You can find modification guides and ideas for the SM1500 in the Modifications Directory, which is pinned in the Mods section.

I'm pretty sure that piece helps to stabilize the back piece and keep it inline with the front section.

You live in MD? Cool! We'd love to have you at the next DCNF, whenever it is!
Also, if you wanna host a war, go for it! Don't worry about attendance, and just do some research on wars and you'll be fine, I hosted my first war having only gone to one war before that!

You just made me feel good inside.

I quite enjoy the way Langley makes me feel when he's inside me too. Wait...that's not what I meant to say...

If they're not held too far, I'd be interested in trying to make it up to some Central PA wars, even if it's only to give you a small-eyed brother a bigass hug.

Your optimal barrel length would depend on/be affected by many factors, including dart-barrel fit, and your turret and plunger seals.
I suggest you start with pretty long barrels (maybe like 12"), see how it performs, and cut down the barrels I necessary.
There really is no way to find an optimal barrel length without experimenting a bit; especially because turreted guns can be really unpredictable.

Parental supervision required for players under age 13.

Teehee. Dats you bro.

What kind of donuts will be in attendance? Will they be filled with Ichor? If not, they're crap donuts, and no one should go.

I know that there are like zero people in north Dakota

Fixed that for you.

Ps: Langley, I borrowed your clan name. Hope you don't mind.

If you're gonna try to steal a clan name, at least write the name correctly.

Best of luck to you and your health, Buff. Hope to see you well and "back", fully, soon!

Ragequitters never win.

If someone is cyber-bullying you, you should notify a parent, teacher, or school counselor, they can help you through this terror, and capture that douchebag!

Hello,

Has anyone ever tried out either the CL Laurence black foam from Amazon ( http://www.amazon.co...oductPromotions ) , or the black Sashco Sealants foam ( http://www.amazon.co...11840812&sr=8-1 ) ?

Reviews on the stuff?

Thanks

http://i981.photobuc...olstorybrah.png

USER WAS WARNED FOR THIS POST

Teach me how to dougie.
Also, it looks like you got photobombed by the short guy from American Guns, boo.

Now if only you could clean a bathroom with a nerf gun.

Challenge accepted.

Mini bungee cords do sound easier to put on. Where can I get them? I did a quick search and Lowes poped up. Is there any other places where I can get them? and What length do the cords have to be?

I believe that True Value Hardware carries tiny bungee cords....I think they're about 4"?

I live in southern VA, so I live very close to NC. I am definitely interested.

This is a thread for Northern CALIFORNIA nerfers....

Edit: northern, not southern, derrrp.

Nice Lancer.

Hey guys,

First off, if this thread is innapropriate for this forum, please, admins, let me know.

As you know, the last DC Nerf Fest war was back in September. Since then, the only war has been NENO hosted by Modsrus back in November. I just wanted to give you guys a quick update on the wars in the area that I plan on hosting (and not hosting) in the future, as I seem to have hosted the majority of the wars (like 80%) in the area in the last year. This does not mean (and you shouldn't make this assumption) that I am to be the only almighty war host in the area. I would personally love it if others stood up and hosted a war.

First of all, unless we find a suitable indoor venue i nthe area, I think we're pretty much done with DCNFs for the year, unless someone else wants to host a war (tacticool snow war? ).

Next, I have decided to make DCNF (DC Nerf Fest) just a series of wars during the summer, probably stating in June and going up to late August, anually. Any other wars I host during the year shall be deemed a different name.

I plan on hosting my next war in Spring of 2012. You can look foward to it being then. After this winter, I should be becoming pretty active in the war-scene again. Hopefully I will start having a war at least every 2 months ( I will strive for every month, although it's unlikely) up 'till the summer season begins.

When I do begin to host wars again, they will most likely be at either Beall or Fleming for now. If I do find a better park/school between now and then, I'll let you guys know.

Lastly, woul there be any interest in creating an email-contact group list for all local area (or any one else interested, I guess?) nerfers? So that I could reach you all through email, rather than having to make a thread like this or lots of PMs on here? I think that'd be much more convenient, if I or anyone else needed to get an announcement (important stuff, not just spam, of course) to everyone else, such as changes in war schedules, plans, polls, ideas, etc. If so, please just leave a reply here saying so, and I'll start to make one/tinker with one.

That's all for now, just thought I'd update you all o nthe status of my war output, as I have gotten a few people asking me.

See you all in Spring!

Thanks for the feedback everyone. At this point, I think I'm just gonna hold off 'till Spring to host my next DC area war. If someone else wants to step up and host an indoor war, that'd be great.

Anyone more thoughts? What spring months (tenatively, of course) would work best for everyone?

Hero, if you or any of your PA buds could make it down for a war, that'd be awesome. Koree and Shandsgator came down last DCNF and I think it was pretty awesome.

Thanks for the feedback. I guess ill hold off on the email thing for now. Unless someone else takes over, I am taking my energy away from indoor wars for now, sorry. I plan to host the next war sometime at the end of March, hopefully we'll be ble to get sme "foreigners" to come (PA, NJ, NY).

Wasn't as bad as I expected. No tree/wind damage around me, but my basement did flood, though my dad discovered the water while it was just enough to soak the carpet, thank goodness.

Best wishes to those who were affected by the storm.

Awesome sauce. I like your idea for the connected priming bar-looks really comfy!

In my experiences with the part from the plunger head as a seal, it has ALWAYS created too much friction. I don't know how your turret is barely touching it because it was always too big for mine also. I would highly recommend using craft foam. It creates a fairly good seal with very minimal friction. I use it for all of my turret seals.

Seconded.

If you used craft foam/rubber to make the turret seal, it may be rubbing against the top of the rotation mech, creating uneeded friction.

You could follow Zorn's write-up and install a stock pump/OPRV.

...or Broken SVT's. He's done the mod on Harpoon Blasters (you can see them in the Mods Pics thread).

I'd be up for testing this however I would like to see admin approval first beforehand. Nothing against you personally.

I'm on the same boat as Hero. Let me know via PM when you have an IPad version available for testing.

Very nice, Spud! One of the things I've always disliked about ring catch blasters is the fact that they need a tee, which makes designing the handle/blaster really awkward. I love how the handle completely covers the catch area.

Very nice. I actually just saw, yesterday, Stevinmarin on YouTube do this in one of his videos, except he used a file.

Very excellent, TantumBull! So could you use a homemade OPRV, with the same location/orientation as you did with the 4B pump head?

I'm not so sure about Feb, but I know that Chaos and I have spring break from March 30th to April 9th so hopefully, we can get a war or two into that 11-day period. Chaos, are you free during your spring break or are you planning to go somewhere?

I should be free. Hopefully we can still get at least one war in Feb, even if I'm not hosting.

Phree, I'd happily chip in a part towards mobstacle construction. I have two mobstacle frames made, I'll try to get fabric/tarp on them soon. I also have some extra tarp I may be able to donate. I could also store a few if you want.

What location, Beall or College Park do you guys prefer? Other suggestions?

As far as dates, I'm thinking 2/19 or maybe 2/26 . I don't think that the first two Sundays work for me, and I'm almost sure that no Saturdays work for me.

Let's get this thing going!

So, at this point, I think we have enough of an "active list" to start planning our next war. I think that trying out the Frisbee Golf course that Doom posted would be nice, as it's got some nice, natural cover.

What dates in February work for you guys? I think I'll only be able to host/go to wars on Sundays.
However, I was thinking that, for these smaller scale wars, we could just have less of a defined host, so it'd just be a bunch of guys getting together on a weekend to play with Nerf blasters, since we all know the rules, and we expect each other not to act like douches.

Thoughts? Location suggestions? Anyone have mobstacles/willing to help make some for the "communual supply"?

Once to twice a week might be a lot, but that's just my opinion.
As for the location idea, I like it, though I think we just stay away from D.C. Because of the cops.
I'm willing to host a war, Saturday or Sunday doesn't really matter for me.
And we might have to wait a month or two 'till it gets warm.

WARM?! WARM?! BRO, WE MEN! WARM AINT NO FACTOR! But really, as long as it's not numbingly cold, or snowing, I'd be OK temp. wise.
Also, it's not once or twice a week that we're proposing, it's ONE WAR every ONE OR TWO weeks.

Hello fellow DMV nerfers,

As you well know, DMV nerf has been in a state of "hibernation" for the last month or two. Well, I think it's about time to end this.
So I want to know, what are you ideas on future wars (Springtime)?
Would you guys be interested in regular wars every 1-2 weeks, or large, more planned wars every month or so? I personally am leaning towards a mixture of both-regular wars every 1-2 weeks, with an occasional (once a month or two?) larger scale/more well planned war. I think that this way, the smaller wars eventually just become a group of local people coming to play, with no real "defined host." Then, the larger scale, more planned wars could attract farther (NJ, PA, Southern) nerfers to come down.

What are your thoughts? Sunday or Saturdays? Location preferences? (Doom suggested that we test out many different venues, untill we find the ideal one.)

Thanks.

Alright, I got the OK that as of now the 26th works for me. Is the "unstructured, no real defined host" idea work for you guys? I'm really only asking, since because I'll be posting the thread, it may seem like I'm the host. However, I'll most likely be arriving about 1.5-2 hours late to the war. I do have some tarp and fabric, which I could hand off to Landstricker before hand, assuming he'll be getting there on time. I'll also most likely have a guest.

I'll try to get a thread up tonight. If not, then definetely tomorrow.

Anyone else?
So far, it's tied...

Doom, if you do revisit Calvert Rd park, could you take some pics of where we'd be playing? About how big is the area?
Also, has the other Frisbee Golf Park you mentioned that day on IRC been eliminated from our considerations? Got any other locations?

Alright, so does the 26th work for anyone else? Anyone have any location preferences? If so to the former, I'll go ahead and post a thread for the war.

Either date is good for me.

I finally visited Calvert Road Park (in College Park) again. Seems the south end is entirely for disc golf and people were playing disc golf even on a cold day like today, but the remainder is open for anything. The part right north of the parking lot would be good for Nerf.

Rather than conventional mobstacles, we should try something simpler: typing tarps between trees with rope. This is easier to transport and involves construction only on the war day. I'm going to try this out later when I have the time to see how to tie the tarps so that they stay up and are high enough.

Thanks Doom.
Yea, I think the tying tarp method could work. I have some tarp, as well as some spare fabric that could work. Are the trees on the unoccupied end close e ough together for this?

The frisbee/disc golf park is Calvert Road Park. So it hasn't been eliminated or ignored.

I will take some photos of the general area and my tarp setup when I revisit the park.

By the other one, I meant the Lakeland Rd one. Sorry, couldn't remember the name at the time.

Background
After building my first SNAP, I realized how much I was frustrated by all the fine tuning that was required for the catch system to work properly. I soon began brainstorming ideas for a possible new homemade design that would be simply, yet reliable. The design that I originally had thought of required the machining of wood, polycarb, and aluminum. I knew that this idea would not do, because it was too complex. I eventually had an “epiphany” one day, while building my second SNAP….I thought, “what if the groove in the center of a coupler was utilized as the ‘catch piece’?” I began to develop on that idea, and eventually came up with this. During the entire design process, the design evolved about 5-6 times in total, over the month and a half that it was stored in my mind.

It is because of the complications that the SNAP brought me, that I today present to the NIC, the Coupler Catch design. I have yet to deem an official name to this design/blaster.
I would first like to give credit to Modman, for his “old” “endcap catch” design. It is this design that gave me the placement of the catch spring and screw that is incorporated in the current model. Also, I do realize that this design is similar to that of the Rainbow. However, I had this idea well in my head before the Rainbow was release. The Rainbow design, did, however, give me some ideas/help in the design, so I thank Stark/Beaver for the design.

Goals
I had set many self-goals for this project/design prior to building. I wanted for the blaster to be simple, but reliable. I did not want for there to be too many pieces involved, and I wanted to machining of plastics or metals to be required. Also, I wanted for the blaster to be held together only by screws (excluding the bushing, obviously), to make quick/easy repairs and even field stripping possible. I meant for the design to meet with all of these goals, because if it didn’t, I would either have to “ditch” the design, or render it…why? Because I thought to myself, that if the design did not meet the goals (which were quite basic), then I would not be contributing anything to the community, and nobody would have the urge to build a replica, due to its negative traits.

Design
In the current design, a ½” PVC coupler is used to act as the “catch piece”, while a set of ¾” PVC endcaps are used to balance the plunger rod inside the coupler. There is a notch in the plunger rod that the groove of the coupler eventually rests in to, when the spring is compressed and the rod is pulled back.
Here is a diagram of the current design of the Coupler Catch:

I apologize for the crude MS Paint representation. I will make a clearer diagram if anyone asks for one.
As you (probably) can see, when unprimed, the plunger rod is naturally raising the coupler “catch piece” inside the plunger tube, due to its position in the two endcaps. As the plunger rod is pulled back (the front endcap acts as the spring rest), the groove in the coupler eventually falls into place in the notch in the plunger rod, due to a spring above it. The catch piece and catch spring are kept in balance by a #8-32 bolt that threads through the spring, and into the coupler.
The trigger assembly is a completely separate and somewhat complex system. It consists of an angle bracket, a weak “trigger spring”, and two #6-32 x ½” screws. The angle bracket , like in SGNerf’s “PVC Catch Ring” design, moves on a pivot, and it connected to a screw that is screwed into the plunger tube. The head of the screw rests nicely in the hole of the bracket. There is a weak spring between the plunger tube (1 1/4'” PVC) and the bracket (the section held in place by the screw). There is then another screw and a #8 washer (super glued to the head), which enters a hole drilled in the plunger tube, so that when it enters the plunger tube, it pushes the catch upwards, releasing it. The screw/washer piece is hot glued to the angle bracket. When you pull the front of the angle bracket backwards, the screw in the back of the bracket enters the plunger tube.
Here is a picture of the trigger assembly:

The more the merrier!

Here's a picture of one of the two endcaps that keeps the catch/plunger rod balanced/centered:

A look down the end of the plunger tube, from the back:

Here's a picture of my current plunger head:

Components from left to right: 1/2" CPVC endcap, 1 1/4" steel fender washer, 1 1/2" neoprene washer, 1 1/4" neoprene washer.
Here is a view of the notch in the plunger rod, which the coupler fits into.

The notch is created by cutting the 1/2" CPVC plunger rod at the point where you want the notch, wrapping e-tape around a 7/16" wooden dowel rod, then super gluing the rod into either side of the plunger rod, but leaving ~1/2" exposed, to create a gap/divide.
Here's a view of the catch piece and spring:

The spring is a strong industrial spring (that the catch screw can thread through), which is cut down to about 1/4", then hotglued to the top of the coupler, directly above the hole for the catch screw. The hole for the screw is drilled straight through the center of the coupler, and the screw is screwed into the coupler untill the bottom is flush with the groove.
Please note that the hole in the plunger tube for the screw to go through MUST be big enough to allow quite a bit of "wiggle room".

Here's a picture of the catch piece and hole:


If you use my current setup, with a 12" plunger tube (1 1/4" PVC) and a 12" 1/2" CPVC plunger rod, you only have enough room for about ~8 inches of spring area. You could, obviously, always make the PT larger, to house a longer spring like the [k26]. I used two Home Depot industrial springs, which were 4" each.
If you plan to use the same spring setup as me, you should make your notch about 3-4" away from the end of the endcap on the plunger rod.

I positioned my back endcap so that about 1/8" of it was sticking out of the back of the PT, for maximum possible draw. I positioned my coupler as tightly between the two endcaps as possible, so that I could, once again, have minumum space taken up by the assembly. I put the screws that secure the two endcaps in the MIDDLE of the endcap. The measurement from the middle of one endcap to the middle of the other ended up being 2 9/16" for me.

Conclusion

I feel that my goal was achieved. If you build this blaster, you will find that the catch movement is quite smooth. The one complaint I have is that the trigger assembly is not quite smooth/stable.

Features to fix in Rev. 2:
-Smoother trigger
-Smoother catch movement
-Less space taken up by the endcaps
-Maximum Draw length
-Shorter assembly time

The entire assembly of this blaster took me around 7 hours, but it should be easier for others, since I had to measure all the components out, and since I was the first to do this...

I will be posting a video of the function some time later this week. I cannot take ranges at the moment, due to the fact that the goop on the bushing is still drying , but the ranges should be similar, or a little less than SNAP ranges, since I have less draw. However ,the catching and trigger pull is MUCH smoother on this blaster than on my SNAP.

A writeup of how to make this will most likely be made, if requested.

Any questions/comments/suggestions may be posted here, or directed to me through PMs. I apologize if this overview was a bit unclear-it is my first overview/writeup post.

Please post any suggestions for the name of this design...they will be considered, since I can't think of any at the moment.

--Chaos