Strength is definitely an issue in any FDM part, but there's always a solution. I know metal FDM parts can has extra liquid metal wicked into the spaces. I'm wondering if some kind of resin could be used in an ABS part that could reinforce the air spaces. It's a theory, but it might be worth looking into if that's the direction you're going. I'm not too familiar with FDM, so I don't know what the options are.

What were you considering in terms of capacity, barrel arrangement, trigger placement, and overall shape? If you have some kind of baseline design, I can throw together something in SolidWorks and email it to you.

One last thought: have you considered putting joints at the points where individual parts connect? I feel like gluing the surfaces in the mock-up you showed alone wouldn't hold up under any half-decent spring, but even a simple joint just to increase the glued surface area would improve the strength of the blaster significantly, assuming the part itself can handle the stress.

I still think the loss of inertia from extended contact is negligible. There is still only a fraction of a second total contact. Conversely, the more inertia lost by the wheels means the higher maximum velocity on the dart, and the total energy between the two systems (counting both wheels as 1 and the dart as the other) can only balance out, meaning the angular velocity of the wheels can only drop to the maximum speed of the dart.

And if you're really worried about it, you could increase the speed of the motors. My primary concern with stefans would be weather a shorter dart can still be pushed out far enough to make contact with the wheels. If not, you need to find a way of effectively extending the reach of the push rod without preventing the cylinder from turning. This seems like an inordinate amount of work to use stefans in a Barricade, unless you're ok with using longer than average stefans.

Now I know you could easily increase the diameter of the flywheels or make any sort of adjustment necessary, BUT I am wonder if it will reliably fire darts of the wheels contact all of the dart itself. In it's stock format, the two flywheels engage the wider head of the whistler darts, as opposed to the main, foam body of the dart. One such concern would be whether or not the wheels would get bogged down from the additional contacting mass of the dart being pushed (in regards to follow-up shots).

Bogged down how? You would obviously need to increase the space around the wheels to house a larger diameter wheel (just so nothing rubs), but I don't see them slowing down that much firing stefans or streamlines as opposed to whistlers. The rotational inertia of the flywheels wouldn't really change with the added mass of the tape or rubber bands, so the acceleration of the wheels is going to be basically the same. The only remaining issue would be a dart twisting if the motors aren't going at the same speed if it contacts both wheels for longer. But a properly wired system shouldn't run into this problem either.

The buckles for getting easier access to the battery tray is genius. Swapping out batteries is always a huge pain in the ass dealing with electric blasters. I'm not so sure about modifying the battery tray in a way that prevents using plain D cells. A fairly fat wooden dowel with a hole down the center to match the battery of choice could have a terminal down one end making them the same size as 3 D cells, ensuring you could still drop in normal batteries should you run out of other options. With stretched out contacts, you will have to re-compress and re-stretch them if you end up going back and forth between batteries, and that will eventually crack the contacts.

making it stefan compatible is probably a different story, however.

I don't know about that. It looks like, when opened up at least, the whole cylinder can be removed fairly easily. If that's the case, removing that pegs to fit stefans shouldn't be much of a process at all. If the distance between the flywheels is the issue in using stefans, a little bit of electrical tape should increase the diameter enough to grip your ammunition of choice.

For any game where being able to put rounds down range matters more than stealth, I can see this thing doing serious work. A semi-automatic handgun is something that has been missing and I think people may change their minds once we really get our hands on this thing.

I think that it is not to bad. I may end up picking up one for my nerf war, but what I dont understand is how you guys love the clear clips. I honestly am debating on getting it because I dont really like the clear clips. I like how it can hold a sword though.

As opposed to the original yellow clips? Unless the clips fit differently (like how the old yellow ones sometimes fit snugger in a recon than the first orange ones), I don't see how it matter that much, aside from aesthetic reasons. I don't get the arguments either way. It's still a clip that still fires the same way as before.

Has anybody tested it with raider drums?

You realize that would basically leave you with a frisbee sticking out of your chest, right? Something tells me that wont work too well.

What are these "rules that should be more coherent" anyways? Where is the "NIC Handbook" people keep referring to, because I never got one.

I think that sums it up pretty well. And you never know. If you have a war with shields, and it works out really well, you might change the perceptions of a lot of people here. Like everything else, the rules for a war are organic. Even Einstein has been proven wrong over time.

Speaking of which, I'm goign to go work on some rules ideas of my own and try to test them out with some of my friends.

Not being that familiar with MindStorms, but would that be a feasible platform for this? (If so, I might see myself buying one.)

Probably not. I doubt the Lego motors are powerful enough to turn the vulcan quickly enough to hit a moving target. I'm not sure of what sensors Lego makes, but I don't think only 4 sensor hookups are enough unless you just want the thing to wire off a trip-wire setup.

If a Manta is allowed, it's usually done some with the reasoning that since nerf made the manta, it's a legal shield. Following that logic, both the Stampede's shield and the Stonewall should be viable in a nerf war. That being said, not everyone bases their rules or arguments in logic. Take gun hits, for example. In reality, a bullet that impacted a gun would almost never trigger the other rounds left in the magazine, meaning it would disable the gun if the shooter is lucky. Making a gun hit take you out is like letting a baseball thrown through a window cause a house to be condemned. But if the host of the event decides against it, thems the bricks.

Personally, I probably wouldn't allow any shields. But if you allow one, you probably should allow all Nerf branded shields, at least. Rules should be applied fairly and evenly, but like I said, it's up to the event host. And as Captain Slug has shown us, some people aren't even open to discussing it.

I dont think many moders in the nerfing community will actually know how to work with one of those boards, lucky for me my school just gives them away so i will be attempting to work on this! concider it a " class project"

I'm inclined to think that more people would be capable of building a sentry gun than you'd think. The physical construction aspects of this design are certainly within the abilities of most of the people here. And I don't think the tracking system is that complicated, either. Circuit design isn't that complicated of a thing. The majority of engineering programs require some kind of course in automatic controls and computer science, and that's all you really need to put together a sentry gun. If I remember correctly, there are quite a few engineers and engineering majors on this forum. A handful of motion detectors, some limit switches, a servo, and however you're tempted to wire up the firing mechanism. What makes this gun so nice is the compactness of the control box and sensors, but I had access to a circuit board etching machine in my high school electronics class (probably still do, have to call my old teacher) so this is definitely within the realm of somethign I could do, although solo this might take a bit longer. It's definitely somethign you cold do for a senior project (in high school or college), though convincing a teacher that something like this is appropriate for a school might take some work. I have an idea for my capstone design project, now.

This is a sick upgrade for a Vulcan, though. I guess my big question is can the Vulcan be used as a regular Vulcan, or only as a sentry gun? I feel like so many of these sentry gun setups compromise the original functionality, and with a setup this compact, there's little-to-no reason to do that. If anything, that lawnmower battery should let you do more with a Vulcan, and then set it up as a sentry if need be.

I'm just curious (that's a lie, I want to shut up people who are telling me why I couldn't use this in a game of Assassins), what is the battery life on that thing? Someone tried to tell me the "best" RC cars only have 10 minutes of battery life.

I also expect to see a lot of commonality between the "shotgun" and the "sawed-off" versions

Looking at the images, the "full" shotgun looks like it has a turret on the front of it, the sawed-off variant looks like it just has a barrel. Still, 1 legitimate shotgun will be great for games like HvZ. I'm stoked, I just wish I could find some of this stuff in an actual store. I want my grenades dammit.

I want to go on the record saying that this thing, along with the 3 other guys who just run around with RF20s, make games like capture the flag rather lame. That being said, I have seen this thing first hand and it is damned impressive. PSU engineering FTW.

It's hilarious that you just now post this thing, Landru. I am waiting for that bottle to pop one day, though. Not that i want you hurt, I just want to see the look on your face when being rushed by zombies and the bottle finally gives out.

PSU runs a decent sized Assassins game every semester. You get a target, every man for himself. Lying, bending the rules, and stealing information on a target are all strongly encouraged. Finding 1 person among 50,000 can be a bit difficult, though.

We also run with a "government agency" that's gunning for assassins. If you get seen by another player while making a kill, dead players can now try to hunt your ass down. This makes stealth a big factor. Also, the only kills are against your target. You can only stun anyone else (they basically can't do shit for 15 minutes, so you can stun your assassin and get out of the area). This also makes the game last a bit longer. All the rules for all the games the Urban Gaming Club (nerf club) at Penn State uses are on their website if you want some more rules to base your game off.

Double post by accident. Please delete.

If you want a removable stock, drill a hole and use a peg and cotter pin or something along those lines. The stock wouldn't move around, but it would be very easy to remove the pin and peg and detach the stock.

How stable is the pump? IO get the feeling that one hose clamp wouldn't hold the pump on very well.

So I'd like to know how you guys think a Gunblade should look.

Nothing quite as fun as a cleaver with a flintlock. Also, it's authentic.

I grew up near Philly and now live at Penn State, which is a town harshly divided between Eagles and Steelers fans. So I have come to almost hate the Steelers (everyone here seems to clemently hate the other team). Now I'm torn between hating the Steelers and wanting retribution against the Cardinals. An Eagles/Steelers would have caused an awesome riot up in State College, but with only teams I hate playing in the game, I may just play WoW.

Eagles for life. Every other team can in horrible, painful deaths for all I care.

Zombies can't use guns, I don't care what Romero says. Zombies should have to tag you by hand.

Tip: When moving around, thy to have at least 1 gun pointed in each direction. Getting a group wiped out walking from location to location sucks all the fun out of the game. Cover your ass.

The BCS means nothing. Rankings have a bias to them. College football is one of the few true sports that doesn't use a bracket for the post season. You can claim national champs when you beat out 15 other teams over 4 weeks. Otherwise, the title means nothing. How many upsets were there this season? I hate the BCS system.

I caved and bought both swords today (I hate having Christmas cash left over too long long, I spend it n really random shit). They have a rod of some sort running from the pommel to about an inch from the tip of the blade. The thing feel surprisingly sturdy given the foam construction. Also, the sound of the sword traveling through the air at any significant speed gives a gratifying "woosh" sound. Myabe it's lame, but I like them. Now if I can get them in a game of Assassins, or maybe HvZ. Nothing like going Wesley Snipes on some undead.

There's no way in hell I'd let a Titan (or a BBBB, for that matter) see play in a HVZ game. I f anyone protests, just direct them to Angel's video--in which the fella taking the hit from a Titan is injured rather spectacularly. Anyone who doesn't have enough sense to recognize that these would be extremely bad for HVZ is not the kind of person I'd be comfortable with sharing the game with.

BBB not BBBB. I am still trying to wrap my mind around the Titan/Big Bad Bow comparison. The way some people's minds run..................frightening.

So my school has a club that does things like HvZ and Assassins. Normally, it's all good. We run around Penn State with Nerf guns, garnering looks of confusion from 95% of the students. Fun, right?


A few days ago, some new member asks if he can use a singled Titan in HvZ. I, apparently being the only member of the club that spends any amount of time on NIC message boards or forums, immediately say no. Other people are quick to say "Let's test it out" and "we've allowed modded BBB." Most of the time during HvZ, if you need to shoot someone, they are within spitting distance to you. A Titan at that range seems like a disaster, lawsuit, and assault case waiting to happen. Am I the only sane person with a Nerf gun left in State College?

Maybe I'm a total nub, but what exactly did u just do? Did you expand the air tanks to get more air behind the dart? Regardless, it looks surprisingly clean from the outside. Good job on that.

We need more dog and puppie avatars, preferably cocker spaniels. Oh, and some GWAR avatars.


The GWAR one I don't own, but you can use the cocker spaniel one all you like.

What about a Rottweiler? Rottweilers scare the shit out of a lot of people despite actually being awesome dogs. Perhaps terrifying random people adds to the awesomeness. Either way, a few more dogs would be cool.

Someone fast track this member asap.

This thing fires 3" steel bolts? Is there anyway to make it fire stefans? Maybe with a steel ball bearing instead of a lead fishing weight?

Seconded. Although this guy may just use an army of robots armed with coil guns and take place over.


That thing is both awe inspiring and terrifying. It's probably pretty close to being lethal, and I doubt the gov't has any idea people can make their own coil guns when the Navy is just testing a prototype rail gun now.


One though on my part: would it be possible to have the coils (excluding the primary) fired off a timing circuit? If the bolts are fairly uniform and the electronics aren't crap, the forces should be relatively predictable. If a timer could set off each subsequent coil after being started with the trigger, the bolt wouldn't have to contact any switches and potentially alter it's flight path. And in case anyone was curious, there is a difference between a coil gun (like this monster) and a rail gun. They both use electromagnetism to propel a projectile, but use different means to generate the field.

couldn't Yada get sued by Hasbro? Or since it's Japanese is it protected?

Well, a lot of countries have agreements on protecting copyrighted, trademarked, and patented materials. I don't know exactly what the standing is between Japan and the US on patent protection, but both signed and ratified the Patent Cooperation Treaty, so I would think that a lawsuit is possible. Unless Yada got a license to produce nerf products under their name. But I doubt that's likely, especially considering the long relationship between Hasbro and Takara Tomy.

The plunger does look impressive as hell compared to the current NF. I wonder if Japanese safety regualtions are less strict than US ones.

I love stupid translations like this:

"Company Profile:
WECAN GROUP is an international Manufacturing and Merchandising Company. Our business flaps in the world."
http://www.wecanchina.com/about.htm

How does something flap in the world? Wait, never mind. I'm scared of finding out. I do find engrish funny as hell, though. "Tis the season to be jorry. Fra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra." Man, I really want to go buy a bee bee gun now. 10 points to whoever gets the reference first.

I can't wait for the TV add!

I can. I remember the Power Ranger weapon ads. I don't see this commercial being much better.


Now that I think about it, though, I kind of want one. There is something hilariously awesome about blocking darts with this thing in a game of Assassins and then cutting my would-be killer down. I suddenly have the desire to go watch Kill Bill.

It's hard to tell if the tip wasn't broken off. But, considering the hilts are different, and the yellow one appears to have a fuller (groove) along the blade while the blue one doesn't, I would be less inclined to assume that they have a similar tip. I'm more interested in if they come with some sort of scabbard.

Either way, $14 is way too much.

I got bitched for wearing a Corona Light shirt on "red shirt day" in high school. Granted, we were supposed to wear red for something against teenage alcoholism, but it was a red shirt. Schools have no sense of humor.

PSU has the Urban Gaming Club. We do HvZ, variations on shit like Cops and Robbers, and other random things. But a true nerf war seems a bit out of the scope of what most club members want to do. Plus, it's rare to actually do something even once a month, which I don't understand considering of the 50ish people in the club, we all spend most of the year within 2 miles of each other.

Not really. Nerfing is probably the only "Nerdy" thing I do. I don't think it is nerdy, but some (most) people who do not nerf would think it is. Other things I do:
Hockey
Scouts
COD WAW.
I don't think most of the people I met at HbH were nerdy at all. FA_24 is a body builder type, Tank Rat has a lot of piercings/tatoos, dumpster seemed like the track/running type. No, In general, I do not believe that nerfers are nerdy.

No, not nerdy. But your post does prove the nerfers are outside of most social norms.

We have high standards here.

Anyone is welcome to join our community.

You are to meet our standards.

If you do not meet our standards, you will not remain a member of our community for very long.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Don't ever post a topic like this again. You want to know some mods for new guns, how about trying the fucking mod section? Did you think of that? Strike one and that's pretty much all you get. Next time you post a topic as useless as this you're gone.

Talio."


This is clear, it is concise, it serves as a warning and as a gentle but firm bitch-slap. I think it sums up the question quite well and can be easily copied and pasted into multiple situations and for a multitude of offenses. There is your grace-period.

One is forced to wonder about the exact nature of the standards of NerfHaven. No offense to Talio intended. However if the claim is to be made that this forum is better than the others, then the actions of members should prove it. When someone does something outside of the Code of Conduct, so many people are so quick to jump down that person's throat. Being the best doesn't only imply skill in modifying or nerfing, it alludes to a greater tact in dealing with the community at large.


So I think if a new member's first post or 2 are out of line, a little more discretion should be shown in the reaction to them. It is possible to post 2 or 3 times before anyone looks and responds to any posts. And sometimes what some members would take to be a legitimate post, others would not (my thread about painting as an example). That being said, I think a definite limit will always seem arbitrary. Each situation should be approached in a logical manner. The very first rule of the Code of Conduct can be fairly ambiguous. If someone is trying, a gentle nudge can turn them into a valuable member of the community. If someone clearly isn't understanding what is expected of them, then a suspension or banning may be in order. But like I said, each situation is different and no empirical system will work. A little more understanding and a guiding hand may prove to be far more effective than attacking a person for every single mistake they make.

Anyone else get the image of some fat guy in a rascal at the super market getting seriously owned with this?

I am. But I'd rather nail one of the football players at Penn State who get a scooter thing whenever they stub their toe because god forbid the football team should ever have to walk anywhere with a hurt little toe.

How is that thing actually fired? Is that massive PVC insert an air tank or what? The idea of having 2-3 extra "rockets" on my back as I shoot this thing at people appeals to my inner sadist.


As for the fins, I would assume they make a huge difference in stabilizing the flight of the football. Anyone who has thrown a regular football and a vortex one can usually get the Vortex to go much, much further. Without the fins, I'd wager that it would fly more like a potato cannon. Plus, the wins make it more like a real rocket, just to appeal to the inner geek in us.

They pissed on Toonami the moment they decided to cancel it with no prior warning. I turn on Cartoon Network for my weekly anime fix, and all of a sudden, right before Adult Swim starts, I hear "stay gold." Outsiders reference aside, I was shocked. And in it's place, a repetitive cycle of Naruto and Batman movies. That's how they're pissing on Toonami. Fucking with Dragonball is just beating a dead horse. Still, they are all bastards.

My first thought was "Holy shit. Uwe Boll found out about anime. The world is doomed. WE'RE ALL FUCKING DOOMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I think I'm most pissed that Master Roshi isn't a senile, slightly perverted old man with a turtle shell on his back.

Chow Yun-Fat just doesn't have that creepy old man vibe, does he?

Live action films change things all the time in order for them to make more sense to people who aren't familiar to a franchise.

Until meeting Kami, everyone assumed the balls existed in the anime. Why not just go with that? A bunch of legendary artifacts that no one really knows the origin of but hold amazing power. It worked for the Sword in the Stone. Not everything need be changed for the uninitiated.




And why the hell is Goku white? And where's Nimbus? I miss Nimbus.

It doesn't look very comfortable though.

Not comfortable? I would say it looks downright painful. We now know what computer accessories would have been used during the Spanish Inquisition.

Wow. That thing is pure, unadulterated evil. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Usually I'm not the biggest fan of "just because I can" projects, but this is awesome. I'm willing to bet that using it on someone would constitute assault with a deadly weapon. Again, awesome.

For a second, I thought that Uwe Boll was actually going to make a Contra movie, at which point he would absolutely have to be killed. He ruins games and doesn't understand that gamers are the target market for video game adaptations. That clip, on the other hand, was actually funny.

Still, DEATH TO BOLL!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sort or a pyrotechnic. I'll tell you right now that is a very, very bad idea. Gas and other flamable liquids become explosive when in a vapor form.

Only within a specific mixture range. It's actually kind of hard to get the right ratio of fuel to air to achieve an explosion. Soaking a dart in a flammable liquid will probably end up well above the proper concentration.

Not to add fuel to the fire (pun intended, and not - isn't life duplicitous?), but how come no one mentions fire damage to the surroundings? Like, forest fires? Burning buildings? Smoldering furniture?

Honestly, that was my first thought when I read that he actually wanted to use burning darts. Nothing like incendiary ammunition in a kid's toy.

When I clicked this topic, I new it would be something stupid, but I had a little hope in the back of my mind that someone had made stefans using small watch batteries as weights, and the batteries were hooked up to small LED's in the backs of the stefans. Sure it would be expensive, impractical, and a time-intensive pain in the ass, but it would be fucking cool.

That would be freaking awesome but way to costly. Maybe some glow-stick type setup would work. Maybe a mini one shoved into a dart, or a dart coated in the chemicals.

I was involved with the USNSCC when I was younger. They are a Navy-centered youth group. We didn't get along with CAP, and from my experience in boot camp, neither did anyone from any NSCC unit. I don't know why, but there was some serious animosity towards the CAP. I think it was because CAP was perceived as far less structured than we were. Whatever. The Civil Air Patrol still does good for the community and such. I just have absolutely no interest in general aviation.