That was fast.

I'd REALLY like it to be on the 6th, since that's my 18th birthday, and it would be pretty cool to have a 'Geddon on my 18th birthday.

Yo. I'm a little out of the loop as far as SoCal wars go, but what exactly do you mean by "super" and "sub-optimal" domes? More importantly, 1/4" slingshot ammo and hot glue domes, yea or nay?

Google Maps tells me it'd be about 7 hours to Glendora, so I'm not saying I've got a good chance of going, but if my schedule's open and I can scrounge up some gas and possibly hotel money I'd love to go.

Basically, a super dome is ridiculously aerodynamic and, according to our standards, shoots too far and hard compared to other glue dome types. The tip is effectively a perfect hemisphere surrounding the weight.

I think I'm confusing sub-optimal domes with something else, so I'll leave that to someone else.

Shit was fun, yo

Pros:
Shooting that one girl in the middle finger from across the field as she flipped off Dom

First time in 7 years of active nerfing that my 2K hasn't broken at all during a war. Definitely because of the carbon fiber flames. There's clearly no other explanation.

It was great seeing all of you again for the first time in quite a while, seeing as I'm stuck in Hoth, NY most of the year and can't even make the East Coast events, much less the ones in socal.

Cons:
I'm still fucking sore. Jesus christ I haven't run that much in a loooooong time.

My only gripes are a distaste for thrown melee (roboman and I almost caught a tomahawk to the face)

I caught one to the neck. 0/10 would recommend.

Not sure if I'll be staying in CA long enough to make it this year. I'll try.

The diaphragm in the 3K goo gauge has much more surface area and is roughly the same thickness, so it takes much less pressure to rupture it. I left the gauge in the 2K primarily out of laziness.

Yep. Whether I go forward with the die casting or not depends on how much they charge me for the first run.

Honestly, removing the goo gauge isn't really all that necessary, at least in my experience. I was using stock tanks for quite a while, even after I started selling the aluminum ones, mostly because I couldn't keep up with demand and didn't have time to make one for myself. I think I drained one goo gauge out of the ~7 2Ks I've used in the last 5 years or so. Usually, other things tend to break or develop leaks before the goo gauge will, even if you're using it around 7 pumps like I usually do. If you do plug it, a hot glue plug will be more than adequate at 5-6 pumps.

Also, you may be able to get an aluminum tank sooner than I thought, and a better one than the ones I was selling previously, depending on when I get the quote back from the die casting company and how much a run of 100 part sets is. The new ones will have a #10-32 UNF female port on the back cap, so you can use standard tube fittings (like quick connects) instead of hose barbs that have all kinds of problems with leaks if you don't use a hose clamp. If it goes the way I'm hoping it will, I'll be posting in the next week or two with more details about that.

Of course, you could just apply a dab of ABS pipe cement to the two surfaces, and they would be inseparable. I did this, originally with hot glue, but ended up removing the door entirely, since it was getting in the way.

You should use one of these for your control system. I've been using them for a few years now, and they are really easy to program, and have 16 I/O pins. Also, you could use servos as your actuators.

With your third servo, you could probably create a mechanism to automatically cut the foam, so you don't have to. A straight razor could probably be sandwiched between two beams, allowing far a quick and easy blade change. I'll have a sketchup model up as soon as I can figure out how to upload it...

EDIT: Gah, never mind about the sketchup model. None of the file upload sites I found will let me upload a Sketchup file, and Google won't let me add it to the 3D model warehouse.

ANOTHER EDIT: For some reason, I didn't watch the video before posting, and I didn't notice that it already had a blade on it. You could just increase the blade travel, making it into an actual foam cutter, instead of just a measuring device. Still, though, nice work!!

roboman- When I was programing it I did have it cutting the foam all the way,
but the blade frequently caught on the foam and ripped it. So I just went with the foam measurer.

You may have more luck with a guillotine-style "chopping arm," that uses a larger blade, and chops vertically, rather than horizontally.

I should be there.

 

2009-STYLE

 

Where:
Tincher Preparatory School
1701 Petaluma Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90815

When:
Saturday, August 10th 13th
10~4

 

Fuck yeah, nerfing like it's 2009! 

 

Rules are fairly typical for SCUN events. This location is awesome. This is the August SCUN war. All darts, excluding 'super domes' are allowed. Regarding blaster bans - basically, don't be a dick. If it's too powerful, we'll ask you to stop using it, and if you have any concerns, feel free to PM me. Singled 4Bs are not allowed unless they have a hopper and OPRV. Titans must have an absolver. Homemade airguns are allowed if they aren't stupidly powerful. It is not recommended that anyone under 13 shows up, and if you are under 13 and you show up without a parent that stays the whole time, you'll be kindly asked to leave. Hopefully we won't get rained out like last year.

 

You are allowed to block anything 5/8" in diameter and under with your blaster. Large ammo (arrows, balls) counts as a shield breaker. 

 

I'm allowing glue domes (not 'super' domes) again unless a large majority of people don't want that to happen. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or concerns about darts you plan on using. 

 

Because
Roboman
Always
Deserves
Fun,
Extra
Summer
Time

Where:
Tincher Preparatory School
1701 Petaluma Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90815

When:
Saturday, July 11 18th NOW
10~4

Facebook Event Link

(Copy/pasted from G.L.U.E. D.O.M.E.S. last year with slight edits)

Hosting this before I leave for my co-op at Sikorsky on the 25th.

Rules are fairly typical for SCUN events. This location is awesome. This is the July SCUN war. All darts, excluding 'super domes' are allowed. Regarding blaster bans - basically, don't be a dick. If it's too powerful, we'll ask you to stop using it, and if you have any concerns, feel free to PM me. Singled 4Bs are not allowed unless they have a hopper and OPRV. Titans must have an absolver. Homemade airguns are allowed if they aren't stupidly powerful. It is not recommended that anyone under 13 shows up, and if you are under 13 and you show up without a parent that stays the whole time, you'll be kindly asked to leave.

You are allowed to block anything 5/8" in diameter and under with your blaster. Large ammo (arrows, balls) counts as a shield breaker.

DATE CHANGE: This is now the 18th. Apparently some of you nerds cool people are going to comic con and can actually make it if the two events don't, you know, happen simultaneously.

Let me know if you have one next month. When I'm employed I can probably make these if I can grab housing with someone down there.

I definitely won't, because I'll be living in CT by then. SCUN usually has monthly wars, though.

What does the $10 a piece get us? I am still a bit puzzled by the barrel, and I have no idea what you and PVC are talking about. I noticed what Bob noticed about the ease of it, that is the main selling point for me.

$10 gets you the adapter and a customer-specified length of McMaster aluminum, pre-cut and chamfered.

If you don't want the aluminum, I can leave it out, and I will reduce the price as I see fit. "Normal" adapters are .505" ID, 2.625" long, and accept any 5/8" OD barrel material. I can change any of those numbers if you want. The setscrew is a normal Nerf screw. In the default configuration, the adapter fits McMaster foam perfectly.

What is puzzling about the barrel? It's a length of 5/8" OD x .527" ID (same as OMC PETG) aluminum tube.

You can think of this as a fancy nested barrel.

10/28/10 EDIT: I'm no longer going to include a barrel, since that would make the cost of shipping rather high. They will still be $10, but keep in mind that these take quite a while to make, even in large batches.

Lots 'o text...

I really didn't think of that when I made these, but you might have a point. I'm not sure if you saw my AT2K with the aluminum barrel/coupler, but that was having the "blowout" problem you mentioned (probably due to a combination of gradual widening of the female part and a lack of O-rings).

Also, the adapters are MUCH easier to insert/remove than a normal piece of PVC, and they are really difficult to accidentally knock off (I think I knocked it off once throughout the war).


EDIT: Does $10 each sound like a fair price? I want to be able to turn a bit of a profit, but at the same time, I want to be reasonable.

So, if I understand correctly, it is just an alternative to putting your barrel in a pvc stub that fits a coupler?

A super cool alternate way. This thing looked fantastic at geddon, it is also much easier to use with the coupler, the O-rings make it very smooth.

Thanks, Blue!

But, yeah, it's mostly for aesthetic appeal. For me, .527" ID aluminum tube is a bit too loose on my foam, so I needed a "tightening ring," if you will, so the tubing wouldn't go to waste.

Oh that wasn't clear to me. So you made the bottom of the adapter tighter? Very cool.

I assume that it can fit in and work with a wye as well?

I'm sure it could, but I don't happen to have one.

I made the first one of these (shown below, on the left) a couple of months ago, before SCUNWAR1. Unfortunately, I didn't really get a chance to use it, since my SNAP wasn't working. After forgetting about it for a while, I decided to bring it to yesterday's Armageddon, where it was used by several people throughout the day.

Basically, it allows you to use just about any barrel with a 1/2" Sch. 40 PVC slip coupler. Personally, I prefer the McMaster 5/8" OD x .527" ID aluminum tube, so I made them able to accept anything with a 5/8" OD (think CPVC).

At yesterday's 'Geddon, Squishy10000 offered me $10 for one. The one on the right is his, sans the aluminum barrel. If enough people are interested, I'd be willing to make a large batch and sell them.



As you can see, the barrel is held on with a setscrew, allowing you to change the length/material easily. The ID of the adapter is .505", a perfect fit for Mcmaster foam. They're made out of 1" HDPE, which is strong, light, easy to machine, and inexpensive. The O-Rings are there to provide a better seal, and to prevent the adapter from falling out of a coupler.

Questions, comments, flames?

In that case I see the advantage of these. It would be a bit harder to reproduce this in PVC.

Interesting, though... Several months ago I encountered a situation where my darts had to transition from a .5" bore barrel equivalent to their length to a .527" bore barrel for the remaining 10 inches or so. I wanted to study the effects of the transition on Nerf darts but ended up doing most of my testing with other projectiles until I finally just sleeved the .527" bore barrel with 17/32" brass. (It can be done... with insane amounts of sanding)

So my question is... do you notice any loss of performance due to the transition to a larger bore compared to a continuous length of the initial bore? My concern was that important backpressure would be lost once the transition was made.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything to compare performance with. I use slug darts, and the felt tips seem to "puff out" and fill any gaps present. A number of people used my setup at 'Geddon, though, and they seemed to like it quite a bit.

I don't think the transition in this would be any different from that of a nested brass barrel setup.

Did anyone who used it yesterday notice any changes in performance? The barrel was a bit too short for that 4B, but it still seemed to be shooting pretty hard (ow).

I certainly see the aesthetic appeal but I couldn't justify spending any amount of money on one of these considering the I.D. of sch40 PVC is close enough to 5/8" that after a little time with some sandpaper I can achieve essentially the same thing for next to nothing. Furthermore, if my barrel is to be attached with a 1/2" PVC coupler, I'd probably go straight for a length of sch80 PVC or even sprinkler riser sleeved with PETG.

I'm not usually one for aesthetics, but I suppose the machinability of HDPE would make it easy to embellish these adapters with chamfering, mock porting, etc. Still nothing you couldn't pull off with PVC which is by far cheaper.

Props for the lathe work though.

Originally, I made it so I could use the McMaster aluminum with my foam, since the foam is way too loose. I bored out the ID of the HDPE to .505", which is a near-perfect fit for my foam. I didn't intend for it to be particularly good-looking, rather, I just needed something to provide a tighter fit for my darts, on the night before SCUNWAR1. As it turned out, people seemed to like it at 'Geddon.

So the way I understand it, the adapter is bored to a certain depth to accommodate the aluminum and then bored the rest of the way at .505". Exactly what length of the adapter is this diameter? In other words, when the dart is inserted completely, how much of it is contained by the .505" section?

You are correct.

The overall length of the adapter is 2.625". The counterbore, if you will, for the barrel is .625" deep. This leaves 2" for a dart.

If you want multiple barrels, go to Home Depot or Lowes, pick up some PVC and Tees, and use that for your manifold.

Hi. I still make boltsleds and they're $65 each + shipping. They're available through my facebook page. I'm not really active on here anymore so if you have any questions, feel free to send the page a PM or use my email that's listed on there. 

 

Turf springs are the highest quality you can get and are very affordable. They are available here.

Nice work, guys! It's really clean.

However, I noticed a kink in the tubing right where it meets the 2K tank. Often, kink-removing springs work best outside tubing, rather than inside. I've come to like the tube-straightening springs from Magstrikes for this particular application, since they're fairly long and are made to fit over 1/4" OD tubing.

How do you Mac users feel now?

Perfectly safe. If you're not using Firefox, something is wrong with you (no offense, Safari lovers).

Your right i have a PC with Firefox and love it, but everyone i know with a Mac uses Safari.

That's funny, every Mac user that I know of (including myself) uses Firefox. I find that Safari has flaws, and isn't compatible with many websites.

Could you possibly fix your pics? They're giving me a headache!

what can i say? i mis understood Roboman but how do you like the homemade

Pictures would be nice...

So, wait, are you saying that you need to drill out the inside of a 1/2" OD pipe with a 5/8" bit? Wouldn't that leave you with a negative 1/8" wall thickness?

No, actually. The OD of 1/2" CPVC is almost exactly 5/8", and the ID of 1/2" Sch. 40 PVC is just a tad smaller than 5/8". If you take a 5/8" bit and drill out the 1/2" Sch. 40 PVC, 1/2" PVC will fit with just a light tap of a hammer.

BTW: If you have access to one, a lathe works much better for boring out the PVC.

I'm first class, but I only need a few merit badges to advance.

What troops are represented here? I'm in T126 (Long Beach, CA).

Not to be a backseat mod, but these kinds of threads are generally extremely erotic here.

In any case, it sounds like you have some sort of an idea of what you need to do, so I'll see if I can help you out.
From what I can tell, you're basically making a version of what I did last spring, except for Nerf darts instead of ping-pong balls:

(It's fully automatic)

That uses a set of arduino-controlled solenoid valves (one for the cylinder, one for actually shooting the balls). It has a 3" pneumatic cylinder actuating the breech cover, which seals off the "feed hole" fairly well. You could implement something similar in your design - possibly an angel-style breech, so that it can accept standard N-Strike mags without too much air loss.

I wouldn't suggest a sprinkler valve. They're a bit TOO "good" for a Nerf gun - you'll be seriously hurting people. I'd suggest something along the lines of a QEV with a much smaller solenoid valve to pilot it.

Other than that, what you're trying to do is definitely feasible, but probably not practical for nerfing. Most wars would not allow this, since it's a homemade airgun, and, according to your plans, uses a sprinkler valve to fire the dart.

Oh, and you can get a free 5-port, 4-way solenoid valve here. You'll need one if you want to use a pneumatic cylinder in a controlled manner.

-lots of text-

That's pretty sound advice. As for the voltmeter thing, I'd suggest you get a balancer for your batteries. Many chargers have them built in, now. The batteries will come with a second, smaller connecter with a bunch of wires connected to it. You plug the balancer into the smaller plug, and it should tell you the individual cell voltages, and then give you the option to "balance" them, or even them all out. This will vastly improve the lives of your batteries, and you'll be able to squeeze a little more power out of them.

HobbyKing is a good supplier, but their shipping can take a while. Tower Hobbies is incredibly overpriced, though they do sell nicer quality things for higher-end R/C models.

Ok and is it like any other battery when it goes dead? I know I am probably asking really newbish questions but these things arnt cheap and still not sure if I can get them into the US. So far one of there customer service people have said yes and another said no so sounds like its really iffy.

Yeah, basically. You can get them from US suppliers, but you may spend a couple extra bucks going about it that way. I'd say that's worth it, but that's just my opinion.

Ok and it will hinder my ranges then as well? What would be the best option to use in a rayven thats not unprotected?

Well, once the batteries start to die, you obviously want to replace them. Unprotected batteries should be fine, as long as you replace them when they get low. As for protected batteries, I have absolutely no idea. I use the LiPos for R/C airplanes, and the protection is built into the speed controller, in that case.

Haha ok the thing I am running into is I have Absolutely no experience in any kind of electric circuitry and most of the stuff people would normally buy at a store (resisters, switches exc.) I have to order online do to not having any kind of shop the sells them.

I did have one sub question. Do the Unprotected Trustfires have to only be discharged a certain amount or is that not apply to them? And if so, what kind of a difference am I going to see in power between the protected and unprotected when using them in a Rayven?

Plan on using them in rayvens and possible barricades.

That does apply to them, as far as I know, but since they're of a slightly different chemistry, I don't know that they run the same risk of fire or explosion. You'll know when they're dying; your Rayven will just be acting kind of sluggish. I don't know about power differences between protected and unprotected batteries.

I think when people start building homemade electric blasters, they'll probably find a better power source than trustfires, so you're good.

This, for example, gives you a huge voltage increase, will last a really long time, and is pretty cheap. Shipping from HobbyPartz is pretty quick, in my experience, though not particularly inexpensive (~$8-10). They're located in Southern CA, so you don't have to worry about international shipping of batteries. They are NOT protected, so I suggest you figure out a way of adding some form of current drain protection. That should not be too difficult. You'll also need a special charger for it. Still, in the long run, it's much cheaper than a set of Trustfires. Smaller and less expensive batteries are also available from HobbyPartz. I suggest you stick with the "Blue LiPo" line, though, as they are the least expensive, and the ability to source a whole lot of current at once reliably is not really important for this application.

Just a warning, though, if you use the wrong charger or draw too much from the battery, they can catch on fire or explode. I've seen it happen to R/C airplanes; it's quite spectacular when it's not your model.

We do not - if you're wanting it to be just homemade blasters, I'd be open to help with one. I primarily use sketchup, and it's pretty easy for me to knock out models. Personally, I'd think sketchup would be a better format since it's freely accessible and has built-in public cloud storage, but I could export to many formats. Not sure what the free version of Sketchup can open though.

The free version of SketchUp can only handle .skp and .3ds files, as well as Google Earth terrain (which, while kinda neat, is largely useless for us). As far as I've been able to figure out, Sketchup files are generally incompatible with most major CAD systems. If you pay for the PRO version, it lets you export 3D DXF and DWF files, but those are still generally difficult to work with in most solid modeling programs.

As people have mentioned before, students can get an educational copy of Inventor for free, and it can export to virtually any standard CAD format you can imagine (except .skp). I'm partial to SolidWorks, but it's much harder to obtain a (legal) copy of it for free. Torrents are widely distributed and easily available, but I know some people are less than comfortable with that. The files are directly compatible with Inventor, though (and you can export .ipt/.iam/.idw files if you install the free Inventor View software).

Someone made a CAD file directory at one point. It's very incomplete and not maintained. I haven't found a need for one, at least for my files. I keep everything in Dropbox and share links to folders when people ask me for files. Almost all of my CAD files are available to anyone who asks for them, as long as they're in a state that I'm happy with (though boltsled files will not be made available - draw it up with a pair of calipers if you want to create your own derivative).

A ±0.01" tolerance means that the ID of an acceptable piece of tube can be anywhere between .490" and .510". If you want someone else to measure a different piece of tube for you, their measurement is going to be somewhere in between those two limits, and likely not the same as the stuff you'd get if you order it. In my experience you can expect it to be closer to ±0.005", but it still varies between batches (enough that I switched over to the aluminum equivalent, which still isn't great, but is better).