Homemade Paintballs

[littlebro05]

Hey Guys, (dunno where to put it, but seems more relevant to bbs / pellets, and i have NOT tried this yet)

While in school I was thinking of ideas on getting materials for my BBMG's until something struck me. Recently my friends had gone paintballing at a paintball field (I was invited, but was saving for later inventions). I thought of a possible and cheap way to produce my own homemade paintballs. Of course I can't find paint that will come off easy (Just going to wear dirty clothes), but I need one prime utensil or tool in creating them. I need a spherical mould.

Ok I've looked at lead sinker moulds, their bloody expensive. (If anyone has any suggestions that I can get bulk makeable 9mm lead sinker moulds I'll appreciate it). But any suggestions of easy to make / find moulds?

Here's the basic plan of making them.

Materials:
- Paint (The type that you use in kindergarten and when dried up it becomes a powdery substance)
- Cooking Oil (That will keep the moisture in the paint, I hope and make it splat)
- PVC Glue (The Outer Shell)
- Mould of any size
- Flour (or anything the paintballs can sit on when PVC glue is drying, or else it'l stick to the ground and will break if you try to pull on it)

How To Make:

1. Mix Paint and Cooking Oil (Don't know the ratio but leave at 50:50) until the paint is still visable
2. Pour Mixture into moulds and put them in the freezer for about 4hours or overnight (or when ever it freezes)
3. Pour PVC Glue into a tray or paper and spread out the glue
4. Get the paintballs that were frozen and roll over the glue thoroughly, this will create a thin layer for the outer shell so the balls do not deform.
5. Put the glue covered paintballs on the flour and sprinkle the flour on top.
6. IF you want air dry it with something but other wise wait for it to dry. (Precaution: Not sure if it will lose shape while drying so might want to put the frozen paintballs in the freezer)

And there you have it, my thoughts of making homemade paintballs. And yes I cannot purchase paintballs since I'm an Aussie. Plus this will be much cheaper than just buying paintballs.

Any suggestions on mould or if this will even work?

[trollhameran]

Sounds like a good idea, not sure if the glue would dry in the freezer, so I think you'd have to put the balls back in the mold once you have put glue on them. I dont know what you could use for a mold, maybe Epoxy, or bondo, cover a lead weight the size you want your mold in the epoxy or bondo then add some until it makes a nice size mold, then once its dry cut around it with a saw and separate the two halves, and there you have to halves of a mold.

[CasinoVanart]

Sounds like a good idea, not sure if the glue would dry in the freezer, so I think you'd have to put the balls back in the mold once you have put glue on them. I dont know what you could use for a mold, maybe Epoxy, or bondo, cover a lead weight the size you want your mold in the epoxy or bondo then add some until it makes a nice size mold, then once its dry cut around it with a saw and separate the two halves, and there you have to halves of a mold.

Not really, you have to account for the saw blade width, you would end up with "squashed" balls.

I doubt this idea would work, glue tends to NOT dry when moisture is present. It also needs air to dry- double wammy.
Feel free to prove me wrong, happens every day!!

[trollhameran]

That would depend on what kind of saw you used, my Japanese tenon saw has a kerf of 0.015".

But I am fairly sure you are right about the glue not drying , perhaps you could put cling film in the mold before the paint then when you take the frozen balls out, they would have a layer of cling film over them to prevent moisture from stopping the glue drying.

[littlebro05]

That would depend on what kind of saw you used, my Japanese tenon saw has a kerf of 0.015".

But I am fairly sure you are right about the glue not drying , perhaps you could put cling film in the mold before the paint then when you take the frozen balls out, they would have a layer of cling film over them to prevent moisture from stopping the glue drying.

Hmm, I was thinking about the pvc glue drying. But you reckon the rate of it drying will hasten if you cover the thin layer of glue with flour. It was one of my steps up above. And when flour hits something moist it hardens.

And what about getting 2 layers of balsa wood. And sandwich the "Ball Bearing / Sinker). Using pressure from both sides to make indents?

Might work though balls won't be very spherical i don't think.

[trollhameran]

I think the flour would help, although im sure there is something better than flour you could use, can you get general purpose glue in a powder form, I no you can get powdered glue for wood, if you could get some for other materials that would perhaps work better as the pvc would soak up the powdered glue, rather than having a layer of flower on your paintballs.

I also thought about bashing a lead weight between two bits of wood, it would be crude but I think it would work.

[littlebro05]

I think the flour would help, although im sure there is something better than flour you could use, can you get general purpose glue in a powder form, I no you can get powdered glue for wood, if you could get some for other materials that would perhaps work better as the pvc would soak up the powdered glue, rather than having a layer of flower on your paintballs.

I also thought about bashing a lead weight between two bits of wood, it would be crude but I think it would work.

Hey looky here, just googled powdered glue and came up with this...

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-di ... t-glue.htm

White Glue - This is a clear-drying glue. Some formulas are toxic, but non-toxic varieties are also available. It is useful for both porous and semi-porous surfaces.

porous and semi-porous surfaces... Sounds good for frozen paint, although not even sure what white glue is.

[trollhameran]

Im not sure what white glue is, but I think it could be some sort of craft glue.

The shells of paintballs are actually made if gelatin, so maybe you could make your frozen paint balls then cover them in gelatin then freeze them again to set the gelatin.

[grumpy]

if i was going to make my own paintballs this is how i would do it .
first coat the iside of the mold with a release agent , then a couple of coats of wax or parafin, then put the two halves together and pour in some wax or parafin and imedetely pour it back out. this will seal the two halves together, fill with paint and fill hole with wax let cool and remove from mold . to make the shell more durable coat the balls with either acrillic or enamel paint. this is the mix that i use for my grenades and land mines, to 16 oz tempera paint add 64oz water. to the paint and water mixe add 4 to 5 teaspoons xanthan gum, be sure to mix all the lumps out. you can adjust amount of xanthan gum to get a thicker or thinner paint mix. you can also add scent or glitter wichever you prefer or both.

[psycix]

I like the idea of freezing paint and then adding a layer of glue around it.
You could use some very fast-curing glue or epoxy resin or, molten candle wax.
Freeze the balls of paint up, and quickly put em trough some molten candle wax.
I know the outside of the ball of paint will melt again, but if you're lucky, the wax will get solid fast enough due to the cold ball!

[POLAND_SPUD]

wouldn't it be more expensive than simply buying them ? I suppose it would (why do I answer my own questions )

It's cool to make something yourself but hmmm it going to be very time/money consuming

[Antonio]

wouldn't it be more expensive than simply buying them ? I suppose it would (why do I answer my own questions )

It's cool to make something yourself but hmmm it going to be very time/money consuming

I agree with poland spud lol. I dont think u will enjoy making 200+ homemade paintballs, to atleast use ehm for a game or something. I bought a tube of reballs (100) for 30E. They work great:)

[SEAKING9006]

Trust me, ammo making is not fun. My dad reloads ammo for shooting sports, and he can only do it in the fall and winter due to the hot weather down here in Texas. If you can build a system to make them automatically/with as little effort as possible, go for it. I've been thinking up a system to mass produce flour-filled shells for large caliber (2.5" and up, mostly 3") guns for stuff like artillery or mock tank battles with heavily modified golf carts. And until I work out exactly how to mass produce such shells, I am not going to make any. This is also precisely why I rarely bring out the CA3 anymore.

[littlebro05]

wouldn't it be more expensive than simply buying them ? I suppose it would (why do I answer my own questions )

It's cool to make something yourself but hmmm it going to be very time/money consuming

BTW!!! lol I'm Aussie, I wouldn't of brought this topic up if I could already purchase my own paintballs. And It won't actually cost much, but yes very time consuming. I hope to make like 25-50pbs per 2 days. I worked out the costs, it would probably cost me like. $10 to make 500-1000pbs (depending on what size i make it as).

I know what paintballs are made of, but if you just use typical normal paint, the paint inside will eventually dry out. That's where cooking oil comes into play. It's evaporation rate is not as fast since it's a more denser material / liquid.

@grumpy. Hmm that seems all to complex. I only needed 3 materials. but thanks for the suggestion

@psycix. That isn't actually a bad idea using wax. although i'd probably burn my hand rolling it around in a layer of hot wax lol. And the paintballs will hopefully not melt.

Although the idea I'm using might not work, any ideas where I can make or purchase cheap moulds from... btw lead sinker moulds are very expensive.

[daxspudder]

oil doesnt freeze... not in household freezers that is..