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#350311 Are Amazon elite darts knockoffs better than elite?

Posted by shmmee on 30 December 2015 - 09:19 AM in Darts and Barrels

Can we include links when we reference purchasable darts? It'll make keeping it all straight easier.

 

 

As a christmas gift I took a risk and bought two 200ct  bundles (400 friggan darts!) of blue suction cup darts from amazon:

 

http://www.amazon.co...ailpage_o08_s00

 

Shipping was weeks faster than it predicted and the foam was denser than nerf's. The 10 I randomly picked shot without complaint from the rampage I had laying around. Some of the tails were squished from the packaging - but that should be fixable by a ten second tumble in a pre heated dryer. (test a small sample of darts first). The heads *seem* well attached, I haven't tried pulling on them to find out.

 

200 nerf-comperable sucker darts for $13 is a pretty amazing deal. 




#350122 Vulcan Issues

Posted by shmmee on 22 December 2015 - 09:50 AM in General Nerf

Pardon the insultingly obvious questions, but they needs to be asked.

 

Are you using fresh batteries?

Is the belt loaded in the proper direction with the nerf logo facing up?

Is the belt door completely and firmly closed? Theirs a switch inside the belt door that will prevent it from activating without a belt properly loaded. Try removing the belt, and reaching in to depress the pressure plate on the belt door with your finger and see if that gets things spinning.

 

Vulcan's are notoriously finicky and prone to breakage. The more common problems are stripped gears from people ripping the belts out instead of opening the door first, but even with a stripped gear, it would still clunk it's way into attempting to rotate the belt. A completely dead vulcan could hint at a bound gear, or serious electrical problem. An unresponsive trigger? Ick. That sounds like something is either broken or in desperate need of lubrication. Start with the easy and obvious first. Best of luck.




#350097 Hopper/RSCB

Posted by shmmee on 21 December 2015 - 10:57 AM in Darts and Barrels

Firstly, disclamer: the filters at my work knock out all non-hosted pics so I don't know if any of these links have pics. Secondly, while not familiar with "FVJ's", RSCB's will generally use anything with a tip that isn't wider than the foam - including full size 3" long darts (the dart needs to be able to slide down the feed tube without getting stuck. Full size 3" long darts rarely hopper well due to the amount of bending required to get past the wye. 

 

I'm a big fan of RSCB's they're a great piece of tech that shoots every time without fail, and works well on a small air supply. Just remember to point the barrel down once before each shot to seat the next dart. I'm not sure if i've seen a write up either, but the basic concept is that you have a loose fitting tube (feed tube) capped on the back end teeing into a tighter fitting barrel and an air supply coming into the middle leg of the tee.

 

You can either sand down the internal stop of the tee so the feed tube slides past the middle leg and drill a hole through the feed tube at the middle leg or (my personal preference) harvest a clear feed tube from a basic marshmallow blaster, chop one end off to the desired length and wrap e-tape (to create a tee friendly seal) around the chopped side such that the feed tube hangs past the middle leg of the tee once it's inserted into the tee. The "magic PVC" refers to the 5' pre cut lengths at most hardware stores. For some reason, they're slightly thicker walled so you can pound a cpvc barrel into them to adapt the cpvc to pvc fittings.I forgot to lable the bottom black elbow, but I've found a cpvc elbow nests well into 1/2" pvc fittings which reduced dead space a little. 

 

These may be helpful...

 

http://nerfhaven.com...stions/?hl=rscb

 

and... have a crappy MS paint drawing...

rscb.png

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#350015 Air cylinder for pushing darts through clips.

Posted by shmmee on 15 December 2015 - 09:39 AM in Homemades

Awesome! I'm incredibly excited to see you bring it all together! Keep up with the updates, I'll be watching for them.




#349954 Avatars

Posted by shmmee on 11 December 2015 - 03:41 PM in Site Feedback

Thanks, it feels good to have my hook back. I haven't been able to use it since the days of Nrev.




#349943 Air cylinder for pushing darts through clips.

Posted by shmmee on 10 December 2015 - 01:02 PM in Homemades

Would this situation actually negatively affect performance (range and/or muzzle velocity), though?

Great testing solution, using the overly long barrel, by the way. I was going to suggest comparing to a locked breech, but couldn't think of how to measure any differences other than a basic range test. Duh moment for me, I suppose.

...

Ideally the dart would of left the barrel right as the power from the tank is exhausted from pushing it. Prematurely venting tank air or an improper barrel length could be pretty costly on ranges, performance and air efficiency, and thanks jwasko.

 

This testing method is all unproven theroy, but come to think of it, an excessively long barrel could potentially be applied to traditional springers too for establishing a ball park barrel length. I suspect it would be even more accurate in tighter cpvc barrels where the dart is likely to stop much closer to the point of lost air pressure. Accuracy could be increased further by using a headless foam blank to test with. A foam blank without a head/washer would help the dart stop because of friction the instant it exhausted the propelling air pressure instead of coasting until a strong enough vacuum was formed.

 

It would require a chrony to really verify that method but I can't see why it wouldn't work.Would anyone mind testing that theory? Ranges wouldn't be as good as a chrony, but they'd be better than nothing for verification and sadly, I just don't have the time to do the leg work on this one.




#349920 Air cylinder for pushing darts through clips.

Posted by shmmee on 09 December 2015 - 09:48 AM in Homemades

 

 Anyone have a better idea on how to test whether I'm getting enough overlap with the ram into the barrel without a high-speed camera?

 

 

 

From personal experience on my prototype, if your ram is retracting before the dart has left the barrel you'll notice a significant drop in range/power. If you don't have a chrony, you could put on an excessively long barrel, a barrel 2 or 3' long should work. You want a barrel so long that the dart stops in  the barrel with the ram braced forward. With the ram forward, the dart will stop abruptly because it is pulling a vacuum in the barrel. Release the brace and let the ram retract as quickly as it's able. It will suck the dart back a little. Measure how far the dart travels in the excessively long barrel by sliding a stick down the tip of the barrel. That's your control. Your baseline. That's where your dart should be stopping if everything is working perfectly.

 

Shoot again with the ram operating freely. If the dart stops again in roughly the same spot as your control, the ram is engaging until all the air in the air tank is exhausted. If the dart stops significantly before or after your control depth the ram is disengaging early. The dart is either sliding past the control depth, coasting in the barrel farther because the ram isn't sealing long enough to create a vacuum and stop the dart or the dart is stopping short because the ram is disengaging before all the power in the air tank is transferred to the dart and usable air pressure is hemorrhaging out into the mag well.

 

Doing that should also give you a pretty good idea how long your real barrel should be for maximum efficiency.

 

And great work so far dskippy. You're putting a lot more quality and time into your build than I did. It should have a much better chance of succeeding than my attempt did.




#349815 Air cylinder for pushing darts through clips.

Posted by shmmee on 03 December 2015 - 06:35 PM in Homemades

 

This is why I plan to do based off this discussion and also what I've seen from Doom and Captain Slug's work. As for the tank, it'll be a modular quick connect that I'll connect to a few different things, I imagine. Primarily will be a large, high-pressure tank with a regulator. I might get a paintball tank + regulator and have it filled so that I can actually have a decent amount of air life time. However I also plan to make a backpack sized 100psi tank that I can clamp a bike pump to and pump up myself. The tanks will be connected via hose to a quick connect on the back of the gun, which of course has its own, must smaller, blast chamber on it and will operate and about 30-40psi with a controlled volume. Pretty standard for this kind of blaster, really.

 

Also, after doing a lot of reading on the forums. This one a SpudFiles I've actually ordered an air cylinder.

 

I didn't order a single-acting, spring return cylinder like you suggested. Doom came to the conclusion that he wanted to switch from his existing single-acting to a double acting because the single acting was really long and bulky. The double acting requires that you create your own return mechanism, so I was pretty torn on which to go with. But I ultimately went with the double. I am considering using an air spring for the return. It's hard to buy air springs that are small enough though. Most of them are meant for car suspension. If anyone knows a good solution let me know. I am considering just filling one side of the piston with some low pressure and seeing if that works for me. Otherwise, I might end up using an external spring attached to the mechanism that the piston is moving to return it.

 

Another decision I need to make now is whether to push the dart into the back of the barrel or if I want to pull the barrel back over the dart. Pull seems to have less dead space and makes machining the blast hole must simpler. Pushing seems to be less prone to jamming.

I've never researched air springs before, but i'm guessing they're just chambers you can pressurize slightly to supply a counter pneumatic force, right? That would be a low psi thing, I bet you could build your own out of pvc. Just goop a stem into a drilled hole and you can give it a little pressure to return the piston and then detach the pump. An air spring is a really good idea. I'll have to remember that.

 

Nerf favors a stationary dart and a retracting bolt slead. It's harder to get them to seal, but that may be more reliable with less modification. You could just attach the piston directly to an existing bolt slead. Poof done. I'm remembering a bolt sled seal but can't remember the name. I know it's not an angel breach... i think it might of been called a Rev breach? they used a petg tube inserted into the bolt sled and it would slide back and seal around an 11/32" brass tube nub. It might of been on the old and departed Nerfrevolution site though. It'd be worth looking into.




#349802 Air cylinder for pushing darts through clips.

Posted by shmmee on 03 December 2015 - 11:41 AM in Homemades

The model in the video was only meant to be a proof of concept prototype, one which I never managed to revisit and improve upon sadly. As such I wasn't looking for a perfect seal, or even a decent one. With the piston extended in the sealed position (I harvested a pump from a secret shot II from my parts bin for my piston) I could blow on the end of the barrel and feel a steady stream of air rushing out of the breech with very little resistance building. The piston on my prototype didn't travel far enough forward to completely move past the breech, which leaked horribly. Darts fell out of the barrel with the enthusiasm of a geriatric sloth.

 

The breech only needs to seal for as long as the dart is in the barrel. Bracing the piston forward and range testing or chrony-ing a few shots would give a good baseline of what the blaster should be doing. If the breech opens prematurely range/dart speed will drop significantly.

 

Choking off the air line to the piston was something I was planning on exploring in a later model - to see if it was even need at all. If it was needed I was going to tee the tubing to the piston and add check valves to create a dedicated fill and return air line - and choke off the return air line. (fast fill, slowed emptying)  Choking off the return line was something i was hoping to avoid. Plumbing the tank to the piston added the bonus of making the piston into an expanded air tank. If pressure is slowed it would of negated that and any air in the piston would of been wasted. Since you're planning on utilizing a 3d printer, it should also be possible to engineer a longer sealed section between the tank and the mag well so the piston can begin it's return travel and still remain sealed. It would be adding dead space as the piston retracted, but at least the air in the piston would be feeding back into the tank and out to the barrel at it's fullest velocity.  I'd guess it wouldn't take more than a quarter inch or two of seal to give the dart enough time to exit the barrel, but that's yet to be proven.

 

I also remember learning that they make pistons with an internal spring to automatically retract the piston once it looses air pressure. That would be worth looking into, that way you can ditch the rubber band return spring and place the piston directly behind the mag well. You would still need to use a pusher rod so the following dart can't hop up and get caught behind the piston head once the piston pushes past to load a dart though. Ditching the home brew rubber band for a piston internal return spring would also make one less thing to go wrong. Since you're planning on using stock darts, I'd suggest looking for a piston with 4" to 4 1/2" of travel. That should give you your 3" for the dart and another inch or so to play with in seal and return clearances.

 

It's also worth noting that even an efficient semi auto system with a small tank will use a ton of air. I used a clippard mavo-3 3way valve to make a semi auto dart tag gun with a bike innertube reinforced RF20 bladder (I think I got it up to about 45 psi) and a panther tank. Tons of pumping to fill the bladder and I could only get 8 of the 10 shots off. It was tough keeping that turret fed as well. It was an awesome blaster, but it's combined hunger for air and individually loaded darts made it tough to manage in an open field war. It would of been a little easier if it had been a clip fed system like you're working towards, but it'll still be a ton of pumping air. 

 

So, what are you planning on doing for air? Bladder, small hand filled hard tank/regulator , large compressor filled hard tank/regulator, single shot pump to prime?




#349791 Air cylinder for pushing darts through clips.

Posted by shmmee on 02 December 2015 - 04:24 PM in Homemades

I'm having a tough time accessing my photobucket account, but I've got a video of a (Failed) attempt at a piston breech loader I tried. It loaded darts well, but it failed to seal well enough to fire it. The concept was extremely simple. I'm hoping it'll give you another option to work with. It could be modified to shoot stock darts by substituting a longer piston with more travel (About 3.5" worth) I'd suggest one with a 3/8" or 1/2" bore for this project. Any bigger and you'd be using a ton of air since the piston is acting as a tank expansion, and the increased force from the larger diameter could break your build.

 

I used a back pressure style tank (hornet, panther, big salvo...) and gooped a hose from the side of the tank to a piston. I chopped a mag well in a piece of sch 80, and tee'd the tank in crossways just in front of the magwell and used the piston to advance a pusher rod (a 1/2" wood dowel) that fed a dart from a mag forward into the breech. When the tank filled, the piston extended and it pushed a dart forwards into the breech. When the tank fired (depressurized) the piston also depressurized through the tank and a rubber band pulled the piston backwards retracting the pusher and allowing the next dart to come up from the mag.  It didn't require any action beyond filling and firing the airtank and with a mavo-3 3way valve the system became semi auto. It just didn't seal well enough to shoot more than a few feet. Proof of concept achieved though.

 

I should of used a real piston with more travel instead of substituting a secret shot 2 pump for the piston. It didn't have enough travel to load the dart (slug) and seal the breech. Solve that seal issue and you'd be set. 3D printing the breech would of helped too since it would of been easier to design in a conical receiver in front of the mag for the pusher to seal against.

 

I'll try to edit this post with a link to the video once i'm on a more friendly computer. I've shared it to NH before, but I really doubt you'll want to go through all my posts to find it... Hopefully it'll provide you with some inspiration to work with. 

 

... I tried uploading it but appearantly " you aren't permitted to upload this kind of file". It's an MP4 video. Admin thoughts?

 

... I wandered back through my posts and found it. I hope the link works, and that it's the right video. I can't verify it from this computer...

 

http://vid1107.photo...to/DSCN1997.mp4




#349593 We're Back! Forum software upgraded and new features added.

Posted by shmmee on 23 November 2015 - 09:36 AM in News

Thrilled with the new changes. Especially the photo loading. Theirs so many classic write ups that had been limited to text only since photo hosting accounts laps and die. 

 

Thanks for all the hard work and attention you guys (the moderators) give to this site. 




#349063 Help making stefans

Posted by shmmee on 13 October 2015 - 08:15 AM in Darts and Barrels

What you have to understand, is that there is glue on top of the weight, thus there is no way the weight can punch through the felt. In your experience, did you put hot glue on top go the weights? If you didn't your results make sense, if you did, I have no Idea what is going on.


Granted, they were my very first attempts at dartmaking. I burned a hole, added glue, put in a bb, added more glue and capped it with foam. Not sure why the bb's punched through, but they definitely did. I've had little trust for bb's since.



#349042 Help making stefans

Posted by shmmee on 12 October 2015 - 08:37 AM in Darts and Barrels

There are a few things to consider when capping a dart with more fbr. 1) fbr compresses quickly, especially when it's sitting between your weight and the target. Your darts won't live very long and you'll have to replace them more quickly. 2)the more foam you have in front of your weight the further back your center of gravity will be. Its the reason airplanes don't put the flaps on the front of their planes. A little shift on the front makes a big difference in the flight path. The tradtional felt pads provide a long term, durable cushion without adding much material in front of the weight.

I'm going to have to disagree with birch. Theirs no way I would allow someone to use ball bearings as weights in their darts at a war I hosted. Even if the bearings weighed the same, theirs the very real possibility that the bearing will punch through a dart head and hurt the target. In my early dart making days I tried dropping a few pellets in a dart head and encased them in hot glue and capped it with a bit of FBR. The first test shot against a cabinet door, and the pellets punched through the hot glue and fbr tip. The pellets still had enough momentum to dent the oak cabinet. The fbr quickly and simply became a sabbot to accelerate the pellets. Washers are used due to their flat surface area. So long as they're well made, and they don't have any metal edges exposed, theirs very little chance of drawing blood. since they spread their momentum across the entire face of the washer. I would also worry about small ball bearings weighing too much. The last thing you want flying around a field is a dart heavy enough to take out a tooth.

I have seen people use a craft foam punched disc to cap their steffans. That worked well and had a longer usage life than a FBR cap since it's a denser foam. If you really want an alternative to felt, I would suggest craft foam.



#348925 Shot counters for my Stryfe and Rapidstrike

Posted by shmmee on 01 October 2015 - 12:22 PM in Modifications

What about magnetic switches instead of levers or pushbuttons? Glue a magnet onto the clip in the appropriate position. That would reduce the moving parts issue that may develop from repeated lever switch use - though i don't know how rugged magnetic switches are...

Very impressive work btw.



#348924 Forts/Cover

Posted by shmmee on 01 October 2015 - 12:16 PM in General Nerf

Throw a bed sheet over a couple chairs and clamp the sheet in place. You should be able to get several 6' long barriers that way. I always prefered to tip over folding tables though.



#348643 Nerf Rival Apollo Overview/Internals

Posted by shmmee on 03 September 2015 - 04:18 PM in General Nerf

Using the scientifically proven method of "Eyeballing it" It seems like there's some definite backspin already. The ammo gets much better range than you would expect for it's apparent velocity. I've been told I'm 'doing it wrong' by some people on one of the facebook groups, but they seem really inaccurate, possibly due to the backspin or just the size/weight of the ammo and susceptibility to wind. I think the magazine is really cool though, Standard dart mags are a huge pain to reload, and flywheel kids take forever between rounds reloading and picking up stock darts, so these are a nice change.


An easy way to see how much of a difference the backspin makes would be to turn the blaster on it's side and shoot it. The backspin would then be moving the ball to the right or left instead of keeping it aloft. You'd be able to measure the range gain from the backspin pretty easily that way by comparing it to shots fired with the blaster held vertically.

The amount of left or right deflection would also be an interesting number to study. If you really learned to predict the flight path, you could turn the blaster to arc a ball around a corner or turn it up-side-down to put a heavier drop on the ball to get someone hiding behind a mobsitcle.

I hope blaster orientation isn't as finicky as the disc shooters are for a straight and level shot.



#348626 Nerf Rival Apollo Overview/Internals

Posted by shmmee on 02 September 2015 - 02:18 PM in General Nerf

I've heard some airsoft guns have a rubber patch on an upper part of the barrel so the bb is spun backwards when it fires- which increases accuracy and distance. Does the apollo have anything similar? would superguing a bit of a rubber band to the top of your barrel create a similar effect? As a concept test you could simply snake the rubber band into the top of the barrel and pin it down when the chamber closes. You'd loose some of your air seal but you should be able to see if it spins without making any permenant changes to your blaster.

Rifling may not help a steffan, but with that golf ball dimpling it would be extremely well suited to that ammo.



#348597 Chunlin Darts on Amazon, similar to Xplorer darts

Posted by shmmee on 31 August 2015 - 02:56 PM in Darts and Barrels

The only review on amazon says their stryfe flywheels can't grab the pointy tip. Racer, could you see if they work in a flywheel blaster?



#348590 Deploy CS-6

Posted by shmmee on 31 August 2015 - 12:48 PM in General Nerf

If you can forgive some brutal honesty, you're asking us how to put lipstick on a pig. The Deploy is widly regarded as one of the worst and poorest performing mag fed blasters ever produced. It's a gimmicky useless mess with a tiny plunger tube and shoddy internals. You would be best served by starting a local wall of shame and leading with your deploy. Heck, even a recon would be a better option so far as reliability is concerned. A raider/retialator would be even better.



#348540 How To Choose The Best Nerf Gun For A Small Child. ?

Posted by shmmee on 27 August 2015 - 01:08 PM in General Nerf

Tobias, You'd be suprised how uncommon "common sense" can be. There is an age appropriateness to blasters that even I've managed to overlook when shopping for a younger nerfer. For example, I bought my 4 year old a rebel messenger for christmas. Guess what? She can barely prime it and when she does she flexes the priming bar upwords a full inch because she lacks the wrist strength needed to hold the pistol handle steady. My 3 year old had to learn to not squeeze the trigger when priming his doublestrike blaster so the hammer would catch. Both blasters probably could of been a little better chosen and I picked them out myself, and I've been nerfing since the Bn'A was on the shelves.

I've found panthers and jolt esque' blasters to be a fantastic fit for smaller younger hands. The mechanical advantage gained in air powered blasters is a huge assistance for smaller arms. Give a small kid a titan to play with and you'll be his hero for the day. Since they can be pumped on the ground like a floorstanding bike pump any kid who can lift the thing will feel like the biggest bad*** ever - and you don't have to worry about them loosing an eye if they decide to shoot themselves in the face. (which will happen!!!)

Ducnha, you're absolutely right about avoiding clip fed blasters and slide to prime blasters. Simple front loaders are the way to go for young nerfers.



#348442 Keep Score Electronically

Posted by shmmee on 19 August 2015 - 08:38 AM in Nerf Wars

It would create some really cool game type options. Like placing the sensors in a core to defend. I'm betting the magnets could also be used as a replacement weight for washers in a slug, although the felt tip with the magnet underneath would create a safety hazard. just imagine if the magnet enticed a sharp bit of metal to stick to the tip and the dart was fired. Not so good. Metallic hitchhikers would be easier to spot on a stock silicone dart tip though.



#348259 Hasbro's Homemades: A look at prototypes from the Nerf design team

Posted by shmmee on 07 August 2015 - 08:42 AM in News

I've really appreciated the prototype pics.

My child hood dream was to work with hasbro's R&D team designing nerf blasters. It's been exceptionally cool to see that as modders we really aren't too far off from where they start their designs too. They have more resources once they get to the production stages, but the early builds? It's poly carb, hot glue a 3d printer and what ever they've got laying around. I'll be geeking out over these pics for days.



#348220 Triad Troubleshooting Help

Posted by shmmee on 04 August 2015 - 08:11 AM in General Nerf

Your problem isn't with the blaster but your darts.

I'm making an educated assumption that they've either seen heavy use or have been stored in the blaster between uses. I see the same behavior from my older darts. The backs of the barrels taper in slightly to grab the dart and hold it in place so pressure can build in the plunger system and shoot the dart harder. If left in too long, the backs of the darts permanently compress and form to that tapered barrel section, and then they lack the resistance necessary to stay put. The AR is then able to push them back out. You'll also see a loss of range since they aren't holding on while pressure builds.

Get new darts or try stretching the tails of your darts by inserting a straw (or other slightly snug fitting cylinder) for a night and it may stretch the dart tails back out.



#348122 Air Restrictor Removal Cons

Posted by shmmee on 29 July 2015 - 05:09 PM in Modifications

That's a pretty good question to ask. So many modders jump right into a project without pausing to evaluate the ramifications the mod will have.

The purpose of an AR is to both slow down the plunger in it's final moments of travel as well as to limit the amount of air delivered. They also prevent you from sucking darts into the plunger tube. Some AR's also act as a pneumatic switching method to send air to only loaded barrels (smart AR - Ruffcut2x4, zombie strike xbow...) Removing AR's from a smart AR blaster will basically turn it into a pretty useless absolved blaster since all the blasters will be receiving air, splitting the flow between them.

Removing the AR can shorten the over all life of a blaster, but with a stock spring it shouldn't be too much unless it's an inverse plunger. The life span of an inverse plunger blaster will be significantly shortened since the plunger walls are so notoriously thin. Once you add springs and remove an AR you'll be doing more damage to the plunger and the shell supporting members.

You can pad most plunger faces with as much padding as you'd like but there are some exceptions. Padding the inverse plunger clip fed system plunger faces (raider/recon) will limit the travel of the plunger and keep the catch from reaching the catch plate. Sucking a dart into an ar removed blaster is the cause of one of the more common blaster jams. Craft foam is the most common material for plunger padding. Craft foam can be stacked until it provides a sufficient padding, but at the slight sacrifice of plunger volume.

I keep some of my arsenal bone stock (locks and AR's remaining) so I don't have to tear the blaster apart after loaning it out. If you're loaning your blasters out often you might want to keep a few stock as well.



#347993 Single pump Ultimator

Posted by shmmee on 22 July 2015 - 09:03 AM in Modifications

That's something I've been considering for years but have never actually tried. I've thought about putting in some kind of pulley system so the travel is doubled but the priming force is halved but attaching the pulley directly to the plunger rod would have rope screaming through the pulleys when a shot is fired. Not only would it slow the plunger travel but it would be a big risk of injury if the rope grabbed skin as it retracted.

I then considered having some type of carriage in front of the rear priming plate with springs to retract it so the carriage is retracted to the front after priming. That would require holes drilled through the rear priming plate, and I'm not sure if it would survive the forces once compromised.

I then considered a third option. Weld a bar to the back of the priming plate and cut slots out the sides for the bar. This seemed the simplest and most viable. I eventually scrapped the concept though. I'd had my Ultimator since Christmas morning - straight off the store shelf. It's one of my more precious blasters and I didn't want to do any major shell work to it. If I was to pick any of the modifications that's the one I'd go with, just be sure to brace and reinforce the handles. I don't think they would last long if you were pushing against one of them while pulling a priming bar. Installing a shoulder stock to brace against would also move the priming force off the handle and into your shoulder. Try to keep the added priming bar light weight. You don't want to add any more mass to the priming bar than you have to. It's already got a lot of mass in play.

Good luck. I don't think i've ever seen anyone single pump load an ultimator but i'm pretty sure it would rock. Oh, and btw if you ever want to make a slip on shotgun attachment - they do pretty amazing things with long loose fitting barrels like petg and sch 80. It doesn't like tight barrels.



#347878 Homemade Vortex Magazines

Posted by shmmee on 16 July 2015 - 02:39 PM in Modifications

The bbq skewer cylinder your using looks a little sketchy. Go to your hardware store light bulb aisle. They sell 3' and 6' clear petg fluorescent light bulb storage tubes for a few bucks. They're the perfect fit for vortex discs. I use one to simply store mine in, you could easily make a large magazine out of one as well.



#347851 Pullback Kit Assembly

Posted by shmmee on 15 July 2015 - 04:07 PM in Homemades

Beautiful write up. The impact 3d printing has had on this hobby is amazing.

If you have access to a drill press you can cut your long channels easier by setting it to high, borrowing a spiral cutting bit from your dremel and fencing/bracing the pvc in place so it can't move anywhere but back and forth. It's a little more set up and prep but once done all you need to do is turn the press on, drop the bit into the pvc and pull the pvc backwards without rotating it. The spiral cutting bit in a drill press will be a whole lot quicker than a hand saw for cutting that long channel.



#347282 Simple Question

Posted by shmmee on 18 June 2015 - 03:56 PM in Modifications

In line clips are more air efficient than hoppers so, while theirs a chance (in theroy) that they'd work, I think the deal killer will be tipping the blaster downwards to seat the next dart and then bringing it back up and aiming will be nigh impossible while your fully automatic battery powered plunger is dry firing away at unseated darts in your inline clip.



#346756 Best nerf gun to loan out

Posted by shmmee on 14 May 2015 - 10:29 PM in General Nerf

I've actually considered the Rough cut. The problem however is that I've seen when fired, sometimes darts pop out of their chambers, preventing them from firing next. Is there a way to fix that?

Keeping your darts in good shape will help significantly. Don't store them in the blaster or clips. That will squish them and reduce the fill factor of the foam when they're loaded and ready. Store them so they won't get crushed. Rebarreling with brass will help, but only until the foam squishes down to the new smaller diameter of the brass instead. Once the darts aren't a tight fit - they won't stay seated well regardless of barrel diameter.

Straw modding the darts will help the dart retain rigidity too - but the added weight of the straw might also affect accuracy. It's a trade off.



#346706 Best nerf gun to loan out

Posted by shmmee on 12 May 2015 - 06:12 PM in General Nerf

I'm reluctant to give noobs clip fed's - even if they still have the locks in. They'll always find a way to jam it up. My go-to loaners are ruff cuts. They're impossible to screw up... "Darts go here, prime here, squeeze trigger fully to shoot both sides...." You still get 8 shots, they're easy to keep fed and they have decent stock range.



#346577 Vulcan Gears Not Turning?

Posted by shmmee on 05 May 2015 - 05:20 PM in Modifications

It's probably toast. Vulcan's are notoriously prone to gear stripping.



#346207 Exhaust Valve Homemade (Current: Bladder Tests)

Posted by shmmee on 16 April 2015 - 09:50 AM in Homemades

A running challenge that's been mocking my semi auto attempts has been "feeding the beast", and has centered around using tiny 1/2" dia pumps and pumping like mad every few shots. Trading 3 pumping motions for one shot has always given springers a huge mechanical advantage. Seeing your full size floor pump was a face-palming "why didn't I think of that?" moment. One stroke from that pump ought to fill for multiple shots - especially with a bladder system. It could be a game changing reversal for air blasters. Frame pumps and their relatively smaller diameter pump heads are great for higher pressures - but nerf doesn't need higher pressures and the mechanical advantage is wasted. Using a full size floor pump trades volume for a more appropriate lower pressure rating.

I also owe you a deeper thanks. I really haven't been even remotely interested in anything nerf since the last 'geddon, and had even mentally given the hobby up. My lagging interest has been largely driven by the complete famine of progressive forum content. I haven't found any personal success with homemades and our favored toy makers haven't released anything primary worthy since the hand cannon. Lacking foundational blaster material, Forum writeups have lagged and FB and has become completely inane repaints and empty fluff. I'm not quite running to my garage to dust off my own unfinished projects just yet, but this post has been the first thing to spark my interest in ages.

Thank you.



#346145 Exhaust Valve Homemade (Current: Bladder Tests)

Posted by shmmee on 13 April 2015 - 04:25 PM in Homemades

*****

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and pictures, shmmee. I always liked that marshmallow airgun. Have you considered expanding the Big Salvo tank in the DTG to fire out of a hopper, rather than using a turret? A while ago I expanded one to absurd volumes and it worked really well with a hopper, but I never got around to doing anything with it, and then it got lost in Ryan's shop when we transitioned our building over to Kane's place. It might make the reloading situation a little easier.

It's worth noting (I think) that the Clippard MAVO-3 valve that you used here has a flow rate of 10 cubic feet per minute (CFM, or CPFM) at 100 PSI, which is the same flow rate as the blowgun that this design is using at the moment. The MJVO-3 valve has a flow rate of 25 CFM at 100 PSI, which is probably overkill, but I think the QEV vents more quickly with a better flow rate, so maybe there's an improvement to be had.


I'd certainly thought about expanding the B.S. tank, but since I was already struggling to get that tenth shot out I decided not to expand the rate of consumption with a larger tank. I think I mentally wandered from the DTG to try to make a clip fed semi auto so I could marry the dead space of a turret with the re-loadability of a clip. I was able to prove it conceptually possible but my chosen piston (a sspb pump) didn't have enough travel to seal the breech after chambering a dart.

http://vid1107.photo...to/DSCN1997.mp4
I think that project has entered the never-to-be completed world of "someday".

The higher flow valve is certainly intriuging. It'll be interesting to see if it helps. I've always felt triggering a backpressure tank was like kicking a ladder out from someone. The more sudden the kick - the more violent the results (the faster the tank releases)



#346139 Exhaust Valve Homemade (Current: Bladder Tests)

Posted by shmmee on 13 April 2015 - 09:29 AM in Homemades

Im hoping some previous projects of mine may be helpful to you since they both share similar ground:Posted Image
Posted Image

Same concept as what you're planning wrapped up into a dart tag gun.
Big salvo tank, clippard mavo-3 3 way valve, rf20 bladder (double lined with bike inner tube to get 45-50 psi). Hits about 65-75' flat and can get 8-9 of the 10 shots off before needing to be re-pumped.

There is a rear loading hole and guide ramp in the side, but it's still pretty dart hungry and its tough keeping it fed and happy during a war, so i haven't used it as much as I thought i would.

Here's a firing vid...

Posted Image

There might also be some helpful lessons to be learned from this thing...
Posted Image
Marshmallow M-forcer (out of production, may now be tougher to find). 15 shots, semi auto, built in rear loading hole. Re-barrel and replace the pump and you're done. With 15 shots available it's much easier to keep it fed than the DTG - Much less work as well.

Like a Mavo-3, the internal valve shuts off the inlet before venting the tank, But the M-forcer valve container also acts as the firing tank. The orange piston sits inside the center stem and acts like a check valve. The entire tank/valve moves to the right towards the turret as it goes through the firing motion and that center red stem remains stationary - pressed up against the turret. Once the tank is fully forward against the turret that right 0-ring seal on the red stem breaks free and air from the valve tank is able to escape out of the stem hole to vent to the barrel. The shifting motion also crushes the check valve piston closed against the inlet (left) to keep the larger re-fill tank from venting. The M-forcer valve may actually be re-creatable to those with the right equipment.
Posted Image



#345368 Mega-to-micro converter barrel

Posted by shmmee on 06 March 2015 - 09:20 AM in Darts and Barrels

Just a heads up, these tanks are notoriously cranky and leak prone - especially if you plug/swap the pump and over pressure them.



#344251 Nerf elite darts bulk sale

Posted by shmmee on 14 January 2015 - 10:37 AM in Darts and Barrels

While I can't speak for these darts specifically I once ended up with some knock off "elite darts" with tips made of hard orange plastic. No way I would ever shoot those at a person, though at that price it may be worth re-tipping them somehow...

I wonder if McMaster sells adhesive backed 3/8" felt pads...



#344049 Reverse Wye Hopper

Posted by shmmee on 08 January 2015 - 10:32 AM in Darts and Barrels

That's gotta be the coolest innovation I've seen in ages! I'm wondering how much of an impact the second dart has upon the seated and ready to fire dart. I'd imagine if the second dart is sitting on the loaded dart at that 45 degree angle, there's a chance that it might fall enough to lock the loaded dart in place and that upon firing the loaded dart would first have to force it's way past the second dart - wasting energy while doing so. Do the darts in the feed tube jump much or kick back when you fire? I'd imagine that to be a symptom of secondary darts jamming primary darts.



#343570 Singled Magstrike

Posted by shmmee on 16 December 2014 - 10:13 AM in Modifications

Your mod inspires mixed feelings in me. On the one hand, it captures the essence of fugly. on the other... Well your bladder is now completely unprotected - from over pumping, from external puncture, from UV degradation... There's a lot of compressed air in there and when they fail - they fail loudly and explosively. Your cap becomes a projectile, and neighbors call the local authorities to report shots fired. I've never heard one fail but Doom (our resident genius) has and he says it's as loud as a shotgun discharge. I don't think it's worth the risk of hearing damage and other personal injury.

Please shell up your bladder.



#343568 LS Noise Reduction

Posted by shmmee on 16 December 2014 - 10:02 AM in Modifications

To reiterate and expand upon what SolarFusion said - craft foam or thin felt. But more importantly, just a single layer of either. Why just a single layer? Padding decreases the distance the plunger can travel which in turn decreases the amount of distance between the catch and the catch plate. If you put too much padding on the plunger, Your blaster will be unable to catch and you'll be tearing it apart immediately thereafter. I would suggest dry-fitting everything together without the main springs to make sure your padded LS can still catch before putting your springs back in.

The same theroy goes with most all n-strike-esque clipped springers. Someone once double loaded an AR & lock removed raider. The second dart pushed the first dart into the PT. I was baffled as to why it suddenly stopped priming... until i took it apart.



#343073 Heavy body work

Posted by shmmee on 25 November 2014 - 11:36 AM in Modifications

Your drawing looks almost exactly like a scout. Perhaps you could rob the cocking slide off the top and mod it to fit over your NF? you'd save a bundle on filler material and hours of sanding.