While many of us love the sound of a gel blaster gun, others might prefer it quieter. I personally find it to be part of the experience – the noise adds to the realism of the game, it’s like the soundtrack to our battles.
However, as my friends and I were prepping for a gel blaster tournament at our local arena, Erik threw a curveball, “Can’t we make our blasters quieter? The noise might give away our positions in a sneak attack.”
His point struck a chord. The arena was a maze of shadows, perfect for surprise attacks, but one loud shot and the element of surprise was toast.
“Well, maybe a silencer could do the trick. Or some modification with the blasters,” I suggested. With that, we got to work to figure out how to make our Orbeez guns quieter. Let me give you a quick rundown of what we found out.
5 Ways To Make A Gel Blaster Quieter Than Usual
Let’s get one thing straight – you cannot make your gel gun completely silent. However, a bit of tinkering and adjustments can at least reduce the noise. Here are some tested tips that you might find helpful.
1. Keep The Gearbox Well-shimmed
The noise mainly comes from the gears moving inside. A finely adjusted gearbox is much quieter compared to one with loose or badly positioned shims. Not only does bad shimming create a racket, but it also strains the motor, wears out parts quicker, and slows down the firing rate.
So, if your gun is too noisy, disassemble your blaster, open up the gearbox to check on the shims, and tighten them.
2. Fix The Angle Of Engagement
The angle of engagement (AOE) refers to the angles at which two gears mesh. In this case, we’re talking about the AOE at which the sector gear engages with the first tooth of the Orbeez gun’s piston, and the pinion gear at the end of the motor shaft engages with the bevel gear of the gearbox.
Fine-tune this angle of engagement to ensure that the gears slide into place seamlessly – improper meshing can cause a lot of noise.
3. Pad The Piston
The “slap” of the piston is another big reason why gel ball blasters can get so loud. While certain splat guns come with rubber padding on the piston head to muffle the impact, many don’t. Take a peek at your piston to see if it’s cushioned.
If not, consider getting a nylon or metal piston head with some rubber padding and install it to dial down the noise. This is also crucial to note if you’re switching to a piston with a metal gear rack.
4. Make Adjustments To The Barrel
We discovered that having the inner barrel protrude out of the outer barrel can have a noise reduction effect, but make sure to stabilize it with a rubber O-ring or heat sink. A slightly longer barrel can also help reduce the noise by ensuring that the piston is still under resistance when it makes contact with the cylinder head.
5. Use A Suppressor
Regular suppressors or silencers alone don’t really do much in terms of toning down the noise for gel gun blasters. The only exception is a suppressor with a foam insert since the foam absorbs a bit of noise and vibration.
While not many suppressors come with foam inserts, the good news is you can easily craft one yourself. When silencing our gel blasters for the tournament, we simply made tubes of foam and fitted them inside the suppressors to make it work.
Also Read: Gel Blaster Troubleshooting Guide
How Effective Are Gel Blaster Suppressors? – My Two Cents On Them
I was pretty hyped about trying out the Backwater Suppressor with its 14 mm reverse thread on my SplatRBall SRB1200. We were all hoping it would mimic the impact of a suppressor on a real firearm. Regrettably, it fell short, providing minimal noise reduction. Though it sounded a bit different, there was barely any noticeable hush.
I tested this suppressor with both gas-powered and electric gel blasters (read comparison), and the results were the same. A bit of research revealed that this was the case for almost any suppressor lacking a foam insert.
Nevertheless, gel blaster suppressors aren’t entirely without merit – they do lend a sleek appearance to the guns, giving off some serious Hitman vibes. Honestly, my gas-powered Desert Eagle blaster looked scarily real with the suppressor and gave off Hitman vibes.
So, unless you manage to snag a suppressor with a foam insert or can insert one yourself, keep in mind that it would primarily be a visual enhancement. This is possibly because a suppressor is designed to muffle the noise made by the gunpowder exploding in a real firearm – it doesn’t have much effect on the noise caused by the gears or HPA.
Even with all the tweaks and changes we implemented on our Orbeez blaster guns, the improvement was somewhat marginal. I have also consulted with other players and discussed the matter in forums, but yet, I am not fully satisfied with the result.
If you’re someone who takes competitive play seriously and craves every tactical advantage possible, then by all means, go ahead, follow my tips, and delve into making your gel blaster quieter than usual.
Let me know your secret trick in the comments!
