[assm]

is there a way we can tweak the etha to be softer on paint? i keep chopping in this cold weather with winter fill. can i mess with the LPR or anything?

[The_Creech_fr]

perhaps with tech T bolt ?

[Jack Wood]

Loader and Paint.

It always comes down to exactly the same things. Year in. Year out.

Reduce the force on your loader to the lowest it will go. If you're using a Rotor, back out the spring tention screw about 1.5-2 turns.

And of course, make sure that the paint you are using is winter formula. Particularly if you are playing around freezing. Or keep the paint in your car until you go out to play to reduce it's exposure to the cold.

[assm]

yeah i have the techt...ill mess with my rotor this weekend...thanks

[Nashorn]

From my experience, some other things to try (in addition to Jack's recommendations) that have worked for me in cold weather include using a bigger barrel bore and going to a cheaper paint (which usually has a thicker shell).

Also, you could also try going back to the stock bolt and spring. I'm just thinking openly here, but I think that it may be possible that with the lighter spring on the TechT MRT bolt, the forward bolt speed may be faster causing the paintballs to get smacked harder when the bolt goes forward. If you can play under similar conditions, and the problem reproduces itself, try swapping back to stock and see what happens.

[Apewar]

dunno how cold it was for you but i played in 4 celcius using valken graffiti and only broke 2 balls in 2500 shots. i carried 6 pods and left the rest in the truck till i needed to reload. My Etha is stock too

[assm]

my problem is field paint only

[MstrKey]

Rules for the cold, using any gun:

Reduce hopper stack tension. Brittle paint breaks easier. If the paint in the stack can't rebound upward a tad.......then it takes the force of the bolt full on. This leads to more broken paint. Slowing down your hoppers feed rate can also help to a degree, if you don't have the ability to adjust your stack tension. Just give yourself a good margin for error between the guns ROF and the hoppers feed rate.

Run a larger bore barrel. Any balls that do get clipped in the stack will be more likely to burst using a tighter bore. This isn't a huge factor but every bit helps. Remember metal shrinks in the cold The bore that worked on a warm day may not work as well on a cold one. Paint needs to expand a bit when fired, so give it room.

Increase dwell time. Efficiency doesn't mean squat if you're making soup, or can't hit anything because of a dirty barrel. If you raise your dwell you can lower your chamber pressure and put a little less stress on the ball. This can also reduce your bolt speed which helps prevent stack clipping.

Keep it warm. Winter paint normally only has a non-freezing fill. The shell is usually the same old shell, and will still get brittle in the cold. Try to keep your paint warm as long as possible. Ideally in a heated car, or even a cooler bag with some type of warming device. Cycle unused cold paint back to the warm zone after every game. A few degrees makes a big difference.

Raise your eye delay. Running your hopper dry here and there isn't a big deal when the paint is nice and flexible. The warm flexible shell can deal with minor impacts caused by irregular feeding. In the cold you don't have this option. A higher eye delay will make sure those random gaps in your ball stack wont' result in a clipped ball. It only takes one broken ball to screw up your game. Why take the chance? The effect on your ROF is going to be minimal and besides........shooting slower without breaks is far more valueable than shooting fast and making soup.

Paint quality. As someone already said, use a cheaper paint thats meant to take more abuse. In the summer you may not want to touch brand X because it bounces too much. In the cold, this paint is exactly what you need. It's more durable BUT the cold temperatures will probably ensure that it still breaks on target without issues. Just not in your gun.

ROF. Generally speaking.....the faster you shoot the more paint you'll probably break on a good day. In the cold the probability increases. Cap your ROF at a level lower than what you're used to. Spray painting at 15bps only helps the other team. Shooting consistent accurate ropes at 10bps wins games.


Obviously some tips are more important than others but after many many years of plaing in the cold, I've learned not to leave anything to chance.

[assm]

thanks for the time you spent on this buddy

[Nashorn]

OP: Will you be playing this weekend? If so, will it be cold? It would be great if any of the suggestions work for you and you could let us know how it went.

[assm]

yeah im going today(saturday)

[assm]

yeah adjusting my rotor and rate of fire was the most important changes...

[MstrKey]

I've seen a lot of shooting vids of the Etha and it seems right now they can be a bit tough on paint. If you're playing outdoors I really suggest you find a way to keep the paint warmer if at all possible. That will help more than anything else.

I'd also bump the dwell up a few milliseconds and then rechrony. The techt bolt......while running a lower pressure also has crazy bolt speed. That could also cause some slipping issues. You may want to bring your stock bolt with you just to try it out if you still have problems. The stock bolt is designed to move slower and prevent this issue. Either way, even with the techt a dwell increase will lower that bolt speed and improve the odds.

Let us know how the changes help you if any lol.

[-AsianCamo-]

Yeah I just got back from playing with my etha in 50 degree with rain. It chops once in awhile but nothing crazy

[charlesw695]

I played this past sunday and had about 1 out of 3 balls break. I adjusted the dwell, bigger bore barrel, switched out hoppers (from z2 to halo2), and put stock bolt and spring back in. From what I did, the TechT bolt was better on the paint. The Z2 was better on the paint. I went from .679 bore to .693 with no change in how many broke.

Towards the end of the day I just said screw it and played with a friends Axe which only broke 1 out of 10 balls.

[Nicky T]

You might also find this thread useful:
http://www.pbnation.com/showthread.php?t=3891679

@Calvman: any chance of stickying the linked thread?

Nicky T