I thing the article (well, thread really) that you're talking about (mcguyver) had to do with porting the piston heads, noting the issue where too much compression in the cylinder too fast creates that buffer of air that slows the spring down...

I suppose you could always start with a solid face piston, and port it one hole at a time until you came out with a sweet-spot result. You'd probably wind up going through a few testers first...

Also, I'm pretty sure a 400% spring is going to force the air down the barrel pretty damn fast, and any slowdown is going to be negligible. It's probably not the optimum situation though. You might even find that the compressed air leaks backwards past the piston head...

Then again, take apart a classic spring-powered air rifle and look at the piston in those. Those are heavy springs, and I'm not sure about how much of the air gets compressed, and how much doesn't actually do any work on the pellet... Those guns depend on the extra air pressure to buffer the piston slamming into the front of the cylinder. I get the impression they're over-designed in terms of necessary compression to fire the pellet, just for that reason (but I have no clue, really)

Anyways, you'll probably only find out for sure with testing, if you're designing from scratch. What kind of tools do you have access to?

January 25th, 2006, 00:38	#3
Mysteryfish Trader rating Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: North Vancouver, B.C.	If you're designing it yourself, your best bet is probably to just test it empirically... Alternatively, you can always try to fit existing parts into your design... Presumably they've already done the research you're proposing. I thing the article (well, thread really) that you're talking about (mcguyver) had to do with porting the piston heads, noting the issue where too much compression in the cylinder too fast creates that buffer of air that slows the spring down... I suppose you could always start with a solid face piston, and port it one hole at a time until you came out with a sweet-spot result. You'd probably wind up going through a few testers first... Also, I'm pretty sure a 400% spring is going to force the air down the barrel pretty damn fast, and any slowdown is going to be negligible. It's probably not the optimum situation though. You might even find that the compressed air leaks backwards past the piston head... Then again, take apart a classic spring-powered air rifle and look at the piston in those. Those are heavy springs, and I'm not sure about how much of the air gets compressed, and how much doesn't actually do any work on the pellet... Those guns depend on the extra air pressure to buffer the piston slamming into the front of the cylinder. I get the impression they're over-designed in terms of necessary compression to fire the pellet, just for that reason (but I have no clue, really) Anyways, you'll probably only find out for sure with testing, if you're designing from scratch. What kind of tools do you have access to?