How are Paintballs Made

 What is a Paintball?

Paintball is a sport in which the aim of the participants is to eliminate people on the other team by shooting at them paintballs. These so-called paintballs are spherical gelatin capsules primarily containing polyethylene glycol, other non-toxic and water-soluble substances and dye. The paintball can be aimed and shot from a compressed gas powered marker.

Paintball is a sporting game that draws the attention of many people and over 10 million people alone in the United States. In fact, statistics show that paintball is a safe game to play; even safer than tennis.

How to Make a Paintball?

As mentioned above, a paintball is a gelatin capsule, which has a thin skin with colored paint inside. They resemble large capsules and are non-toxic. The paint used in the balls are biodegradable, water soluble and easily rinse out of clothing and can be removed or washed from human skin with plain water. When a paintball hits a player, it leaves behind a brightly colored splat that can easily be removed with water and soap before the next game starts.

Paintballs are referred to as softgels, and can only be made on softgel encapsulating machines. These machines are expensive but are efficient enough to manufacture paintballs at a low rate. The following steps illustrate how a softgel encapsulation machine works and how paintballs are made:

Step One

Gelatin is first melted and then this hot gelatin is molded into two thin gelatin ribbons. Each of the ribbon is made to pass over a rotating die.

Step Two

The dies are designed so that they can form capsules of standard shapes and sizes, which give paintballs their actual look. Softgels can be spherical like balls or even shaped unusually. Each die presses against the other as they are rotated.

Step Three

As the dies are made to meet, both shells are filled with paint, which is injected into the area between the sheets.

Step Four

The die is still rotated with both pressing against one another to form a filled capsule. The seam on the capsule depicts where exactly the two sheets had met.

Step Five

Finally, the sealed gelatin capsule is taken out of the rotating die. The capsule is dropped out of the machine and it becomes a paintball, which is rubbery and large enough to be used to shoot.

Step Six

These bouncy capsules are placed in trays for drying and allowing the gelatin to shrink during the drying process.

Technicians who manufacture paintballs usually check or monitor the encapsulation machines. They randomly check the quality of paintballs to see if they meet the desired specifications and conduct a final check as soon as the balls have dried up. When ready, the paintballs are packed and moved onwards.