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#345245 Flywheel Coating

Posted by Birch on 27 February 2015 - 11:20 AM in Modifications

If you really want better grip on darts, make a 3d printing file of flywheels that are textured and/or bigger. These would last way longer than adding material to the flywheels, and would be a lot cheaper and replaceable. In addition, they can probabably get a significantly larger grip and consistancy. If you don't have access to 3d printing, it is probably possible to fabricate the flywheels from a different material.



#345351 Non-spraypaints. What works well on plastics?

Posted by Birch on 04 March 2015 - 08:42 AM in Modifications

I have found that you are best off having a vinyl dye undercoat with enamel details.



#345407 Homemade Flywheel Blaster

Posted by Birch on 08 March 2015 - 08:14 PM in Homemades


As I understand, concept threads are not really allowed, but I have just so little desire to actually try it out this idea for myself, I thought I could just tell you my thinking and someone who knows more than me about electronics and stuff could try it out or something.

My basic idea is to move the location of the motors in a flywheel blaster. Doing this, one could in theory raise the revolution speed of the flywheels greatly, without using insane motors or equally insane batteries. By harnessing basic mechanical laws, this design would be able to compete with other plunger-based homemades in range and fps. Here is my basic design:

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Locating the motors in the behind the darts allows for their to be a mechanical advantage system of wheels and pulleys. This means I can spin the back motors at a slower or even similar rpm to what is required in a say a stryfe, and achieving much better performance. The motors would need to have really Of course this would add a lot more bulk to the blaster, but it would still be much shorter than a double rainbow, which this would be similar in size to.

The reason I have so little desire to try this out for myself is because I have no where near the amount of cash that would be needed to build this thing, nor do I have the knowledge or the patience to work with something like this. In addition, this thing would require either expertly crafted or 3D printed parts. I would love to see this idea put into practise by someone, and to see if my ideas would actually be practical.




#345410 Homemade Flywheel Blaster

Posted by Birch on 08 March 2015 - 08:40 PM in Homemades

RPM doesn't directly influence fps, per say. It's the speed of the edge of the flywheel. Since your flywheels are connected by a belt, the edge speed is the same on both. This has no advantage over simply feeding the dart in the larger wheels in the back, and has the added disadvantage of extra friction in the system.


Wait, actually? i thought about it like a bike. When you want the back wheel to go faster you switch the gear on the pedal to a larger one. I may be totally wrong and I'm sorry, bu the maths could probably be done and there could still be some for having an indirect connection between motor and flywheel.



#345462 help on my slugs

Posted by Birch on 10 March 2015 - 08:19 PM in Darts and Barrels

Yeah, post pictures. Also make sure your tips are secured tightly, the connection may be weak, and the tip may fly off and the foam just flitters in the breeze.



#345463 Pool Noodle Rockets

Posted by Birch on 10 March 2015 - 08:22 PM in Darts and Barrels

I know you're probably going to use pool noodles, but I would also highly recommend the slit-less pipe insulation that some hardware stores carry. I have used it for rockets before and it was fantastic to work with.



#345528 the nerf Rivals blasters

Posted by Birch on 13 March 2015 - 05:48 PM in General Nerf

I just want to know that those little things (though denser) pack a punch, and you'll actually feel a hit from a good distance away.


Yeah, if it is solid foam and the foam is anything like the old ballistic ball foam, I think accuracy and range would suffer greatly. Hopefully the foam rounds are made of a very dense foam or are weighted in some other way. Regardless, I'll probably still be buying the Zeus whenever it comes out.



#345613 Motors for Flywheel Blasters

Posted by Birch on 17 March 2015 - 08:13 PM in Modifications

I am going to modify my stryfe and have no intentions of purchasing ultrafires, imr, etc... I want to use RM2 motors from Solarbotics which are good motors, but have some durability issues. I was on their website and saw item number 1117. ( https://www.pololu.com/product/1117 ). These motors are the exact same size as the RM2's, but they're recommended voltage is 6 volts, instead of the 4.5 of the RM2's. I was just wondering if these motor s are going to be any better or more durable than the RM2's. If anyone that understands all the specifications and that stuff and is willing to enlighten me, it would be greatly appreciated.



#345616 Motors for Flywheel Blasters

Posted by Birch on 17 March 2015 - 08:26 PM in Modifications

11500 rpm is way slow for what we do.


What rpm is normally used? It seems pretty fast to me.



#345622 Motors for Flywheel Blasters

Posted by Birch on 17 March 2015 - 10:23 PM in Modifications

Over twice that. 11500 rpm*1.25in diameter flywheel*π*(1ft/12in)*(1min/60sec)=63fps. The edge of the flywheel is traveling at 63 feet per second on those motors, so with no dart slip and no loss of speed when firing or anything like that (both of which are present in copious amounts in reality) you top out at 63 feet per second muzzle velocity with those motors.


Like those maths. Thank you for the advice. RM2's are very affordable, but I am always out to save money. I will probably buy these motors ( https://www.pololu.com/product/1592 ). On the website they say "They are a generic alternative the Solarbotics RM2 motors, which have the same form factor and nearly identical performance." I hope these will be good, and I am going to save a couple bucks with is cool.



#345656 Homemade build price

Posted by Birch on 18 March 2015 - 08:50 PM in Homemades

My first snap carbine with a home depot handyman spring only ran me about 30 bucks and it still works, 3 years down the road.



#345772 Custom foam order from china

Posted by Birch on 24 March 2015 - 12:46 PM in Darts and Barrels

I might buy some, but it really should be 13 mm. We use half inch (12.7 mm) barrels, and to have the foam a little tight is ideal. 12 mm would be too small. I might buy some if it was orange or neon green.

Also, what is EPE? Do you know how it compares to standard polyethylene foam? If I were you I would try to get a sample before you order a large quantity.



#345788 Custom foam order from china

Posted by Birch on 25 March 2015 - 02:04 AM in Darts and Barrels

I don't know enough about it to explain it to you properly but I already have some epe foam from a previous order and it is with out a doubt the best foam I have ever used(and I have used a lot of different foam). In my opinion it is better then log home white, hot rod xl beige and sera rod beige/red. The pours are so small that they are barely visible and when flattened it springs back with a little re shaping, it is similar to the consistency of a yoga block

That was a typo, thank you for bringing it to my attention. The foam will be 13mm


Good to know. How does it hold up to high temp hot glue guns?



#345968 NIC Magazine

Posted by Birch on 02 April 2015 - 09:51 AM in General Nerf

If this magazine happens, I would love to be a writer and contributor. Some things I would add to this magazine would be a few pages dedicated to pictures of great mods and homemades from the Mods/paintjobs and homemades pictures threads.

Honestly, I would probably rather read a monthly or weekly publication than reading everything that happens on Nerfhaven during a week or so. Many posts are either total garbage or are just paraphrasing what someone else said. If we could have a publication solely specializing in all of the interesting or constructive things that happen on nerfhaven, it would be much more appealing than nerfhaven itself.



#345969 Making metal stampede gears

Posted by Birch on 02 April 2015 - 09:59 AM in Modifications

3D printing is great, don't get me wrong, but the parts that come out of a 3D printer probably won't much stronger than the abs nerf gears. They probably work fine, but if you are really trying to go for a product that will increase the performance of the stampede, I would look into either casting metal or fibre reinforced rein gears, or laser cutting nylon, polycarbonate or acetal gears.



#346017 Why is xplorer so expensive!?!

Posted by Birch on 05 April 2015 - 08:49 PM in General Nerf

It is expensive but Xplorer stuff is really high quality. Their longshot kits are truly amazing and I'd love to try out their Xarrett kit (if I could afford it).


Not really, my friend got a longshot fighter kit and it was poorly constructed and offered little performance gain to just some basic longshot modifications. It is good but not worth anywhere near the price they sell it for.



#346053 Looking for some measurements...

Posted by Birch on 08 April 2015 - 12:28 PM in Modifications

I don't think this will work very well, unless you replace the Firefly plunger with something larger.

I think he is doing it vice versa.

If you are doing what I think you are doing, remember to replace the rotating mech. Good Luck!



#346222 Stryfe Barrel Extension

Posted by Birch on 16 April 2015 - 08:20 PM in Modifications

Brass Stryfe is a terrible idea, it adds so much friction on the darts.


While I do agree with you that a brass barrel will add extra friction, I think that your setup imparted way to much unnecessary friction. I have yet to try this but I would imagine that a shorter barrel would add extra accuracy without as much range decrease.



#346240 Stryfe Barrel Extension

Posted by Birch on 17 April 2015 - 05:58 AM in Modifications



I did these videos the week Containment Crew uploaded his.

All my brass was internally polished, as well as beveled inside the magwell for feeding.

He never came back with his promised formal testing, so I did it for him.

Although the goal was to measure accuracy and precision, like I tried to do with the shitty fence and cardboard, I also took chronograph readings. Long brass stryfe was ~80fps, short barrel ~95fps, No barrel 123.7fps. Any effect you see on accuracy and precision is due to decreased muzzle velocities taking the Elite dart back into an operable speed.

The simple fix is to use koosh darts, watching the video you can clearly see a much tighter grouping of the green koosh darts, even though most of them went high and right over the fence. I also had to get closer to the target by 20ft with the brass stryfe to even collect any kind of data at all, which skews the results.

Kewsh is love, Kewsh is life.


Thanks for the data.

As for the koosh I have bought some and I love them, but I found these darts to work just good if not even better. The foam is pretty fat, about as fat as the fatter beige hot rod xl foam. This is actually a great thing because it means the flywheels grip the dart much better. In addition, the foam is consistent, and so is the head to foam connection. These darts are also mad cheap. 20 bucks plus 5 for shipping?!?! From China?!?!



#346272 Brass barrel help

Posted by Birch on 18 April 2015 - 11:09 AM in Darts and Barrels

Mongo darts are 3/4 inch right? i would be surprised if you can find brass that big. In any case, calculate the total volume of the barrel you would use for micros and cut your mongo barrel to a length that will have the same value as the micro one. Of course, it all comes down to testing and trial and error.



#346300 Flywheels at NIC

Posted by Birch on 19 April 2015 - 08:20 PM in General Nerf

This is a question I have been contemplating for a while now. I think about it way more than one person should, and I still have yet to come to good conclusion. My thoughts on the subject are mixed and inconclusive.

First off, for me to use a flywheel blaster against someone using a snapbow or a ESLT, I would need copious amounts of darts and clips, and a comfortable way of carrying those things. The necessity for ammo is greater for a flywheel blaster than a hoppered blaster because of its use on the field. A stryfe or rayven would be used as a rushing primary. The accurate range on a flywheel blaster is really going to top out at 70-80 feet, while a snapbow's is about 100-110. The rate of fire on a stryfe is about 2 darts a second, about 3-4 times that of a snapbow or plusbow.

What also must be considered is the ammo a stryfe and other flywheelers use. Most of the ammo that you will find at an NIC event is slug darts. These darts, regardless of their much shorter length, do not fire well out of flywheels due to the felt used to pad the front. Strands of fibre can get caught up in the flywheels and seriously fuck them up. If you are going to use a flywheeler, you will have to provide almost all of the ammo it will chew through. That being said, buying a couple hundred china knock-off darts is going to be about the same price as an equal amount of slugs.

I think putting all of my knowledge into writing has helped me come to a conclusion. In my opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using a stryfe or rayven in an NIC game. Rushing strategies are very useful against people with low rate of fire blasters, and a rapidstrike or a stryfe is about as optimal as you can get in rushing blasters. Ammo for a stryfe is cheap, and most likely you already have a stash of elite darts and clips that you have subconsciously collected over the years. If you are one to take pot shots, don't use a flywheel, but for most everyone else, as long as you don't mind running, pick up a stryfe and some koosh darts and have fun.



#346319 Flywheels at NIC

Posted by Birch on 20 April 2015 - 10:40 AM in General Nerf

"Flywheels are theoretically (per the physics) a horribly inefficient and expensive means to get 300FPS to the point such a thing is an absurdity.
They are a stopgap, dirty, inelegant, "cheater" device that just happens to work out well for superstock, and nothing more.
The 120-150fps cap for superstock has a number of contributing factors. Accuracy of darts is one, but many of the darts become inaccurate well above or below that. Safety is another. Flywheel velocity ceiling is another." -Walker Finn,


What must be understood is that fps does not directly correlate with range. I have modified stryfe (rm2 motor replacement, rewiring, electrical taped flywheels) that fires at around 100 fps. This being said, it outranges one of my overhauled nite finders (they shoot around 150 fps) by an appreciable margin. This guy has a very shallow understanding of the physics of Nerf, something that I am not all that knowledgable in too, but I would still say that he is wrong to an extent. Also, people always complain about the accuracy of flywheelers, just please go buy some of these darts. I have plugged them a few times before, and I can say that they are some of the cheapest, best performing darts for flywheelers you will ever encounter.

I wonder how a double-action HAMP with twin detachable-reverse-extended-choppers would fare against a flywheeler...


Flywheelers and HAMP's are pretty similar. Short range, extremely high capacity, fantastic rate of fire.



#346323 Flywheels at NIC

Posted by Birch on 20 April 2015 - 04:23 PM in General Nerf

Yes, it does. If you are using the same darts (same mass and cross sectional area / air resistance), firing from the same angle at the same height, the average range should directly correlate to muzzle velocity.


Yes, but only if you are using the same darts. If you are using different darts, as one would with a stryfe compared to a plusbow, they could be totally different. That is why I said it. If you are using a plusbow and a stryfe with elite darts, the plusbow should shoot farther.



#346329 NYC Central Park Nerfing

Posted by Birch on 20 April 2015 - 07:45 PM in Nerf Wars

Have fun getting shot

USER WAS WARNED FOR THIS POST

Let's be a little less flippant



#346368 Cycloneshock barrel extension

Posted by Birch on 21 April 2015 - 09:02 PM in Modifications

As Langley said, fantastic old school take on a modern blaster. Going with the old school theme, I thought I would ask the proverbial disyllabic question of the ages: Ranges?



#346461 How to deal with people

Posted by Birch on 28 April 2015 - 06:05 PM in Off Topic

I play a lot of Ultimate Frisbee, which like Nerf relies on self refereeing. In Disc, when a player thinks that a foul has been called they say foul, and then the person who has allegedly committed the foul says "contest" or "no contest". When they say "contest" the play is redone, but if they say "no contest" it is a turn over. I think that something like this could be implemented into a nerf game, but with modifications to eliminate the possible quarrels that could arise. This is not a perfect solution or anything, but It works in disc, so you might as well try it in Nerf.



#346616 Integration?

Posted by Birch on 07 May 2015 - 08:45 PM in Modifications

As far as integrations go, there are many ways to do them, but there are some things that will help to make a stable and clean connection. Firstly, you'll want to choose your adhesives. I have done one integration previously, and what I used turned out pretty well.

For most of the shell-to-shell contact, you will want to use solvent weld (pvc cement, the all purpose stuff (red can)), in conjunction with a solid liquid epoxy. The cement should go only where plastic touches other plastic, and the epoxy should go everywhere else on the bond. JB weld, aroldite or any other epoxy that works well with plastics will be fine. To add structural stability I would add some epoxy putty, or adhere some polycarbonate or metal bolts between the connection. This will do the majority of the structural support. To make the bond smooth and clean, use a dent filler thing called Bondo. This is used in auto restoration and repair to take out dents and such and is easily sanded and smoothed. Be careful to avoid over application of the Bondo, as it will take awhile to sand.



#346694 Best nerf gun to loan out

Posted by Birch on 12 May 2015 - 05:45 AM in General Nerf

Yeah, TED is pretty much right. For specifics, I would get a couple of retaliators and put orange mod works springs in them, but leaving the AR intact.



#346697 Quick Exhaust Valve Homemade Airgun v1.0

Posted by Birch on 12 May 2015 - 07:28 AM in Homemades

bullshit
post the insides and video proof of 650fps or its an empty shell and youve never made a blaster to shoot more than stock


Look up Southern Brisbane Nerf Group on youtube and watch some of their videos. Aussies know how nerf.

That is entirely possible to, I have seen first hand singled titans or hydro cannons shoot about 450 fps, and at almost half that pressure. The tank in that blaster must be massive to produce those kinds of velocities.

But for the sake of the topic, I have been wondering what the pump is being used in the blaster that you made. My local bicycle shop only carries some weirdly sized pumps or something. Great work so far, can't wait to see it in semi-auto.



#346718 [Stryfe] Cheap performence improvement

Posted by Birch on 13 May 2015 - 06:28 PM in Modifications

If I were you, I would boost the number of AA's to 8. This will lead to 12 volts, and a fair amount of current. From my experience, stryfe motors can handle a pretty decent amount of current, but totally fry if you get higher than 16 volts running through them.

Also, I would coat the flywheels in something. What I do is wrap them tightly in electrical tape in direction that the flywheels spin. After the wrap, I use a hair dryer on the highest setting to warm up the electrical tape. It is crucial that the tape is wrapped in a way that when the flywheels spin, the seam that the tape makes is not able to be peeled back.



#346719 Best nerf gun to loan out

Posted by Birch on 13 May 2015 - 08:43 PM in General Nerf

I'd definitely go with the retaliator, but I can't find them in stores anymore. Are they discontinued or something?


No, they just have a different paint scheme. They are white now. Your store may also just not carry them.



#346723 [Stryfe] Cheap performence improvement

Posted by Birch on 14 May 2015 - 05:57 AM in Modifications

My stryfe shoots 50-70ft flat with 2 imr and full rewire. With that many AA you might as well jump to imr you will go through that many AA while playing.


Did you even see what he said? Imr's cost 14 euro's where he lives for just a pack of 2. Then you also have to add a special charger to that.

I recommended 8 AA's because they are cheap and accessible. In Addition, the current from 8 AA"s is greater than 2 Imr's, which will lead to greater performance and less damage to the motors.



#346801 at3k with hopper? is it even possible?

Posted by Birch on 17 May 2015 - 07:06 AM in Darts and Barrels

Why don't you just try it? That is pretty much the basis for all innovation in this hobby anyways.

If you actually need an answer, i can say that if it is plugged and run at high pressure, a 3k will be able to handle a hopper. You are much better off running a BRISC however.



#346815 Nerf Double Down Mod

Posted by Birch on 17 May 2015 - 08:39 PM in Modifications

How much draw are you achieving?

Those fps readings are impressive...not sure I can trust them though. Amazing mod if those numbers are accurate. Could definitely rival some homemade blasters.



#346832 Nerf Double Down Mod

Posted by Birch on 18 May 2015 - 07:26 PM in Modifications

The FPS readings sound right to me. Nitefinders with extended draw and spring replacements can achieve similar performance.


Good point, I also forgot that he is using elite darts, those are little lighter and more air efficient in terms of initial fps. I guess that is pretty much what this is anyways.



#346901 Accuracy mods

Posted by Birch on 23 May 2015 - 09:30 PM in Modifications

A lack of accuracy is almost never due to the blaster the dart it is fired from. The biggest reason hitting a target can be difficult with a Nerf blaster is that the darts most people use are inherently aerodynamically flawed. Also barrels can have an effect, but not quite as major as the darts.

The best thing you can do to solve the issue of flawed darts is to make stefan darts. Some people ban those types of darts due to safety concerns, but honestly they are perfectly safe. Stefan darts are very constant and accurate, if made well.

Since you were asking about mods, I will add my suggestions. As I previously stated, most accuracy (or lack therein), stems from the darts. Mods can help, though. If you are using flywheel blasters I recommend brassing the flywheels. Many people say this is bad and is detrimental to performance, but I had no such experience when I performed the mod on my stryfe. For springers, not much can be done. Extending the effective barrel in high volume springers can add a little amount of accuracy.



#346960 Aluminum Flywheels

Posted by Birch on 28 May 2015 - 08:44 AM in Modifications

Those look great!

Here are a few things I would do to the flywheels to make them even better. A) I would look into putting knurling or some type of texture on the flywheels to get better grip on the darts. Knurling may be overkill, so something finer may be a little better. B) I would take out as much weight as possible. Maybe drilling holes on the top of top of the wheel or thinning them out. Aluminum is light, but it won't compare to plastic, and even the plastic wheels are a little heavy.



#347012 Would it work?

Posted by Birch on 31 May 2015 - 04:29 PM in Modifications

No reason why it shouldn't. Some words of advice though:

Do you have the significant knowledge, experience, and ingenuity to pull off an integration? If not, practise putting weird shit onto nerf shells and making look pretty. I did this a few times and it made my first integration go and look smoothly. Also, read up on how to paint nerf blasters. I recommend following this guide to the letter. It works really well.

Also, for the pvc barrel that goes through the crossfire bow, use a piece of pipe with a large I.D. I recommend 3/4 cpvc, 1 pvc, 3/4 thinwall pvc, or something around that size.



#347228 flywheel idea

Posted by Birch on 16 June 2015 - 11:52 AM in Modifications

To get your desired fps, size up the flywheels by a centimeter or two, this will greatly increase the speed at which the edge of the flywheels is spinning, thus giving greater dart fps. You'll need to find some relatively high-torque, high-rpm motors. Look into 180 sized motors instead of 130.



#347638 Guts of RF20 in swarmfire: Can it be done?

Posted by Birch on 03 July 2015 - 08:10 PM in Modifications

Anything is possible as long as you approach it with logic and ingenuity. And epoxy putty.

Try it and tell us how it goes!