Post by Mason on Jun 23, 2008 15:26:22 GMT -6
*NOTE: This is not my information, I did not type this, I take no credit in the making of this, it is from: www.answers.com
Here is some information about paintballs, and how they are made.
Raw Materials
The paint used for paintballs is soluble in water, so that it washes easily out of players' clothes. It is nontoxic, as well, in case a player is hit in the mouth and accidentally swallows the paint. The basic materials for the paint are mineral oils, food coloring, calcium, ethylene glycol, and iodine. The paint is encapsulated in a bubble made from gelatin. This is the same material used in encapsulated medicines, such as many pain killers and cold treatments, and in liquid vitamins, such as vitamin E.
The Manufacturing Process
Making the paint
The paint for paintballs is a specialized product because it is both water-soluble and biodegradable, and has been developed for optimum characteristics in the encapsulating process. Typically, the paint is made at a specialty paint facility, then shipped to the encapsulating plant. A very large manufacturer may combine the two operations.
Encapsulation
Encapsulating the paint is done with specialized equipment. When the game of paintball was first getting started, manufacturing was done at pharmaceutical companies, which already had the equipment in place. As the industry evolved, paintball manufacturers furnished their own factories. The large machines cost millions of dollars. At a large facility, making paintballs is done as a continuous process, with the machines active seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Several hundred workers staff the factory. Most are required to wear specialized clothing and footwear, as well as caps to cover their hair, in order to ensure a clean and relatively dustless work area. To make the capsules, workers load two wide strips of softened gelatin into the encapsulating machine. The strips move through two counter-rotating drums. These drums are lined with pockets or dimples that form the paintball casing. As the gelatin is pushed into the dimple, the machine automatically injects a precisely measured amount of paint into the cavity. It also automatically seals the two strips together, encapsulating the paint.
Tumbling and drying
The gelatin is soft and warm at this point. The balls must be cooled and hardened in a tumbling machine. This machine gently shakes the paintballs around. The rotating action of the tumbler spins the paintballs, so as they dry, they end up uniformly round.
Drying
Next, workers empty the tumblers and place the paintballs on shelves. The shelves are stacked on wheeled racks, and the paintballs are left to air dry. The amount of time the balls dry varies from factory to factory, and this, along with the exact formula of the gelatin, time in the tumbler, and many other aspects of paintball manufacturing, is regarded as a trade secret.
Inspection and packaging
When the balls are thoroughly dried, they are ready for packaging. Workers move the balls to the packaging area. They visually inspect them for an obvious flaws. A more rigorous quality check is performed on some of the batch. Workers load the balls into hoppers, and a machine automatically packages them by weight. Paintballs are sold by the case, which is supposed to hold 2,500 balls. But because the machine makes up the case by weight, the actual number in the case usually varies from approximately 2,490-2,510 balls.
Quality Control
A large paintball facility makes paintballs in a continuous process, but the process is still broken up into numbered lots, so that the manufacturers can perform an exact quality control process. A certain percentage of each lot is set aside for inspection and testing. After drying, a worker performs a visual check to find any obvious abnormalities. Then the balls are tested further. Workers place them in testing machines that measure the balls' weight and diameter. A drop test is done to test for brittleness. A properly manufactured paintball should burst on impact, but not sooner, so this is a very important step. After the paintballs have passed all these tests, some are taken to a target range and shot out of paintball guns as a final all-around field test.
Byproducts/Waste
Because paintballs are, for the most part, used outside in open areas, they are specifically manufactured to be biodegradable. Both the paint and the gelatin dissolve in water, so the waste from spent paintballs washes way in the rain.
*NOTE: This is not my information, I did not type this, I take no credit in the making of this, it is from: www.answers.com
Here is some information about paintballs, and how they are made.
Raw Materials
The paint used for paintballs is soluble in water, so that it washes easily out of players' clothes. It is nontoxic, as well, in case a player is hit in the mouth and accidentally swallows the paint. The basic materials for the paint are mineral oils, food coloring, calcium, ethylene glycol, and iodine. The paint is encapsulated in a bubble made from gelatin. This is the same material used in encapsulated medicines, such as many pain killers and cold treatments, and in liquid vitamins, such as vitamin E.
The Manufacturing Process
Making the paint
The paint for paintballs is a specialized product because it is both water-soluble and biodegradable, and has been developed for optimum characteristics in the encapsulating process. Typically, the paint is made at a specialty paint facility, then shipped to the encapsulating plant. A very large manufacturer may combine the two operations.
Encapsulation
Encapsulating the paint is done with specialized equipment. When the game of paintball was first getting started, manufacturing was done at pharmaceutical companies, which already had the equipment in place. As the industry evolved, paintball manufacturers furnished their own factories. The large machines cost millions of dollars. At a large facility, making paintballs is done as a continuous process, with the machines active seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Several hundred workers staff the factory. Most are required to wear specialized clothing and footwear, as well as caps to cover their hair, in order to ensure a clean and relatively dustless work area. To make the capsules, workers load two wide strips of softened gelatin into the encapsulating machine. The strips move through two counter-rotating drums. These drums are lined with pockets or dimples that form the paintball casing. As the gelatin is pushed into the dimple, the machine automatically injects a precisely measured amount of paint into the cavity. It also automatically seals the two strips together, encapsulating the paint.
Tumbling and drying
The gelatin is soft and warm at this point. The balls must be cooled and hardened in a tumbling machine. This machine gently shakes the paintballs around. The rotating action of the tumbler spins the paintballs, so as they dry, they end up uniformly round.
Drying
Next, workers empty the tumblers and place the paintballs on shelves. The shelves are stacked on wheeled racks, and the paintballs are left to air dry. The amount of time the balls dry varies from factory to factory, and this, along with the exact formula of the gelatin, time in the tumbler, and many other aspects of paintball manufacturing, is regarded as a trade secret.
Inspection and packaging
When the balls are thoroughly dried, they are ready for packaging. Workers move the balls to the packaging area. They visually inspect them for an obvious flaws. A more rigorous quality check is performed on some of the batch. Workers load the balls into hoppers, and a machine automatically packages them by weight. Paintballs are sold by the case, which is supposed to hold 2,500 balls. But because the machine makes up the case by weight, the actual number in the case usually varies from approximately 2,490-2,510 balls.
Quality Control
A large paintball facility makes paintballs in a continuous process, but the process is still broken up into numbered lots, so that the manufacturers can perform an exact quality control process. A certain percentage of each lot is set aside for inspection and testing. After drying, a worker performs a visual check to find any obvious abnormalities. Then the balls are tested further. Workers place them in testing machines that measure the balls' weight and diameter. A drop test is done to test for brittleness. A properly manufactured paintball should burst on impact, but not sooner, so this is a very important step. After the paintballs have passed all these tests, some are taken to a target range and shot out of paintball guns as a final all-around field test.
Byproducts/Waste
Because paintballs are, for the most part, used outside in open areas, they are specifically manufactured to be biodegradable. Both the paint and the gelatin dissolve in water, so the waste from spent paintballs washes way in the rain.
*NOTE: This is not my information, I did not type this, I take no credit in the making of this, it is from: www.answers.com