PVC Arsenal 17's Content

#310324 Wrist Mounted Flywheel Gauntlet Blaster

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 29 January 2012 - 09:03 PM in Homemades

If you have seen the quick 16, you'll notice how the built in clip is not actually straight. The reason for this is that when you start to stack the sonic darts they curve because of the inconsistent diameter, so if i do build a linear clip i'll have to build that curve too. The reason that i want to build mine around my arm is because it is more stable than having something sticking out a foot in some direction. But again I wont be able to use my other hand very much so thats why i want a large ammo capacity instead of swap-able clips.

I actually meant tube mag. You can cut a slot into the tube and use a finger through the slot to push on the darts from behind. Mount the finger to a constant force spring or even a threaded rod and you can easily get it to travel the length of the tube. Yes, capacity is limited due to the length of stock darts, hence the necessary "quick-change" feature.

For my purposes at least, several small & removable magazines are better than one large & fixed magazine unless you can find a way to reload it very easily. With a drum that will be challenging. You'd have to load one by one while overcoming the spring mechanism. That process may leave you vulnerable.

On a related note this video may stimulate some ideas:

#310282 Wrist Mounted Flywheel Gauntlet Blaster

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 28 January 2012 - 11:15 PM in Homemades

Awesome ideas.

I think the around-the-arm rotary mag will prove cumbersome and difficult to build. There are many challenges associated with rotating and inserting the darts that way. A quick-change linear mag system is probably easiest.

I'm interested to see where you take this. Peering into the mind of another engineering student with similar interests is always fascinating.

#281389 What Size Brass Fits Stock Darts?

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 27 July 2010 - 02:54 PM in Modifications

17/32" is a pretty tight fit for stock darts. Unless you need a good seal to develop back pressure, you might want to go with something larger. I remember having to flare the brass barrel on my Lock n' Load to facilitate loading... otherwise I'd spend too much time trying to load the darts careful enough to prevent bending them.

#338202 Welcome to Nerf Engineering

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 12 April 2014 - 02:08 PM in Darts and Barrels

Glad to see you're still at it, Doom. I'll be following this thread carefully.

#247586 Tfs-semi

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 18 August 2009 - 11:55 PM in Homemades

I checked out Spudfiles: holy mother f is some of that stuff intense.

Welcome to the haven, I’m not sure what shooting a 1 lb potato 300 yards translates into for a micro Stephen but I can’t wait to see.
A hole in your glasses and head where your eyeball was supposed to be.

@SonReeceSonJensen: Thanks for the welcome

@Echnalaid: Incorrect. It is a common misconception that pneumatic = dangerous. That's largely in part due to the things the spudgun world has produced, but raw power is not always the goal. Unfortunately many people do not realize this. My blaster was designed with safety in mind. The operating pressure is completely adjustable, meaning I can regulate the dart's velocity to that of an unmodified toy Nerf gun, or less if I choose.

While I'm at it I'll post some quick details.

Power Source: Compressed air (HPA) or CO2 (both regulated)
Operating Pressure Range: 1-300psi
Estimated Operating Pressure: 75psi (that's a very rough guess, I'll need to run comparisons alongside a toy blaster to determine this for safety reasons)
Ammo: 1/2" x 2" homemade Nerf darts

The darts are preloaded into "shells" (Tubes that act as protection for the darts so they may enter the blaster properly. Each "shell" essentially serves as an individual barrel for each dart, though supplemental barrels may be added.)

After firing, the empty shell is ejected and a loaded one enters the gun from a magazine (not shown). This process repeats with every pull of the trigger, true semi-auto.

Tomorrow I'll get to work building a few magazines with various capacities. I'll need to find the balance between capacity and compactness so the gun is most effective during Humans Vs. Zombies (This blaster was built specifically for the game). I also need to come up with some kind of simple retaining system for the magazines.

I added a simple removable stock using a slightly modified Nylon quick disconnect air fitting. Without the stock, the size of the blaster is comparable to a Nite Finder as shown. With the stock, the length is slightly longer than a Firefly. Of course the length of the stock can be changed to fit the shooter's needs.

Most of the construction is PVC. (For anyone concerned, all pressurized parts are either brass or steel, all are more than capable of handling pressures far greater than what I will be subjecting them to.) When held, there are no creaks and no play in any parts. The blaster feels quite solid. It was built to handle a great deal of abuse from typical gameplay.

More later.

#247969 Tfs-semi

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 21 August 2009 - 11:58 AM in Homemades

Good to hear from you, Ben! Thanks for the compliments.

The magazine retaining system on the VOS-Pistol is very clever. It's simple enough to make. Hopefully I have room between the mag receiver and the trigger to fit it. I will definitely consider it.

This design is fairly new, I put it all together within the past week or so. The design I mentioned earlier this summer that had nearly 3" of dead space was abandoned. I settled on this one when I got my JEV-F2F2 and found that I could fit the whole thing inside the gun. I'm still unsure about the whole dead space issue, but now there is only 1/8" of it.

Originally I intended to put the cylinder perpendicular to the gun and have its rod eject the shell directly. I decided to put it parallel to the gun for a more streamlined configuration and found that by doing so, I could cut the chamber volume to the bare minimum. It now consists of only the cylinder and the 1/8" nipple connecting it to the QEV. I can't really reduce it anymore than that without doing away with the semi-auto aspect, so I'm satisfied with how it is.

I can't say much yet about the ranges I can achieve with the JEV-F2F2 but I can easily outshoot modded nerf guns at fairly low pressures. I need to do some proper tests with a magazine and better darts, I've made only horrible ones so far.

For now, here's a video of the gun firing and ejecting one shot. Without the mag, I had to hold the shell in place. I did not push it out by hand, however.

#248648 Tfs-semi

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 26 August 2009 - 01:26 PM in Homemades

You have another post waiting for you over there haha.

Looks like you're going with a projectile-pusher setup. Here's a video of one of my early nerf gun designs.

Things to note:

-will your bolt seal the breech opening well?
-where will the air enter the barrel? (Behind the projectile and in front of a solid bolt, or behind a flow-through bolt)
-will your darts pinch and jam against the breech opening when the bolt pushes them into the firing position?

I suggest chamfering the breech opening to reduce pinching.
Posted Image

#247689 Tfs-semi

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 19 August 2009 - 06:40 PM in Homemades

I ran out of music wire so I'll have to save the magazines for a different day. I need music wire to make box springs.

I did do some rough tests while holding the shell in place by hand. At about 50psi, it's shooting at close to the speed of a modified nerf gun. I took it to 200psi just for fun... Lost that dart. I'm happy with the range of speeds I am able achieve by adjusting the pressure since safety is a major concern.

@Dr. Bob: Yes, that is how it works. The pneumatics are capable of cycling at rates much higher than I'm able to accomplish by pulling the trigger on my own. Provided the magazine can feed fast enough and no jams are encountered, I expect the gun to fire as fast as I can pull the trigger. That's somewhere in the realm of 10 shots per second.

I need to iron out some of the kinks with the ejection port to ensure that the empty shells drop out consistently, but then I should be good to go. It may be necessary to add some sort of detents to keep the shells in place until the gun ejects them. I have some small torsion springs that should do the job.

@pjotrkuh: The cylinder does a couple things. First, it serves as the chamber volume for the gun. The gas inside the cylinder fires the dart when you pull the trigger. Second, the cylinder moves to actuate a simple mechanism that kicks the empty shell out of the gun.

I considered making some kind of molded grip custom fit to my hand but for simplicty's sake I went with a bare minimum grip. It was most important that the grip was strong, and it came out very strong.

#247913 Tfs-semi

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 20 August 2009 - 09:47 PM in Homemades

The magazines will be put on hold until my shipment of polycarbonate sheet comes in. (The mags are made from polycarbonate) I got my music wire today and I was all excited about putting a few mags together, but it turns out my polycarbonate is too thin so I've ordered a thicker sheet. Proper feeding requires that the magazine walls completely fill the gap between the magazine receiver and the breech opening. The sheet I have now doesn't do that so there's an obstruction.

Now I'll answer your questions:
1) The pressure is adjusted by turning a screw on the top of my Palmer's Low Pressure CO2 Regulator.
2) The magazine size has not been determined.
3) I don't know how many shots I can get from a 20oz CO2 tank but I suppose I could find out... I don't feel like it at the moment

4) A writeup is certainly on the way.

5) This project has been in the works since last August. I tried many designs before this one, some worked, some didn't, but either way I wasn't satisfied until I came up with this design. (It's completely my own, btw) Between all the previous prototypes and the parts and tools necessary to build them, I've spent well over $650. All the parts that went into what you see here plus the co2 system cost significantly less, however. If I had to guess, maybe $200, probably more.

6) Details of the construction will be posted with the writeup.

@TantumBull: I think what Bedhed117 meant with his firearm comment is that the TFS operates semi-automatically and ejects shells like the real thing. In fact, I think he makes a valid point about the definition of a Nerf gun and how it's lost it's meaning these days.

In any case, that discussion should probably take place over PM. Whether or not the TFS is fair really doesn't matter, it will never see a Nerf war. As I said before, it was build for and will be used for Humans Vs. Zombies. The playing field is never even in that game, especially not the way my friends and I play.

#247567 Tfs-semi

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 18 August 2009 - 10:05 PM in Homemades

First post here. I'm a regular at SpudFiles.com. I've been building all sorts of pneumatic stuff for years. Here's something I've been working on recently, nearly finished.

Posted Image

I don't have much time right now to post up a description but I'll come around tomorrow with some more pictures and videos of the thing in action. Just a couple more parts to build and this thing is done.

#248685 Tfs-semi

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 26 August 2009 - 04:14 PM in Homemades

Photobucket is having problems lately. Try this: http://s237.photobuc...nt=HPIM0762.flv

The video is unimportant anyway, it was just to help out MoonMaster.

#248645 Tfs-semi

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 26 August 2009 - 01:14 PM in Homemades

Thanks for helping me over at spudfiles. As you probably realized I plan on making a semi-auto, it will be a nerf gun. Do you have the part number on mcmaster for that air cylinder or did you order it somewhere else?

No problem. You have another reply from me in your thread over there with some more info. Check what I wrote about cylinders. The one I used is kind of uncommon as it is a spring-extend cylinder as opposed to a spring-return cylinder. The cylinders you'll find on McMaster are all spring-return, if I recall correctly.

A spring-return cylinder will extend when pressurized and retract when unpressurized.
A spring-extend cylinder will retract when pressurized and extend when unpressurized.

The name essentially refers to what the spring will do to the rod when the cylinder is unpressurized.

I ordered my cylinder from another site, I can find the item number if you like. As of now, do you have any ideas for a loading system? The type of cylinder you need depends largely on that.

#247570 Tfs-semi

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 18 August 2009 - 10:28 PM in Homemades

This is a Nerf gun.

Semi automatic, shelled.

#247975 Tfs-semi

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 21 August 2009 - 12:16 PM in Homemades

I'm not sure what's up with that...

try this: http://s237.photobuc...nt=101_0004.flv

#248394 Tfs-semi

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 24 August 2009 - 12:50 PM in Homemades

What are the shells made of?
And wow.

The shells were originally supposed to be 5/8" x 1/2" clear Polyester tubes but I may change them to .527" bore steel. I was having issues with getting the shells to stay in the gun until they're supposed to be ejected. Instead of building some kind of mechanical detent that is prone to fail, I can make simple magnetic detents to hold the steel shells in place. The polyester was also too tight for most FBR, so the .527" bore will fit a wider range of darts, especially the Dennis brand that I prefer. This will add weight, but it may be necessary.

#281312 Stock Dart Quiver

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 26 July 2010 - 09:00 PM in Darts and Barrels

I'm not sure if anyone's ever done something along the lines of this before, but here's a little dart carrier I made a few minutes ago. I can't say just yet how well it retains darts during running, but if it has any trouble I'm sure it's nothing a little tape can't fix by providing some additional friction.

Pics should explain the rest:

Posted Image

Hopefully this helps someone.

#281316 Stock Dart Quiver

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 26 July 2010 - 09:30 PM in Darts and Barrels

Yeah it's K'nex. It's ziptied to the barrel of my long range homemade.

Posted Image

#275869 Semi-automatic Air Gun.

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 24 May 2010 - 08:56 PM in Homemades

Copper is always good. I know Doom used lightweight aluminum low pressure cylinders in his FANG 2 project. Those seem like a great solution. You can also buy volume cylinders. I would try to avoid plastic unless you can guarantee you won't fall and smash it. At least sleeve it in something metal.

#275818 Semi-automatic Air Gun.

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 24 May 2010 - 03:49 PM in Homemades

Vereiah, keep checking this forum in the coming days. I have a semi-auto of my own in the works and initial testing looks very promising. You might find my project relevant to your interests.

Posted Image

The idea is not far fetched by any means, you don't have to be Captain Slug or Boltsniper to make a properly functioning Nerf gun on your own, and you especially don't need access to machining equipment.

It sounds like you're looking to start out by addressing the problem of what to use as an air source and you've already decided on a homemade onboard compressor. First I will ask: Have you considered a high pressure air (HPA) or CO2 tank? If not, I would like to be the first to point out the benefits. An HPA tank is very simple to incorporate into a gun. About as simple as connect and go. No manual pumping, no noisy compressor or complicated and messy wiring. Best of all, regulating the pressure going into your gun is very easy (and of course necessary), giving you complete command over the safety of your gun. (Pneumatic and dangerous are not synonymous).

If you do insist on a compressor system, I would suggest avoiding PVC or plastic for any parts that will handle pressure. It's not that PVC can't handle high pressures - trust me, it can - it's that PVC has low impact strength and if you take a fall with a plastic tank under pressure, the tank could easily explode. Compressed air stores large amounts of potential energy unlike water.

Aside from the issue of the air source, have you thought yet about what mechanism you'll use in the gun itself? It sounds like you plan to use an existing toy Nerf gun but I'm not sure. If instead you're going to build your own gun from the ground up, share your ideas here and we can offer more input. There are a few of us (including myself and Doom) who have lots of experience in that area. You can also head over to SpudFiles if you'd like to learn more about how to incorporate cylinders and directional control valves into semi-automatic guns.

Good luck with your project and please keep us posted. I'm vey interested in seeing what you plan to do.

#276892 Rsp-skeleton

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 05 June 2010 - 01:29 PM in Homemades

Deleted

#276099 Rsp-skeleton

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 26 May 2010 - 05:19 PM in Homemades

Deleted

#276058 Rsp-skeleton

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 26 May 2010 - 12:43 PM in Homemades

Deleted

#276337 Rsp-skeleton

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 29 May 2010 - 12:27 PM in Homemades

Deleted

#276205 Rsp-skeleton

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 27 May 2010 - 07:46 PM in Homemades

Deleted

#276006 Rsp-skeleton

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 25 May 2010 - 10:34 PM in Homemades

Deleted

#276089 Rsp-skeleton

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 26 May 2010 - 04:49 PM in Homemades

Deleted

#276329 Rsp-skeleton

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 29 May 2010 - 09:54 AM in Homemades

Deleted

#275975 Rsp-skeleton

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 25 May 2010 - 08:14 PM in Homemades

Deleted

#275983 Rsp-skeleton

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 25 May 2010 - 08:34 PM in Homemades

Deleted

#276202 Rsp-skeleton

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 27 May 2010 - 07:11 PM in Homemades

Deleted

#281040 Rr

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 23 July 2010 - 11:07 AM in Homemades

Thanks for the comments.

Yeah the barrel is ridiculous. I assembled the whole thing with a length of pipe I had sitting around and never bothered to cut it, but I plan to.

The ball valve shuts off the flow from the co2 tank when the player is not actively firing. I'm not really concerned about injuries caused by the bolt because there's no reason why the sleeve valve should reset while reloading and cause the bolt to close before it's supposed to.

#281175 Rr

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 24 July 2010 - 08:50 PM in Homemades

Here's a picture showing how I worked out the trigger as well as what would have been the new grip...

Posted Image

Word to the wise: stay away from Sculpey III modeling clay. That stuff is horrible. I regret not buying Fimo this time around.

The trigger is a thin bolt hoseclamped to the sleeve valve. The flat top part of the hose clamp runs along a section of aluminum u-channel to prevent the assembly from rotating. Pretty damn solid.

And two videos demonstrating the action in case my explanation was unclear:
http://s237.photobuc...=0724002124.mp4
http://s237.photobuc...=0724002125.mp4

Excuse the quality... cell phone camera.

#281008 Rr

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 22 July 2010 - 10:11 PM in Homemades

Here's something I put together over the last few days, still far from finished but as of now it's in a functioning state.

Posted Image

This blaster was designed for taking out long range targets in Humans Vs. Zombies, NOT nerf wars.

It uses what I call "assisted bolt-action." It's best described as the halfway point between bolt-action and semi-automatic. A fraction of a second after firing, the bolt opens. Due to the non-resetting trigger, the bolt stays open to allow the player to load a new dart. The trigger is then manually reset by pushing it forward which in turn closes the bolt and advances the dart. Because the action of pulling and manually resetting the trigger is so minimal compared to cycling a bolt, I call the process "assisted". The player never manipulates the bolt directly, only the trigger valve.

As you can see I have yet to install the actual trigger to the valve, but that'll be done soon. I still have to clean it all up a bit and then give it a healthy makeover with bright colored duct tape so it looks ridiculous as a nerf blaster should. More to come...

#281212 Rr

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 25 July 2010 - 11:59 AM in Homemades

Looks pretty sweet. It is interesting you use stock darts for such a powerful gun. Do you weight the darts any? How is the seal? How much do they vary between types (in tems of seal). Do they fishtail a lot?

I built it to use stock darts because that's what everyone else uses in Humans Vs. Zombies where I play. I'll always have a good supply available. Sonic darts are complete garbage at high velocity. The hole cut in them to make the whistling sound causes drag and pulls them to whatever side the hole is on. Velcro tip darts are better, but tend to fishtail at higher velocities. Without eye protection they're also very dangerous because of the rough tip. Suction cup darts don't really work until the suction cups have been sliced off, but once that's done they're very accurate. I prefer to fire those because of the accuracy and the fact that they fit into the breech more easily because they're shortened.

I have not added weight to any darts yet. The fit between the darts and the barrel is a bit loose, but it kind of has to be since the rubber tips would easily get stuck otherwise. I spray the barrel with a little bit of silicone every now and then to make sure the darts slide nicely.

Unfortunately I can't put together a chart with pressures and their respective velocities because my guage broke, but I'll replace it soon. I was adjusting the regulator last night and found just how wide a range this blaster is capable of. I was able to drop the pressure so low that darts only went about 15 feet, then lower until they failed to leave the barrel, then so low the cylinder did not even extend. At the middle range they we're getting 150 feet easily with little incline. Again, I can't say what pressures produced what result, but I will find out as soon as I can.

Edit: Final Form

Posted Image

#281015 Rr

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 23 July 2010 - 12:59 AM in Homemades

I haven't compared pressures with ranges yet, I'll get back to you whenever I fill the tank.

Here it as after being duct taped up.

Posted Image

Pretty ridiculous right? I think so.

A different color grip will be molded and the tank will be covered in something colorful.

#298687 Rolling breech

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 26 May 2011 - 04:23 PM in Darts and Barrels

This is an excellent idea. I considered experimenting with it after I made the ARchangel but I just didn't have the time. If you could guarantee reliable feeding, this could allow some respectable rates of fire. My original thought was to synchronize the breech rotation with a solenoid valve just like my ARchangel, only this wouldn't require such complicated coding - you don't actually need continuous rotation; a strong servo sweeping back and forth 180 degrees would work just fine. Most popular uC platforms have prewritten library for servo pulses as well. There is definitely some potential here if it can be done right and I look forward to what you guys come up with.

#303532 Pitbull Shotgun ammo

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 18 August 2011 - 10:18 PM in Homemades

Buck and ball, eh?

I like the idea of faking someone into dodging the big grenade and then getting caught off guard by the followup darts. Problem is, you have to ensure adequate scattering at the intended ranges so that the enemy, despite moving out of the way of the grenade, still gets hit by those followup darts. But if you've gone through the effort to do that, you might as well just fire a whole bunch of small darts and skip the grenade.

#307844 Pimp Your JOLT - Share Your Tips

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 27 November 2011 - 03:41 PM in Modifications

I find that a small barrel shroud is good for storing the jolt in your pocket with a stock dart loaded. It prevents the rubber tip from sticking out and getting hung up on things. Otherwise I don't do much to them. Your improvements are very interesting though.

#295305 Pepé

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 03 March 2011 - 08:17 PM in Homemades

@Draconis: Modify? It's just a matter of threading on one of these adapters and possibly removing the valve core from the propane bottle to improve flow. No big deal really. In fact I made this same suggestion to Doom some time ago as an alternative to his Catalina cylinder.

CaptainSlug: "It would have to have a high flow rate in order to pilot the QEV quickly. Which would mean it will probably be expensive, or large, maybe both."

I disagree. The MJVO-3 should be adequate by itself, and if not, you can make a QEV cascade using the MJVO-3 to pilot a small [inline] QEV which the pilots the larger one. It would cost less than the Mouse valve, take up about the same space, and eliminate the batteries as well the weight associated with them.

#304381 New Nerf Series!

Posted by PVC Arsenal 17 on 06 September 2011 - 12:04 PM in General Nerf

So far I'm very disappointed in the performance of the Vortex blasters. I don't see a transition being made anytime soon.

PVC Arsenal 17's Content

By content type

See this member's

Sign In