Flatline Breaks [Archive] - Paintball Forums

Loren1711

03-31-2005, 08:44 PM

Hello.

Recently I have purchased a Flatline Barrel for my 98 Custom. Soon after purchasing the barrel I noticed how many balls it was breaking. Don't start flaming yet let me explain the problem.

From my understanding RPS Premium paint was supposed to do well in the Flatline barrel. Since I thought this I have used ONLY RPS Premium paint in this barrel.

Here is an example of the breaking problem:

Today me and some friends went down to the greenbelt to have a little 3v3. On the way down I had a plug in the barrel so there is no possible way dirt could get into the barrel. Once we arrived I thouroughly cleaned the barrel, and then loaded up. The first game I shot roughly 70 shots. Out of these 70 shots I had 3 breaks. When these breaks happened I did not do a detailed cleaning of the barrel, only cleaned out the tip of the barrel with my finger. In between rounds I again thouroughly cleaned my barrel. The second round again I shot about 70 shots and had about 5 breaks, but this time I cleaned my barrel in between each break, because I had some decent cover and places to get down. I continued to clean my gun between rounds, and after the first 2 games condititions only got worse. I will not get into these.

On my gun I have no Response Trigger, or anything like that to increase firepower. I only use this gun for woodsball, and RARELY shoot more than 3 consecutive shots. Whenever I do 3 consecutive shots the third or fourth ball is a guarenteed break, almost every time. I have had once when this hasnt happened. Other than that there seems to be no pattern to the breaks, or any other noticable causes.

Because of the fact most people say ball breaks occur because of the bolt, I began shooting until I had a break. Once I had a break I took the flatline off and inspected where the paint was. The only broken paint was in the flatline barrel itself, and nothing was past the flatline barrel adapter. This was the case 10 out of 10 times. I am asuming that this shows that the paint is breaking in the barrel not the bolt.

If anyone has suggestions or any more questions to my problem please help. I am out of ideas.

Change in paint?
Gun upgrade?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Eladamri

03-31-2005, 09:25 PM

What is your velocity set at? Optimal velocity is between 265 and 285. You may have the velocity set to high, or possibly you got a bad lot of balls.

Loren1711

04-01-2005, 07:04 AM

My velocity has been chronoed at about 265 at my local proshop.

I guess its possible that I got a bad load of balls but I have shot 2 cases of RPS Premium with the same result. Each case was purchased from a different location.

I know that I have asked this before but this is the only thing I can think of. On the top of my barrel when you take it off the gun and look throught it you can see numerous scratches on the top of the barrel's interior. Everyone I have previously talked to about it have said that is what gives it backspin. However I do not remember those scratches being there in the begining.

Any suggestions?

I don't know if RPS Premium is a rather brittle paint but does anyone know any thicker shelled paints that might not break as much in my barrel, other than RPS Marbilizers. Theses are out of my budget.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Coenen

04-01-2005, 08:10 AM

Sounds to me like the barrel isn't completely inserted into the collar.

Loosen the pinch bolt on the collar and give it a whack on the muzzle with either a rubber mallet, or even the heel of your hand. If the barrel moves in at all, which I suspect it will, you will have solved your problem.

The only thing I could think of that might be related to the sandblasting on the barrel would be a burr somewhere, but I've never heard of that happening to anyone else. The fact that the barrel is rough on the inside shouldn't have any bearing...b/c it's supposed to be.

Did you get the barrel brand new or used?

Where'd you get the paint? Did you check it before buying? Is it dimpled, egg shaped, were the breaks in the bags, or anything else that could've caused problems?

ghilliesnipe

04-01-2005, 08:39 AM

The scratches are either from wear or leftover paint shell on the barrel that didnt get cleaned. I did not have a good experience with PMI premiums either. I had the same breaking. Try Evils or All stars. Diablo formula 13 did well for me too. Marbs did not do well, accuracy wise, and I had occasional breaks too. Kick'n never broke for me (in the barrel) or any of my flatline(or non) using friends and was reasonably accurate for the price, but it has such low reviews that it shouldnt be a first choice.
You and I are not the only ones to have trouble with the premiums, so try another paint. Take your barrel out and run hot water through it and let it dry before putting it back on to play.

For any paint, drop it onto a hard floor from 5-6ft up. If it breaks in 1-3 drops, it will probably break in the flatline.

Loren1711

04-01-2005, 08:49 AM

First of all I would like to thank you for helping me with my problem.

This morning after target practice I took the barrel off and noticed the barrel adapter. I had it lined up with the bottom of the gun. (Let me know if you dont know what I was talking about) I then noticed that I could tighten it more if I wanted to. I dont know if you guys/girls recomend this, or not so please get back to me on that one.

For now I will leave it ligned up. I am going out to do some practice right now, ill bring the flatline with me. The only paint I have is RPS Premium and Big Ball. I will try both and post the results later.

I have also used the mallet thing to push the barrel in further, however I did not notice any change in the insert depth. But ill go shoot the gun right now.

Thanks agian for all your guys help.

Loren1711

04-01-2005, 09:18 AM

Alright I'm back.

I brought 500 RPS Premium paintballs, and 500 Big Ball Paintballs.

I shot 1/2 hopper full of the RPS Premium with the same results I had earlier. I broke 7 shots, and cleaned the barrel with a squeegie in between each break.

I also shot 1/2 hopper full of the Big Ball paintballs, and broke 6 shots. I cleaned the barrel in between each break.

In case you are wondering how many shots are in my hopper, my hopper holds 140 shots.

The RPS Premium was bought from AnythingXtreme.com, this was the paint I just shot. (Results posted above) The other case of this paint I bought from my local proshop, Shutdown Paintball. I had similar results with each paint. Each bag had no breaks, and none of the paint seemed to be dimpled or have dents or irregular shapes.

The Big Ball I had bought 1 case from WalMart, (They had a sale) When I opened the case I did not see any breaks or any abnormalities in the paint.

So these are the results.

Loren1711

04-01-2005, 09:24 AM

If anyone has any parts or anything that might fix this, let me know. I know I cant think of any, other than the bolt, but the balls are breaking in the barrel.

Also what is a good site with a wide selection of paintballs, with cheap prices. I am just going to buy 500 of different types of paint until I find a good match.

Thanks in advance for your help.

ghilliesnipe

04-01-2005, 09:39 AM

I wish there was an online site that sold bags of 500 and would sell me a case of 4 different kinds of paint.
I hope you arent using a straight shot squeggie in the barrel. It will increase the rate of wear. If you dont clean it out well enough, it could increase the frequency of breaks.

Did you do the drop test on the bigball and the premium?

Elemental889

04-01-2005, 09:47 AM

I use Diablo Heat and I have never had a ball break. Make sure your barrel is all the way into the adapter. Even if there is a little space, it creates an edge which could chop balls. If you still can't find the problem, take it to your local shop, tell them the problem, and have them look at it.

allstarpainter

04-01-2005, 10:23 AM

you are probably tightening the screws to hard around the flatline, keep those screws secure, yet a little bit loose. If their too tight this will cause ball breaks, and after you've broke one ball in the barrel, usually more follow with all the goo left in there

Loren1711

04-01-2005, 10:47 AM

Alright thanks all for the advice. I will answer the questions in the order they were recieved.

ghilliesnipe:

I drop tested the RPS Premium as well as the Big Ball. From what I found the balls werent the problem. The RPS Premium dropped 6 times and on the sixth time it broke. The big ball broke on the 4th drop. I was dropping them from eye level and I am 6 ft 1 in.

From AnythingXtreme.com they sell just abgs of 500 and its only a little more expensive to do that rather than buying a case. Im really good friends with the local proshop owner and the owner of our local field, and he might cut me a deal with the 4 bags of different paint in a case, im not sure though. The only problem with AnythingXtreme.com is to my knowelege they do not carry Diablo products, however I havent been there in a while.

Thanks for your help.

Elemental889:

Do you know a shop online where they have decent prices on diablo products? I am going to search around and try different brands of paint until I find a good one that has minimal breaks and a decent price tag.

Im pretty sure I have the barrel all the way in. When I installed it this last time I used a mallet rather than my hand.

Thanks for the help.

allstarpainter:

Thats not a bad idea, ill try that and go out and do some testing. I never keep the screws extremely tight, but they are somewhat tight, mabye finger tight? Ill loosen them a bit.

Thanks for the help.

Stan the HitMan

04-01-2005, 12:50 PM

Originally posted by Loren1711

Im pretty sure I have the barrel all the way in. When I installed it this last time I used a mallet rather than my hand.

That's not good, did you watch my presentation on how to install a flatline correctly, because if you don't then bad things will happen.

Loren1711

04-10-2005, 08:23 AM

Alright.

Sorry for the long time on an update.

Yesterday I played at my local field. The field paint there is Zap Torque (sp?) I had terrible results with this. I shot 1/2 a case the hole day. Out of that I proably broke atleast 100 balls.

I never shot more than 3 shots in a row. Usually the breaks would just be on their own. I wouldnt be rapid fireing, or anything else.

Between every break I squeeged, and inbetween each game I cleaned out my gun completely.

The barrel IS INSTALLED CORRECTLY even the proshop thought so. If anyone has any suggestions to stop this breaking, and upgrades or anything I am all ears.

Thanks in advance for the help.

ghilliesnipe

04-10-2005, 09:29 AM

As long as you are shooting at 280 fps and below, the paint you are using is .689 or below diameter and passes the drop test(drop 4 balls to test for variability) and the barrel is installed correctly, you should be ok. You might want to try the stock barrel or another barrel. You should also consider contacting Tippmann.

Loren1711

04-10-2005, 10:05 AM

Alright I'm gonna e-mail Tippmann and see what they have to say.

I have tried the stock barrel, and had no breaks, but nowone ever seems to have any barrel breaks with the Tippmann stock barrel. Ill post back on what Tippmann says.

I guess I dont really want to buy a new barrel, because when this barrel is not breaking it is incredible. I love it, so if I can I would like to get this breaking problem solved.

Thanks

ghilliesnipe

04-10-2005, 10:44 AM

Dont email them, call them tommorrow.

Loren1711

04-11-2005, 03:48 PM

Alright I called them and they said to send the barrel in and they will either re-sandblast it, or send me a new barrel if the sandblasting is unsuccessful.

The tech on the phone said that this is a rare problem but he has seen atleast one other incident of this in his time working at Tippmann. As far as he knows the re-sandblasting will solve this problem.

For now my friend is letting me use his J&J.

Does anyone know how long it might take to get my barrel back from Tippmann?

game_guy02

04-12-2005, 02:04 AM

Tippman customer service is generally pretty good, but I'd say you're probably in for a good week or two wait, perhaps even more depending on whatever backlog they may have.

Algernon

04-12-2005, 12:45 PM

the flatline is paint breaking machine, however it should not be doing that right after you buy it.

the flatline is very picky on paint, and emphasize picky. i personally prefer smaller bore paint of the .680-.682 range. as long as the paint can roll out of the barrel then that is what you want. remove the barrel and feed paint down it and only keep the rounds that pass though it. i like proball myself but make sure to keep your paint out of the sun and dry.

there was this brand of diablo paint that had a fine chalky like power on it that the flatline really seemed to like (diablo midnight?). a new flatline should have no problems imparting the backspin on the ball, however an older flatline needs all the help it can get. i actually leave my barrel a little dirty with paint reside because it seems to help the barrel put the spin on the ball. actually i fire a few shots out of the gun before the game and i can watch as the distinctive trajectory slowly vanishes with each shot and becomes more flat. its as if the barrel needs a very specific environment to generate the backspin and when the barrel in old and worn it will have problems fitting that criteria.

i had problem with ball breaks initially. i didn't chrono the marker but i would set your velocity so that the marker does not break paint. start where it is now and lower it until in does not break and then see if that is an acceptable speed to play with.

EDIT: i re-read your post and it seems as if the 1 in 70 shot break isn't too bad. flatlines break paint and about all you can do at this point is switch paint to minimise your breaks. again, i've had good luck with the smaller bore paint of .680-.682.

Loren1711

04-12-2005, 12:59 PM

Alright.

Right now the barrel has been mailed to Tippmann for re-sandblasting, or if that is not successful a new barrel entirely.

I realize 1 in 70 barrel breaks is not that bad for the flatline however from reading reviews I tend to think there is something wrong. People can run the flatline barrel with the response trigger doing 10 bps mabye even more without a constant breaking problem. If I do more than 3 shots it is a guarenteed break on the third or fourth shot. That is the only cause I can guarentee it will happen on. Other times I will be walking up say before the game starts, and take aim at a tree 45 yards away. The barrel is clean, and the plug has just been taken out. I will shoot, and it breaks. I clean the barrel. It works fine for like 3 or 4 more shots, and bam break again. If I have sufficient cover I get down and clean it out. Then the ball will break again several shots later

As you can see these breaks seem to be random in occurance other than when I take a series of shots.

Do you think the re-sandblasting of my barrel will do anything, or was it pointless to send it out to Tippmann?

Stan the HitMan

04-12-2005, 01:21 PM

re sand blasting will out whatever backspin it likely lost form use, should be next to good as new (depending how much it was worn down.)

Algernon

04-12-2005, 01:29 PM

i've heard of this being done. it seems to work fora while but the barrel will eventually return to ball breaking. flatlines are notorious ball breakers. it's just a matter of whether or not you are willing to deal with it.

Loren1711

04-12-2005, 01:51 PM

So you guys think the sand blasting will fix the barrel temporarialy? Estimate on how many shots? I dont know if you are talking like a case and then they will be back or like 10 cases and then the breaks will return.

I dont see how it could be my gun but I have my friends J&J 14 inch and a case of RPS Premium. I would go shoot it today but I was "sick" all day today so my parents wont let me. Ill go test it tomorrow after school and see what the results are.

Algernon

04-12-2005, 03:24 PM

i whish i could give an estimate on the amount of vigor your new/refurbished flatline will have. i used to be a member of a few 98 forums and been following the flatline and it's many, many problems for some time now. as an owner of a flatline and having seen and used them firsthand for a few years i can tell you that a few ball breaks here and there are normal for a new flatline. i don't believe you have a problematic barrel unless it breaks more then 1 out of a 100 or so on average. i believe your velocity and paint may have something to do with the breaks. at the very least i would try some small bore paint on it of .680-.682 range. again, as long as the ball can freely roll through the barrel then you should be fine.

i can't confirm this but the chrono may be a bad method of setting your velocity. the ball leaving the flatline barrel not only needs to be pushed out at a reasonable speed of 300 f/s but needs to be spinning as well. the volume of gas fired now needs to not only push the ball out of the barrel, but impart a spin on it as well. whether or not you need a larger volume of gas to shoot the paintball at 300 f/s and put backspin would seem like an obvious question (yes). however it is possible that a '98 with a flatline actually has a slower muzzle velocity than a '98 with a straight tube barrel due to the fact that some of the air is used to but spin on the ball. now if this is the case then cranking the velocity up to get the 300 f/s back AND but backspin on the ball may be contributing to your breaks.

all of this is pure speculation on my part, but i would recommend small bore paint and lowering your velocity to below 300 before sending the barrel off to be reconditioned. to be honest i only have seen the flatlines being sent off to tippmann after they are very old (like mine) and have begun to break paint because of excessive wear and tear.

ghilliesnipe

04-12-2005, 03:56 PM

Originally posted by Algernon
i whish i could give an estimate on the amount of vigor your new/refurbished flatline will have. i used to be a member of a few 98 forums and been following the flatline and it's many, many problems for some time now. as an owner of a flatline and having seen and used them firsthand for a few years i can tell you that a few ball breaks here and there are normal for a new flatline. i don't believe you have a problematic barrel unless it breaks more then 1 out of a 100 or so on average. i believe your velocity and paint may have something to do with the breaks. at the very least i would try some small bore paint on it of .680-.682 range. again, as long as the ball can freely roll through the barrel then you should be fine.

i can't confirm this but the chrono may be a bad method of setting your velocity. the ball leaving the flatline barrel not only needs to be pushed out at a reasonable speed of 300 f/s but needs to be spinning as well. the volume of gas fired now needs to not only push the ball out of the barrel, but impart a spin on it as well. whether or not you need a larger volume of gas to shoot the paintball at 300 f/s and put backspin would seem like an obvious question (yes). however it is possible that a '98 with a flatline actually has a slower muzzle velocity than a '98 with a straight tube barrel due to the fact that some of the air is used to but spin on the ball. now if this is the case then cranking the velocity up to get the 300 f/s back AND but backspin on the ball may be contributing to your breaks.

all of this is pure speculation on my part, but i would recommend small bore paint and lowering your velocity to below 300 before sending the barrel off to be reconditioned. to be honest i only have seen the flatlines being sent off to tippmann after they are very old (like mine) and have begun to break paint because of excessive wear and tear.

I dont even know where to start here. Im gonna keep it brief.
1 dont use paint that fails the drop test I described before.
2 Velocity needs to be 260-285fps(you NEED a chrono)
3 Barrel needs to be clean. Reclean after every 600 shots. Dont use a straight shot squeggie on it.
4 Make sure it is installed correctly(stan the hitmans presentation in the ultimate sticky will help)

If you do that and dont use an RT or ebolt with it, your 98c flatline will ALMOST NEVER break a ball. 1 in 100 is NOT normal. 1 in 500 is NOT normal either.

There are a lot of bad things I can say about the 98c flatline, but breaking paint any more than any other barrel is not one of them.

Loren1711

04-12-2005, 04:35 PM

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Algernon
i whish i could give an estimate on the amount of vigor your new/refurbished flatline will have. i used to be a member of a few 98 forums and been following the flatline and it's many, many problems for some time now. as an owner of a flatline and having seen and used them firsthand for a few years i can tell you that a few ball breaks here and there are normal for a new flatline. i don't believe you have a problematic barrel unless it breaks more then 1 out of a 100 or so on average. i believe your velocity and paint may have something to do with the breaks. at the very least i would try some small bore paint on it of .680-.682 range. again, as long as the ball can freely roll through the barrel then you should be fine.

i can't confirm this but the chrono may be a bad method of setting your velocity. the ball leaving the flatline barrel not only needs to be pushed out at a reasonable speed of 300 f/s but needs to be spinning as well. the volume of gas fired now needs to not only push the ball out of the barrel, but impart a spin on it as well. whether or not you need a larger volume of gas to shoot the paintball at 300 f/s and put backspin would seem like an obvious question (yes). however it is possible that a '98 with a flatline actually has a slower muzzle velocity than a '98 with a straight tube barrel due to the fact that some of the air is used to but spin on the ball. now if this is the case then cranking the velocity up to get the 300 f/s back AND but backspin on the ball may be contributing to your breaks.

all of this is pure speculation on my part, but i would recommend small bore paint and lowering your velocity to below 300 before sending the barrel off to be reconditioned. to be honest i only have seen the flatlines being sent off to tippmann after they are very old (like mine) and have begun to break paint because of excessive wear and tear.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Umm...

If you read my previous posts you would see that my gun is set well below 300 fps. It is set at 265 which is the optimal performance for the barrel.

Also you say 1 break in 100 is not bad. If you had read my previous posts you would see that I am having well more than that. I had 100+ in 1000 shots. This is 1 in 10 ball breaks if I am not mistaking.

Also I get what you are saying about the ball slowing down a little bit in the barrel or something but last I knew the chronograph was the most effective way to check a balls speed. Correct me if I am wrong.

Back to my previous question. Will getting the barrel re-sandblasted solve my issue, or was it a waste of 12 bucks in shipping?

Algernon

04-12-2005, 07:15 PM

the chrono could be fooling you, that or you are fooling yourself. i don't give a damn if you are shooting 300 or 265. i said lower your velocity and see if that helps. are you telling me you can't lower you velocity because it chronos at 265? you don't know how low you need to go at this point; you cannot set any limits as of yet. i set my velocity very low ( i have not chronoed it after the addition of the flatline but it was a 300 and i lowered by a huge anount). my rounds shoot very flat but travel fairly slow.

at this point i cannot not tell if there is a problem with your barrel as you have yet to lower the velocity significatly or settle on a type/size of paint. try to deal with a handful of variables at a time. lower your velocity significatly and test it throughly. chances are that if you do not see a significant improvement in ball breaks, then it may be the barrel itself.

i'm hearing conflicing stories about your ball breaks. first i hear 1 out of 70 and now i hear 1 out of 10? that's a significat anount. with my velocity set at the factory 300 i was breaking somewhere near 1 out of 20 untill i lowered it by an undertermined amount (albeit significant).

Loren1711

04-12-2005, 07:20 PM

I will expiriment with that when my barrel comes back from Tippmann. I would have to go to my field to do that since I dont have my own chrono.

What was your optimal velocity when you used yours?

ghilliesnipe

04-12-2005, 07:20 PM

anything lower than 260 will reduce the flat trajectory. At 230-240fps , it is like a straight barrel. A 30 fps difference(270 vs 300) is pretty big and can definatly have an impact on barrel breaking.

Algernon

04-12-2005, 07:32 PM

i'll go ahead and say that i DO NOT have a perfectly flat into the horizon trajectory. with my velocity set the way it is now i have a flattened trajectory, but not FLAT. it is still a significant improvement over the straight shot barrel.

EDIT: "There are a lot of bad things I can say about the 98c flatline, but breaking paint any more than any other barrel is not one of them."

flatlines are notorious paint brakers; they are legendary for it. do you have an A5 or 98? go to any credible 98 forum and discuss the flatline and tell me that they do not break paint. i've owned and shot numerous flatlines. the 98 flatlines break paint.

ghilliesnipe

04-12-2005, 07:51 PM

I owned a 98c flatline for a year and it almost never broke unless the person was using an RT. Then it was a chop, not a barrel break. Other 98cflatline owners that I have seen have had similar experiences. Of course having always played in Cal/AZ, it could have been a warm weather thing.

I sold my old 98c setup to get a similarly setup A5 which performs better in nearly every way.

Loren1711

04-13-2005, 03:22 PM

Well thats the thing. When my barrel comes back and if it is still not working, I would think about selling my gun and getting an A-5.

As of right now I have 150 bucks, and mabye I could get 200 for my gun, hopefully. That would put me at 350 which could get me the basic A-5 and a flatline barrel.

I guess it all depends on how this barrel works when it comes back from Tippmann. I guess as of right now I hope it is a factory defect in the barrel and the sandblasting will fix it.

Does anyone think it is possible a factory defect?

And in your opinion and from hearing my problem what should I do?

Stan the HitMan

04-13-2005, 05:04 PM

wait to ge the barrel back, then click on the link on my sig to my flatline sticky to see how to install it correctly and then see how it preforms from there.

Loren1711

04-13-2005, 05:40 PM

Alright sounds good.

Loren1711

04-22-2005, 08:20 PM

Okey. Today I got my barrel back from Tippmann.

I went out and shot some of my old RPS Premiums in it, and had pretty good results. Out of 200 shots I broke 1 and I am pretty sure that it was a chop, due to the fact paint was all over the boar and chamber and stuff. So far I'm pretty happy with the results.

Tomorrow I have an order of 500 Marbs, 500 Dusks, 500 Midnights, and 500 Nelson Anarchy's coming in. I will go out with my friend who has a chronograph and test it out. I will also line up everything and get it shooting accurately.

I will reply with the results tomorrow. Thanks for all your help.

Stan the HitMan

04-23-2005, 03:22 AM

No problem. I anticipate your results.

Loren1711

04-23-2005, 03:26 PM

I think we got the problem solved. Thanks to all of you who helped me.

I went out today with my friend, and tried a variety of paint. The only paint I had 1 break with was RPS Premium. I also expirimented with FPS. I broke the ball at about 260 FPS, which leads me to believe there was just a faulty ball. Anywho I set it af 265 and had no further problems.

Tomorrow there is a little 5v5 tournoment down in the greenbelt so that will be the final test on this barrel.

Thanks again for all your help espicially you StanTheHittman

Stan the HitMan

04-23-2005, 05:19 PM

your very welcome, i may modify the installation presentation to make it more in depth (eg the pictures i sent you to describe it better) because there seems to be allot of confusion.

DeeBo

04-23-2005, 07:13 PM

Originally posted by ghilliesnipe

3 Barrel needs to be clean. Reclean after every 600 shots. Dont use a straight shot squeggie on it.

Why not use a straightshot? What else can you use?

Loren1711

04-23-2005, 07:35 PM

Apparenly you are not familiar with the design of a flatline barrel...

The barrel is curved upward inorder to give the ball backspin. When you try to jam a straigh shot squeegie through that it either scratches the inside of the barrel or dosent even go through it.

You are supposed to use a cord squeegie...

DeeBo

04-23-2005, 07:45 PM

Well I didnt mean the brand name straight shot... what I meant was a stick squeegee. I have one I use on my A-5 flatline that I got from my field. It is a stick squeegee but is more than flexible enough to navagate the cuve of a flatline. (You can even almost bend it into a circle). The shaft is not made out of PVC like some. Its almost like a stiff rubber. I was just wondering if there was another reason why you shouldn't you a stick squeegee?

EDIT: I think you just helped me to answer your problem. First, are you taking you flatline off every time a ball breaks to clean it with a pull through? Or are you pushing it through the elbow? Because everytime you take it off it can require quite a bit of adjusting to get just right again. I dont know though, you have a unique problem.

Stan the HitMan

04-24-2005, 03:39 AM

Originally posted by DeeBo

EDIT: I think you just helped me to answer your problem. First, are you taking you flatline off every time a ball breaks to clean it with a pull through? Or are you pushing it through the elbow? Because everytime you take it off it can require quite a bit of adjusting to get just right again. I dont know though, you have a unique problem.

98 or a5 flatline?

DeeBo

04-24-2005, 09:14 AM

I dont know what you mean? I have an A-5 flatline and I use a flexable stick type of sqeegee, and my brother, dad and uncle all have 98 flatlines and they almost never take them off because it is a pain to re-adjust them. They either pull a rope squeegee through the albow and out the barrel, or use a fleable stick type.

Stan the HitMan

04-24-2005, 09:32 AM

yes rope (cord) squeege should do fine. will be a bit harder to navigate it through the cyclone on an A5

Loren1711

04-24-2005, 11:22 AM

Yeah thats what I said in my previous post aobut using a cord squeegie.

But I always go through the elbow when I am in a game because it is a pain to re-allign. Usually inbetween games I take it off and squeegie it out for a better cleaning and thanks to Stan I can allign it fast now.

Loren1711

06-08-2005, 02:29 PM

Well since I got the barrel back from Tippmann I have played about 7 times. Each of the times I have shot about 1/2 a case of paint. I stopped using the crappy field paint, since my field has bring your own paint on Fridays now so I have shot only marbilizers.

Anyway I went last weekend and the barrel was back to its old self. Braking a ton of paint again. Each weekend the breaks continued to get worse but never to the point where it was harming my game. On the fourth or fifth day I would break 5 balls all day, and then by my 7th day at the field I would be breaking upwards of 200 balls.

Though in previous posts I have asked about the scratches on the top of the interior of my barrel and everyone has said they are nothing I believe they have something to do with my problem. When I first got my barrel back from Tippman there were no scratches in the barrel. After the first few games there were a few scratches but not egnough to cause any major problems. As the number of games I played increased the number of scratches also increased, as did the number of ball breaks.

I'll try to get a picture of the scratches up but i need to find a camera that can photograph the inside of a barel, and the only camera I have right now is a cell phone camera.

If anyone has any ideas about what I could do to solve this problem I would be very greatful.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Stan the HitMan

06-08-2005, 04:35 PM

Originally posted by Loren1711
Well since I got the barrel back from Tippmann I have played about 7 times. Each of the times I have shot about 1/2 a case of paint. I stopped using the crappy field paint, since my field has bring your own paint on Fridays now so I have shot only marbilizers.

Anyway I went last weekend and the barrel was back to its old self. Braking a ton of paint again. Each weekend the breaks continued to get worse but never to the point where it was harming my game. On the fourth or fifth day I would break 5 balls all day, and then by my 7th day at the field I would be breaking upwards of 200 balls.

this is a common and direct result of improper installation, more specifically the flatline not being all the way back into the adapter

Though in previous posts I have asked about the scratches on the top of the interior of my barrel and everyone has said they are nothing I believe they have something to do with my problem.

No, it is not part of the problem, it is a working feature of the flatline that helps the backspin, i repeat IT IS NOT PART OF THE PROBLEM

When I first got my barrel back from Tippman there were no scratches in the barrel. After the first few games there were a few scratches but not egnough to cause any major problems. As the number of games I played increased the number of scratches also increased, as did the number of ball breaks.

No, you sent it back to tippmann to get re sandblasted, that means to get re "scratched", it think you were seeing things, and unless paintballs are made of rock they don't scratch the barrel.

I'll try to get a picture of the scratches up but i need to find a camera that can photograph the inside of a barel, and the only camera I have right now is a cell phone camera.

If anyone has any ideas about what I could do to solve this problem I would be very greatful.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

autocockerJJ192

06-08-2005, 05:27 PM

hey i have a sort of similar prob like Loren, but a little more complicated. First is that my velocity did not go over 240ish, when i chronoed at a woodsball game. I didnt want to keep going incase the vel. screw would come out (and would air spray out of the hole?) well i got my cocker round x-mas, and hardly used my 98c w/ flatline ever since. so maybe the velocity has something to do with that? should i just keep unscrewing the vel. screw until i hit round 265ish?

then my next question is about breaking paint. i reely do love my flatline, but when there is even a little paint in there is shoots right and left like crazy. so at the big d-day game i recently went to i would be in the mud and in all kind of stuff and have to keep re-squiging my barrel (not the flatlines fault) but i bought a 12v revvy a while ago because i was breakin paint, and i thought that fixed the problem of chopping (i have a dbl. trig. so i can get it up pretty fast) but i had it on the full game and it seems abut every 20 shots would chop/break-iono. i had to keep finding cover and squeeging out my barrel. hopefully it was jus my revvy and i was shooting fast, but it als seemed to do it in single shots too, so i dont kno. im fairly certain its not the same prob. Loren had, but i dont reely kno. the paint was old so that may have something to do with it.

Stan the HitMan

06-09-2005, 10:12 AM

Originally posted by autocockerJJ192
hey i have a sort of similar prob like Loren, but a little more complicated. First is that my velocity did not go over 240ish, when i chronoed at a woodsball game. I didnt want to keep going incase the vel. screw would come out (and would air spray out of the hole?) Again, that could be a problem with improper installation (eg the flatline not being in the adapter all the way) or a spring problem, you could get the madman spring kit (under $10) and replace accordingly and see if there is a difference. well i got my cocker round x-mas, and hardly used my 98c w/ flatline ever since. so maybe the velocity has something to do with that? should i just keep unscrewing the vel. screw until i hit round 265ish? Optimum operating velocity for a flatline is 280's

then my next question is about breaking paint. i reely do love my flatline, but when there is even a little paint in there is shoots right and left like crazy. so at the big d-day game i recently went to i would be in the mud and in all kind of stuff and have to keep re-squiging my barrel (not the flatlines fault) but i bought a 12v revvy a while ago because i was breakin paint, and i thought that fixed the problem of chopping (i have a dbl. trig. so i can get it up pretty fast) but i had it on the full game and it seems abut every 20 shots would chop/break-iono. i had to keep finding cover and squeeging out my barrel. Problem with the installation, check out my walk through (link in my sig) hopefully it was jus my revvy and i was shooting fast, but it als seemed to do it in single shots too, so i dont kno. im fairly certain its not the same prob. Loren had, but i dont reely kno. the paint was old so that may have something to do with it. Remember, chopping and breaking are two different thing, the flatline has nothing to do with chops, also if you are shooting fast get hpa or anti siphon your co2 for best performance.

Loren1711

06-09-2005, 10:22 AM

Alright I really need to get a picture of these scratches of the inside of my barrel. When the barrel came back from Tippmann, yes the surface was like a fine sand paper, but there were no DEEP SILVER SCRATCHES in the interior of the barrel. These scratches are through the sand paper like surface.

The barrel is definately all the way into the adapter, I have a mallet in my gear bag and I tap it several times when I am installing the barrel.

Im going out of town for a week so I will be back some time next week. Thanks for all the help Stan I really appriciate it.

Oh yeah I called Tippmann again, and they said it is possible that there is some kindof problem with the adapter. They did not elaborate about this but they said to send my gun and everything in so they can determine the problem. However with this problem I am a little worried about my gun getting lost in the mail, and also the postage is probably not cheap.

Thanks, Loren