'Vivalution' Hopper modification

[Jonny - SZ#03]

I've been tinkering for an hour or so yesterday and after a few solder spots, a couple of dremel cuts to fit the guts I can safely say "MUHAHAHA IT'S ALIVE.... IT'S ALLLLIIIIVVVVVVVEEEEEE!!!!"

I've taken the Z-Board from the Evlution 3 (Egg 3) and used it to drive the motor on the Vlocity. Inside the Vlocity I've stripped it of it's board and altered it's power supply. It still has it's superior shell design, drive tray, motor and feed which is all pretty cramply squeezed into the back of the loader so a modification to the front of the shells was needed. The Z-board sits inside the front of the loader. From that the eyes have been removed and now sit freely from the board directly over the feed. The motor wiring has been extended and the battery harness shortened.

As this is still only the first prototype of the Vivalution mod I still have a few bits to fine tune and extensive testing to make sure it continues to feed effectively but if it works as well as it did when I was testing the boards out of the shell I'll offer my services to you guys.



why go back the way? Why use older tech on a hopper that's a lot newer?"
The long and short answer is simple. The Vlocity board is a pile of pap. The egg Z-board operated very simply and was not designed to be a force feed unit. The Vlocity is a force feed and as soon as you enter that territory you run into more problems. We don't need a forcefeed with the tournament caps in place, the egg shells sucked butt and the vlocity was a tight, light, comfortable profile so the merger seemed fitting. Gone are the days of the 'ER ER ER ER ER ER' clatter of the Vlocity spring tightenning and gone are the days of eating batteries. Simplicity is key.



"Why not buy a new loader?"
I'm a paintballer, like I have the money to do that! I had a Vlocity sitting spare, an Egg3 that was playing up externally on the lid and battery door so for the sake of a couple of hours I have a brand new loader that's taylored to me.

[Jamie D - SZ#27]

As you can probably tell by my text yesterday, im interested in this, im just on the look out for a cheap board.
We will put it through its paces and make sure all is well with it.
My velocity doesnt really work so might have a play arround with mine and see if i can fix it, if not then we will work on MkII of the mod i think.

[Hanby - SZ#47]

i think you should make me one but with the soft paddles out of the egg hopper, as like you say i love the egg batteries last ages on them just has a **** shell.

[Jimmyw]

haha ill just sit back and watch jonnys geniusness at work once again (: ... But wouldnt a vlocity runway be too big for egg paddles?

[Jonny - SZ#03]

funnily enough I was thinking about both these very same points you guys have made last night when I was supposed to be trying to sleep The raceway in theory is too large for the soft paddles which in theory will be nothing more than an agitator but the flipside is it should cut out any chance of jam and if they are long enough to catch the balls being fed into the bottom of the raceway they should still in theory push a steady stream though the feed like a semi forcefeed. So I think further tinkering is in order on our beloved mk2 I think the best way of knowing if it'll work is literally to try it and see if it works.



Should be a laugh...



until it explodes and someone loses an eye...

Oh yeah and if after some deliberation, bodging and general use of the 'fixing hammer' we can't get the vlocity to work a Mk2 is defo the way to go Jamie Do you still have that mad scientist costume?

[Jamie D - SZ#27]

It can be arranged, i have the glasses at home, just need the lab coat from work.....

I will see if i can accuire some PTFE sheet from work so we can make our own paddles, quite possibly the stuff we have may be too soft and too hard for what we need but getting the right thickness could be key.
Im off work ill at the mo but hopefully back tomorow so will see what i can get.

[Jonny - SZ#03]

Ooooh thats a great idea bro, I'm working on fabricating a small thumb wheel to secure on the bottom of the motor. It will effectively act as a rip drive and at least offer an option should you experience ball jam. Already the Mk2 is looking like a killer hopper.

[Jamie D - SZ#27]

If we put our heads together we can build monsters.......... Providing their is no drink involved that is lol then it just looks like a monster!

[Dan - SZ#02]

well, sounds all very interesting.. but you failed on one part as we were unable to mod my reloader B shells to fit a Z board in tho once im back for good in carlisle we should try it again

[Jamie D - SZ#27]

This is a completly different project Dan, this is using Velocity shells and Z board, it actualy worked! and very well at that. Jonny and Keith did a good job, but unfortunatly it fell at the final hurdle which is a shame.
This is why we are pulling our ideas together for MkII and fingers crossed we can get it to the point where it can be moddified in under an hour and cheap enough that we can offer the mod to the masses.

[Dan - SZ#02]

i know its a different project
im just sayin that particular hopper mod didnt work as planned.

[Jamie D - SZ#27]

fair enough, just the way you said you failed on one part, looked like you were meaning on this project lol

Well once we get the theory right, we should be able to put the set up in any shells we come across

[Dan - SZ#02]

ah i see. heh nah this project sounds very promising indeed

[Jonny - SZ#03]

Absolutely rips! The second one will be more economically engineered and include more of the parts that are unavailable but as far as a proof of concept goes, the prototype proved out right the hybrid is not only viable but seriously improves on both original loaders. It's gonna be really interesting to see where the series leads.



This video above clocks in at a feed rate of 21.29 balls per second just incase anyone is interested.

[Hanby - SZ#47]

lol i like the idea of the fixing hammer, however i dont think you should use it often maybe if you have burnt youself on the soldering iron a few to many times then you could justify using the hammer lol

[Jamie D - SZ#27]

The fixing hammer dominates all! For example, last training at Rockcliffe, it very much came in handy to completly remodel the field haha

The feed rate looks even more impressive in person mind you!

[Jonny - SZ#03]

Haha the fixing hammer knows no boundaries... it's like the Chuck Norris of the DIY world. Thors hammers got **** on it! It makes Jesus look like Paul Daniels! If Handy Andy had a fixing hammer "He'd hammer in the morning, he'd hammer in the evening, all over this land! He'd hammer out danger, he'd hammer out a warning, he'd hammer out love between his brothers and his sisters, because the fixing hammer's too fucking ace!" I could go on but I'm sure we all get the picture...

Yeah the drop feed was just to prove it actually works, it's crazy we managed to fit everything into such a small space. It took some serious dremel work to shave down the unnecessary parts to cram it all in but hey... it's worked!

I really put it through it's paces on Sunday and it only jammed twice all day (going through 2000 balls) which works out at a single ball jam every 6.25 hopper fulls - which is actually less than Adam and Jimmys prophecy's, and a much better track record than most high end loaders. The best bit is all it took was a quick shake the first time around and it would of been the same the second time around had it not been for the tight spot I was in in snake 4, so I just stuck my hand in and it loosened it straight away and we were back in business. With a thumb wheel it'll be a dream. All in all, for a prototype it works better than I could of ever expected.

[leigh]

i cant wait to see the end result in this project lads will be a good one when it gets there wont it the fixing hammer is the ****!!! lol..i would probs do more damage to myself then anything else lol..

[Jonny - SZ#03]

Ooooh not with the fixing hammer Leigh, the fixing hammer has been known to heal minor wounds when you hit yourself with it over the cut, graze or abrasion. I had a minor head wound once, several wacks with the fixing hammer and it cauterized the bleeding, repaired the soft tissue and even left me with a sweet aroma of freshly cut roses in my nostrals for the rest of the day. There wasn't even a scar!

(disclaimer - Please for the life of you don't hit yourself with a hammer kids, uncle Jonny just likes to make stupid jokes and references and doesn't appriciate jail time or major fines for assisted suicide or gbh because an eight year old decided to bludgeon and fracture their skull after reading about the Jesus hammer on here)

[leigh]

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha you really are nuts jonny mate that made me giggle though lol..