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Two And A Half Homemades

My first ventures into the nerf community.

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#1 Kash munni

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Posted 17 February 2008 - 02:28 PM

First off I'll introduce myself. I am an Airsofter for Hobby and a nerfer for fun. I own a great airsoft gun and play with my friends once a month or so. I got into nerf by accident from seeing a link to nerfhaven on an airsoft site. I don't do any nerf wars, but i like to tinker with stuff/build stuff so I like to do homemades.

Here is a picture of my two homemades.
Posted Image
By kashmunni

I'll start with the top. My old beginner gun before I got into AEGs (A $30 springer m4 replica) broke a while back. The peice that pulls back the Air nozzle to let a BB in from the mag broke in cold weather because it became brittle. Well the cocking handle and piston and trigger still worked, so I decided to make it into a nerf gun. After doing some research, I decided on a nested Crayola barrel. So basically it is just the receiver portion of an Armalite style rifle. It's like an M4 pistol. It’s simple to operate, just pull back the T-handle to charge it and load a dart through the muzzle and fire. As of now it gets about 45 feet flat with single 4.5mm BB weighted stefans.

The way I did it was removing the barrel and stock they way it was supposed to disassemble, and dremeling out some plastic bits inside so that the barrel could fit inside. I then hot-glued the barrel in. Simple as that.

My plans for that gun are to:
Increase the airflow, by drilling into the air nozzle with a decent sized drill bit. (airsoft guns have constricted air flow, hence the nozzle, since the ammo is so small)
Switch to a better barrel material if I can find some brass tubing at Hobby Lobby, Lowes, or Home Depot. Or maybe some PETG if they have it at the plastics shop near my house.
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On the Bottom, is my baby. It's a simple ball valve trigger compressed air cannon, but with a twist. I used a hand pump designed for inflating balls. It is pretty big for a ball pump, and it only takes 5 pumps to get some really nice shots out there. The ball valve is steel, which I like because it is nice and smooth with a bit of WD-40. I have learned to open it pretty darn fast. What I like most about this gun is there are no external parts. No other pumps or tanks. All you need to fire it is right there. The barrel is just Sch-80 PVC. It is loose on my stefans, but it still shoots nicely. It gets about 90 feet flat on only 5 pumps. I know I could get more, but I don't want to risk bending the pump shaft (even though it it metal). The barrel is removable so i can put in thin wall PVC to shoot bigger stuff, as well as load anything that would need a ramrod through the back.

My plans for this gun:
Perhaps nest some tighter fitting brass in the PVC for accuracy and efficiency.

I made a video about this gun:

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Finally, my latest build:

So I got bored a few nights ago... I was all "Hey, I have a pump, a hose handle and some pvc. 8)" So needless to say, I threw this together in about 20 minutes not counting the time it took for the glue to dry, and about $0.

Posted Image

My parents had an old hose handle that was broken, so I found it and took it apart to find that the spring was all rusted to hell and completely destroyed. I replaced the spring that was in it with a spring from an old broken airsoft pistol, and it fit perfectly. Then, going through the box of old plumbing bits and pieces, I found a 3/4 CPVC threaded adapter and screwed that into the hose handle. Then I found that a 90 degree PVC 3/4" elbow fit snugly over the CPVC adapter, so I cemented that on then put some 3/4" and a coupler into the other side of the elbow. Then came the pump. I really couldn't find a way to attach the pump securely, but since the pump and 3/4" coupler had nearly the same diameter, I super glued the pump to the coupler. Then I put hot glue around it to create an air seal, then finally duct taped the crap out of it for strength. I know it is getto and not a perfect way to attach it, but this thing doesn't deal with alot of pressure at all, so it holds up fine. I then machined out a bit of the inside of a 1/2" pvc coupler until it fit over the nozzle of the hose handle and did the super and hot glue combo on it too. Voila! Gun!

The barrel is 1/2" cpvc nested in 1/2" thin wall PVC. It is a really right fit on the darts, the cpvc, but I suppose it's best that way. Loading is easy: The small air tank only gets two pumps before the pump shaft starts flexing badly, so pump twice, pull out barrel and stuff the dart in. Ranges: My results were a bit inconsistent, but with stefans weighted with 3 steel 4.5mm BBs, some of the shots flew over 70 feet across my backyard into the trees, and some dropped at around 50. This might be a dart thing or a valve opening speed inconsistency, but overall I am very pleased. The ones that went across my backyard could have gone farther but they hit a thick treeline.


Questions, comments, concerns? I'm all ears. :rolleyes:
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#2 PointBlank

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Posted 17 February 2008 - 02:59 PM

Nice homemades. You took the idea from the second one right from my head, it is almost exactly like one that I was planing to build.
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#3 CaptainSlug

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Posted 17 February 2008 - 04:50 PM

Could use a few more paragraph breaks, but otherwise GREAT first post.
Ball pumps tend to lack a check valve, and you didn't mention adding one anywhere.

Edited by CaptainSlug, 17 February 2008 - 04:51 PM.

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#4 Kash munni

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Posted 17 February 2008 - 05:49 PM

Could use a few more paragraph breaks, but otherwise GREAT first post.
Ball pumps tend to lack a check valve, and you didn't mention adding one anywhere.


Thanks :huh: If I remember correctly, check valves let air out one way but not the other. If that's it then yes both the pumps came with check valves on them.

Edited by Kash munni, 17 February 2008 - 05:52 PM.

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#5 Pineapple

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Posted 17 February 2008 - 07:01 PM

Sluggy; I have two "Franklin" brand ball pumps (like the gold one in his second homemade) that both have an internal check valve; perfect for our application. The cool part is that they fit perfectly in a 3/4" PVC coupler. Yeah, I intended to build another homemade after my purple SNAP, but life got busy as usual.

Welcome, kash munni. I saw that you were gripin' about NerfHaven on the other site, glad to have you aboard. Most of the more seasoned Nerfers have marginal interests in Airsoft, but we're open-minded enough to see what converges and diverges between the two hobbies. Many of us are paintballers too, and somehow here the three maintain a compatibility that is based on knowing what NerfHaven is for... nerfing.

Most of the airsofters who made their way to NH were trolls trying to tell us to play with their "real" brand of toy guns. Go figure. We just delete them.


Good start, and nice weaponry. Go get some Nerf blasters now. :huh:



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#6 Kash munni

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Posted 17 February 2008 - 08:43 PM

Sluggy; I have two "Franklin" brand ball pumps (like the gold one in his second homemade) that both have an internal check valve; perfect for our application. The cool part is that they fit perfectly in a 3/4" PVC coupler. Yeah, I intended to build another homemade after my purple SNAP, but life got busy as usual.

Welcome, kash munni. I saw that you were gripin' about NerfHaven on the other site, glad to have you aboard. Most of the more seasoned Nerfers have marginal interests in Airsoft, but we're open-minded enough to see what converges and diverges between the two hobbies. Many of us are paintballers too, and somehow here the three maintain a compatibility that is based on knowing what NerfHaven is for... nerfing.

Most of the airsofters who made their way to NH were trolls trying to tell us to play with their "real" brand of toy guns. Go figure. We just delete them.


Good start, and nice weaponry. Go get some Nerf blasters now. :)



-Piney-


:D Well, not really griping... :lol:

Anyway, yeah, it was probably just the fact that you can actually make homemade nerf guns that sparked my interest. Homemade airsoft guns would be... nasty.

By the way Pineapple, I actually did buy a NF yesterday and immediately opened it up and modded it. I added a spring, took out one AR and drilled through the other, improved the seal on the plunger and gave it an aluminum barrel, about 5 1/2" long.(I have some rigid aluminum laying around that fits pretty tight on my darts). But after all that i am only getting about 45 feet flat (with three rubber bands) with it... not sure where I went wrong but i think my barrel may be too tight or too long... or both. Ok well sorry about the off topic-ness.

About what Cap. Slug said, why would a ball pump lack a check valve to begin with? That seems retarded, because then you couldn't inflate anything with it....
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#7 Carbon

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Posted 17 February 2008 - 10:24 PM

Hey there, glad to see your authorization came through. I like the looks of your hose handle gun...the pump could just tuck under your arm for firing, very comfortable looking.. I'm also surprised that you were able to get something decent out of your airsoft pistol. Relative to Nerf, those plungers are tiny...I didn't think that they had enough air displacement to do anything effective.

By the way, the 45 feet from your NF? Totally reasonable. Yes, people talk about 80 foot ranges, but I think that's sort of silly...it's a sidearm. If you're going for ranges like that, get your primary. If a sidearm is shooting that far, it's probably going to have a drastically reduced life, anyway.

Or maybe I'm just bitter because I can't get my NF to shoot that far. Welcome, and looking forward to what else you can whip up.
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#8 NerfMonkey

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Posted 17 February 2008 - 10:26 PM

I suggest switching over to 1/4" slingshot ammo or 3/0 fishing weights for your darts rather than BBs. An NF with those mods should easily hit 60' if not more, so I'm guessing that's your problem assuming your darts are snug enough in the barrel.

Nice guns.
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#9 Kash munni

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Posted 18 February 2008 - 03:35 PM

Hey there, glad to see your authorization came through. I like the looks of your hose handle gun...the pump could just tuck under your arm for firing, very comfortable looking.. I'm also surprised that you were able to get something decent out of your airsoft pistol. Relative to Nerf, those plungers are tiny...I didn't think that they had enough air displacement to do anything effective.

By the way, the 45 feet from your NF? Totally reasonable. Yes, people talk about 80 foot ranges, but I think that's sort of silly...it's a sidearm. If you're going for ranges like that, get your primary. If a sidearm is shooting that far, it's probably going to have a drastically reduced life, anyway.

Or maybe I'm just bitter because I can't get my NF to shoot that far. Welcome, and looking forward to what else you can whip up.


On the Airsoft conversion, it was actually a rifle, not a pistol. The piston is actually surprisingly big for an airsoft gun, it's about the size of a NF piston and the spring is big and has a decent draw strength. (I was going to say long and stiff, but I could just see the jokes about that flowing in)

Edit: Hehe, just because I am excited and don't need to make a new post, I did Gengarr's CPVC coupler mod on the NF and now I am getting 70 ft with Single BB weighted stefans and 60 ft with 3 BB weights. :D

Edited by Kash munni, 19 February 2008 - 06:44 PM.

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#10 Galaxy613

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Posted 24 February 2008 - 10:15 PM

Relative to Nerf, those plungers are tiny...I didn't think that they had enough air displacement to do anything effective.


Oh oh oh, believe me. They CAN move a nerf dart, and FAST! I still need to check the ranges of my MP5.

Well, I also are a Airsofter/Nerfer. I have not been in any nerf wars though. Anyways, I got a silly CYMA "Mini Electric" and broke it by opening it up. So when I got a CYMA CM.027 MP5, I tried to mod the the mini-electric's outer barrel onto my MP5's, and it was successful. Once I got my nerf mavericks last christmas I tried to see if nerf darts would fit in it... and they do. It's a tad snug, I wouldn't feel really good leaving a dart in there too long, but BOY. Does it MOVE! And accurate if I recall correctly. It's much better then what my Longshot produces by a long shot! (Please pardon the pun) BTW, my Airsoft MP5 fires a 0.2g bb at roughly 300fps... I need to get some photographic evidance of this.

My Airsoft Mp5 is the ultimate Nerf primary if it didn't take so long to put a new dart in.

Edited by Galaxy613, 24 February 2008 - 10:16 PM.

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#11 Kash munni

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Posted 25 February 2008 - 03:32 PM

I actually have the CM. 025 plastic gearbox mp5, and a JG ak47 beta Spetsnaz, and I love both of them too much to make them into nerf guns. The JG shoots 0.2s at 340 fps, but there is no way I am gonna make it nerf only unless something breaks. :D

If anyone does want to do an airsoft conversion, I would suggest a cheap plastic springer rifle, as powerful electrics are too expensive to ruin, and cheap electrics are too weak. I do believe airsoft pistons are sufficient for decent nerfing if you have the right ones. Alot of people probably don't know about some of the better airsoft guns out there. Believe it or not AEGs actually have pretty big pistons, just not very wide. They are longer than most nerf pistons.

Edited by Kash munni, 25 February 2008 - 03:42 PM.

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#12 CaptainSlug

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Posted 25 February 2008 - 04:58 PM

Considering how inexpensive some of the springers are I've been eying a few. Do either of you surmise that one rated to fire .2g BBs at 200-250+ fps should be capable of shooting Nerf darts beyond 50 feet? I'm skeptical.

Edited by CaptainSlug, 25 February 2008 - 05:18 PM.

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#13 Kash munni

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Posted 25 February 2008 - 05:14 PM

Considering how inexpensive some of the springers are I've been eying a few. Do either of you surmise that one rated to fire .2g BBs at 200-250+ fps should be capable of shooting Nerf darts beyond 50 feet? I've found a few on discount that might be worth a try. The shotgun-esque ones should also be easier to add larger barrels to.


I was actually thinking of the shotguns. hold on a sec...

http://www.walmart.c...duct_id=8031613

These shotguns actually shoot closer to 300 fps with .2s, and the outer barrel you can see is pretty wide and could easily fit a nerf barrel i would assume. With that slide running all the way along the barrel, I could imagine putting on some kind of breech tht would drop a dart into the barrel when you rack the slide back, and possibly push the dart into the tighter barrel with the action of the air nozzle moving forward after you push the slide back forward. Of course I could be insane...
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#14 CaptainSlug

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Posted 25 February 2008 - 05:23 PM

Meh, too much money to spend on an experiment that would involve just as much work as making my own from scratch.

Edited by CaptainSlug, 25 February 2008 - 05:23 PM.

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#15 Blasphemy

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Posted 25 February 2008 - 09:21 PM

Considering how inexpensive some of the springers are I've been eying a few. Do either of you surmise that one rated to fire .2g BBs at 200-250+ fps should be capable of shooting Nerf darts beyond 50 feet? I've found a few on discount that might be worth a try. The shotgun-esque ones should also be easier to add larger barrels to.


I was actually thinking of the shotguns. hold on a sec...

http://www.walmart.c...duct_id=8031613

These shotguns actually shoot closer to 300 fps with .2s, and the outer barrel you can see is pretty wide and could easily fit a nerf barrel i would assume. With that slide running all the way along the barrel, I could imagine putting on some kind of breech tht would drop a dart into the barrel when you rack the slide back, and possibly push the dart into the tighter barrel with the action of the air nozzle moving forward after you push the slide back forward. Of course I could be insane...


Hey, I have one of those, I might consider experimenting with it a little, if that doesn't work out Sluggy can have at it.
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#16 CaptainSlug

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Posted 25 February 2008 - 09:48 PM

I really just want to know what the size of the plunger and plunger chamber is.
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#17 Galaxy613

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Posted 25 February 2008 - 10:19 PM

That shouldn't matter.

Blasphemy, see how much room a nerf dart has. Check the width of the outer barrel. All you might have to do is add some etape to the inside of it to help it hold the dart there. Or you might have to glue a length of PVC. Either way, it shouldn't ruin the shotgun's use as a airsoft gun, I just don't reccomend firing a nerf dart at the same time as a BB. lol
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#18 Quilan Fett

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Posted 25 February 2008 - 10:21 PM

That shouldn't matter.

Actually...

The plunger chamber is what pushes air into the barrel. If it has a small plunger chamber, there won't be enough air to shoot the dart very far.
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#19 General Cole

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Posted 25 February 2008 - 10:28 PM

In my experience, an Airsoft gun will not be able to fire a Nerf dart. The ID of my Shotgun's plunger chamber is 5/8in by 2 1/2in. long. No go.
We should stop calling out/making fun of/pissing GC off. He's actually contributed and is available for trade. He's a better than average member no doubt. Got your back Cole.
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#20 Galaxy613

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Posted 25 February 2008 - 10:34 PM

That shouldn't matter.

Actually...

The plunger chamber is what pushes air into the barrel. If it has a small plunger chamber, there won't be enough air to shoot the dart very far.


Indeed I know that. The standard airsoft AEG's piston head is roughly 15/16th of a inch in diameter and fires at roughly the same FPS that the shotgun does, and my AEG can easily out-range my mildly upgraded longshot, and puts ANY stock Nerf gun to shame. As long as Blasph can get a good Nerf barrel on his shotgun, I expect the same results.

You silly people. With the right spring a airsoft gun can fire a 0.3g BB at over 500fps. Yet it can't move a nerf dart? I will meet the challenge you guys are proposing and show that my MP5 can outrange my upgraded Maverick and longshot.

Edited by Galaxy613, 25 February 2008 - 10:39 PM.

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#21 Quilan Fett

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Posted 25 February 2008 - 10:45 PM

I'll believe it when I see it.
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#22 CaptainSlug

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Posted 26 February 2008 - 08:49 AM

You silly people.

Well, let's just do a small comparison

Longshot plunger dimensions
Diameter: 1.4"
Draw length: 4.75"

Assuming General Cole's measurements are typical (which I think they are)
Diameter: .625"
Draw length: 2.5"

Even not having a spring dimensions to compare between the two it should be obvious that the performance difference between the two at optimum lossless performance levels that your typical Airsoft gun is not going to be competitive. But one has to factor in that a real Longshot is a crappy basis for comparison because it has many points of inefficiency that prevent it from actually using most of the potential energy provided by it's large plunger. A much better comparison platform would be a Big Bad Bow with a simple coupler mod.

The projectile weight difference is also there.

BB: 0.12g to 0.3g

Stefan: 0.8g to 1.5g

And the Stefan has a much higher friction coefficient.

That's more than enough information for me to give up on this idea.

Edited by CaptainSlug, 26 February 2008 - 08:51 AM.

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#23 Galaxy613

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Posted 26 February 2008 - 11:47 AM

If it's all about plunger size then the Maverick shouldn't be any good now should it? The maverick can barely move a 0.2g BB. I have tried. It's all about the air seal.

I am going to see if I can make a movie with a camera of mine to show you all. It's not about the plunger size, it's about how much it can output. Everyone here underestimates airsoft rifles. The springs are NOT weak.

*Edit* Got my camera, but it's rainy outside so I don't want to do it there. I'll have to shoot into my brother's room which is only roughly 20-30ish feet away. But it should prove my point...

*Edit* I went outside and got some videos, but the resolution is too crappy you can't even see where the darts land. -.-

Though I was able to get near my neighbor's driveway from my driveway, I could measure that...

Edited by Galaxy613, 26 February 2008 - 12:22 PM.

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#24 Carbon

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Posted 26 February 2008 - 12:20 PM

Indeed I know that. The standard airsoft AEG's piston head is roughly 15/16th of a inch in diameter and fires at roughly the same FPS that the shotgun does, and my AEG can easily out-range my mildly upgraded longshot, and puts ANY stock Nerf gun to shame.

You're talking about your AEG outranging a Nerf gun using airsoft ammo, right?

As long as Blasph can get a good Nerf barrel on his shotgun, I expect the same results.

Just making sure I'm clear on your expectations....you're thinking that you should be able to get similar ranges with nerf that you can get with airsoft ammo?

Edited by Carbon, 26 February 2008 - 12:21 PM.

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#25 Galaxy613

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Posted 26 February 2008 - 12:30 PM

Indeed I know that. The standard airsoft AEG's piston head is roughly 15/16th of a inch in diameter and fires at roughly the same FPS that the shotgun does, and my AEG can easily out-range my mildly upgraded longshot, and puts ANY stock Nerf gun to shame.

You're talking about your AEG outranging a Nerf gun using airsoft ammo, right?


Why would I be agruing that? This is a nerf forum is it not? We were talking about making airsoft guns into firing darts. To that people said that airsoft guns have too small of plungers move a dart any good range. I already know Airsoft guns outrange Nerf guns, that, is, not, the, point.

Just measured the distances. My longshot usually gets around 40ft. My MP5 gets around 50-60ft using Streamlined darts that I put a 0.2g BB inside the top.

...you're thinking that you should be able to get similar ranges with nerf that you can get with airsoft ammo?


No. What I am agruing is that airsoft guns, if they have a proper barrel for nerf darts, can exceed stock Nerf ranges with ease. I also defy the myth that airsoft plungers are too small to provide sufficent PSI to shoot a Nerf dart.

Edited by Galaxy613, 26 February 2008 - 12:33 PM.

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