FAQ Section.

What is the Hall Effect Sensor Kit?

The Hall Effect Sensor (HES for short) Kit is an assembly I put together that replaces the stock Intimidator microswitch and trigger return spring with a Hall Effect sensor and rare earth magnets. This provides a smooth, quick, light, snappy trigger, while removing the “mouse click” feel most people do not care for.

How did you come up with it?

I had the idea back last year when I first started tinkering around with a board I was developing as a replacement to the stock Intimidator circuit board. I sold the board design to another company, but kept the HES idea in my head. I finally had a chance to mess around with it a little more a few months back, and wallah, here it is.

I saw on PBNation that you posted the design/details up in a message thread. Why did you do that?

Because I think everyone is entitled to the best marker they can have, and money should not be a factor. I feel that buy sharing such information freely, paintball can grow even faster, advance technically, and hopefully, a little cheaper. Look at the Linux community as a great example of this. I didn’t want a company coming along sometime in the future with the same basic design, and then selling them for a nice huge profit margin, just because “its for paintball”.

But you could have patented the idea and made a bunch of money! Why not do that?

Paintball and electronics is a hobby of mine, not a business. I am a software engineer by profession, and it leaves me little time for anything else. As I said above, I felt it should be free information for all.

So why are you making and selling kits?

Even though it is a simple mod/upgrade, some people are technically challenged. I believe this should not exclude them from trying this out on their equipment. So I make up kits people can purchase so they are not left out.

You are currently selling this kits for 20 bucks each. That’s not much profit.

You are correct. Like I said, I am not in it for the money, otherwise the info would not be available for free. By the time you figure in part costs, shipping, and paint cost for testing (I test each kit myself in my backup classic), and the time it takes to get them down the post office for shipping, I make about 40-50 cents off of each kit.

Are there any plans to mass produce these kits?

Nope. I make each kit by hand on a per order basis. Figure in it takes about an hour to make and test each kit, so I spend enough time at night on this project. I have no desire to worry about getting parts to a fab-house, and chasing them around to get this built and in bags, etc. My plans are to only make kits for those that can’t do the mod themselves.

Browsing around online, I see others that took your design and all selling it themselves. Doesn’t this anger you?

Yes, but mostly, no. I can’t make enough kits for everyone myself, so its good to see others filling in the slack. As stated several times already, I am not in it for the money. Its good to see these kits being offered for about the same price as what I am selling mine for. Only thing that bothers me is that none of them came forward to ask if they could do it, or mentioned credit to me. It is kind of like asking a girl’s father for permission to marry her. Maybe it is just my ego, or my old age talking. J

Got any other ideas in the works?

Several actually. But I am not going to share them with anyone at this time. J

Contact me for any immediate questions.

Last Updated: 6/12/03