Delrin - is it overrated

[DGremlin]

Been reading up on this 'wonder polymer', its an Acetal homopolymer, related to nylon, developed by DuPont in the 1950's.

A few things of interest, Delrin only comes in Black, if you get a part and its labeled Delrin and its white is probably Celcon, which is basically white Delrin ( but slightly different, its whats called a homopolymer ).

OK so why is Delrin so popular in the first place, the main feature is how slippery it is especially against metals, supposeldy easily machinable, and its low moisture absorption properties.

So with these wonder properties why would I not have one in my marker, aha, well ...
I been readin a number of reviews and write-ups on delrins bolts and such, and so often I come accross warnings, not to get it wet and not to put oil on it, since this will cause the bolt to swell, I even noticed people complain how high humidity has caused the bolt to swell enough to jam it in the marker.
OK, so you not going to hose down your bolt the next opportunity you get, but what about when a ball breaks and you playing, are you going to stop and polish you bolt so it wont swell.
During my internet research I came accross machinists who when working with this material, found was difficult to work with, for the same reasons and others, like its ability to warp, but I would imagine that has hopefully been sorted out by the time I have it in my marker.

There are a any number of other wonder polymers out there that work just aswell, but we never see splashed all over the place, one is Ertalyte, which some bolts are made of, similar to Delrin but more resistant it seems to the swell factor ...

OK, I have given my 10c worth, comments ... :)

[tonysk83]

My opinion, if it really did swell as people say, hardely any companies would be using it.

[taso_winforce]

some bolts swelled but the good ones won't unless you try to make it swell.

[amzng_spyderman]

high quality delrin will not swell. low quality delrin, like the kind the evil bolts are made of, will absorb enough moisture to make it swell.

[Blacksheep]

Kinda like barrels...high-quality barrels add accuracy, low-quality barrels produce breaks and suck

[Commando52]

its not just that... its the climate you are in.. i was in philly rapid firing and my bolt swelled and i got stuck in the breech towards the vertical feed low rise... i also have a nd equalizer. btw it was very humid.

[dropkickmurphys]

AM I GOING TO HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT MY BOLT SWELLING ?

[spencer_dale]

Why are yo posting everything in caps?



I have heard about bolt swelling, just like cammando said. But i didn't really know how. But if it was so humid to make you bolt swell, wouldn't that put a bit of moister on the paintballs and also make them swell?

[FalloutMan]

certain guns cant use delrin bolts. due to you cannot get precise chamber sizes each time certain guns will have problems with using a delrin bolt with swelling. delrin is used because it requires less force to move(lighter and slicker) it therefore greater effciency. most guns use delrin bolts with oring on it to prevent previously mentioned problem because that why if it swells it will still work fine

[Infiltrator]

I've never had a problem with my delrin yet. Of course, the delrin I use is of the supafly and Lightning bolt kind. It does increase cocking speed in autocockers.

[Dr. Isotope]

Been making Delrin bolts for about 10 years, with very few issues. Quality delrin has no swelling issues, and can be oiled-- after barrel breaks, we would always use spit on ours with no ill effects.

On a side note, true delrin is actually a tannish color-- I personally use the white (acetal homopolymer) because the size doesn't alter when I color dye the bolts after machining. Black is blah. On the Palmer guns I build for, cocking pressure can be dialed down around 25% or so, cocking is faster, and the lack of o-rings makes for much smoother action.

There have been some mas-produced delrin bolts that really, really, suck. Mine are all hand-built to a specific gun (not type of gun, but actual, individual gun) and work a charm. :cool: