HenryG
04-07-2005, 09:19 AM
Making your CO2 run better
If problems with CO2 are causing your paintball gun to perform less than well, you should consider getting an expansion chamber. This device, often called an x-chamber, connects from your tank to your gun. An expansion chamber will help stabilize the pressure coming into the gun, which will give your paintballs a more consistent speed. However, an x chamber doesn’t directly affect pressure, the way a regulator does.
How expansion chambers works
Liquid CO2 inside your tank needs heat to turn into a gas, which powers your paintball gun. The readiest source of heat is the air around you (it may sometimes feel cold, but it is way warmer than liquid CO2.) Expansion chambers allow that heat transfer to occur.
The space inside the expansion chamber provides room for CO2 to expand and supply your gun with enough gas volume This decreases the ‘spiking’
that can cause the velocity of your paint to jump up and down, and allows your gun to perform better.
Any liquid CO2 that gets into a vertical expansion chamber just drains safely down to the bottom, instead of entering your gun where it can freeze and damage internal parts.
Before you buy, know what to look for
An expansion chamber with a lot of surface area (for instance, with ridges instead of a smooth surface), will work better than another x-chamber that is the same size but has a smoother surface (less surface area). The extra surface area brings in more heat from the atmosphere to help turn liquid CO2 into gas.
Expansion chambers are connected from your tank in different ways. Vertical expansion chambers that double as grips can use your hand’s heat to help turn liquid CO2 into gas, in addition to making sure that no liquid CO2 could somehow make it up to the gun.
Expansion chambers actually have several small chambers inside of them (sometimes referred to as stages or cells; thus “4 chambered” or “7 stage”). Up to a point, the more chambers, the better the unit will work.
Metals are good heat conductors (remember science class?), so expansion chambers made out of metal are good at turning liquid CO2 into gas. Most x-chambers are made at least partially of aluminum.
If problems with CO2 are causing your paintball gun to perform less than well, you should consider getting an expansion chamber. This device, often called an x-chamber, connects from your tank to your gun. An expansion chamber will help stabilize the pressure coming into the gun, which will give your paintballs a more consistent speed. However, an x chamber doesn’t directly affect pressure, the way a regulator does.
How expansion chambers works
Liquid CO2 inside your tank needs heat to turn into a gas, which powers your paintball gun. The readiest source of heat is the air around you (it may sometimes feel cold, but it is way warmer than liquid CO2.) Expansion chambers allow that heat transfer to occur.
The space inside the expansion chamber provides room for CO2 to expand and supply your gun with enough gas volume This decreases the ‘spiking’
that can cause the velocity of your paint to jump up and down, and allows your gun to perform better.
Any liquid CO2 that gets into a vertical expansion chamber just drains safely down to the bottom, instead of entering your gun where it can freeze and damage internal parts.
Before you buy, know what to look for
An expansion chamber with a lot of surface area (for instance, with ridges instead of a smooth surface), will work better than another x-chamber that is the same size but has a smoother surface (less surface area). The extra surface area brings in more heat from the atmosphere to help turn liquid CO2 into gas.
Expansion chambers are connected from your tank in different ways. Vertical expansion chambers that double as grips can use your hand’s heat to help turn liquid CO2 into gas, in addition to making sure that no liquid CO2 could somehow make it up to the gun.
Expansion chambers actually have several small chambers inside of them (sometimes referred to as stages or cells; thus “4 chambered” or “7 stage”). Up to a point, the more chambers, the better the unit will work.
Metals are good heat conductors (remember science class?), so expansion chambers made out of metal are good at turning liquid CO2 into gas. Most x-chambers are made at least partially of aluminum.