16 replies to this topic

[imaseoulman]

A while ago I saw a NERF blaster I had never seen before on ebay (a rare occurence as I've been collecting NERF blasters since the mid '90's). It's a gun from the Switch Shots line called Switch Shots Max. I have a hydro bazooka (one of my first NERF guns) and I would never use it in a war (it's a push-pull like the fast blast) but this Switch Shots Max looked like it had good mod potential. I went to the NERF wiki and read that it had a manually rotating turret and lacks durability (I've since updated that entry as it is an auto-rotating turret, much to my delight, as far as lacking durability, time will tell) and saw this pic:


When she arrived in the mail I inserted a few megas and was pleased with the air output. The turret seal wasn't the best (SM 1500) but it wasn't bad (Maverick). I'd say the seal is about as good as the AT3K seal. The top half of the gun swivels 180 degrees and then you can pump it up and shoot it like a super-soaker. I knew right away that I wouldn't be using any water (though I still could even after the mods are done) with this gun so I wanted to make the opposite end useful as well.

I cracked her open (uses large screws akin to those of the airjet line) and at first I was pretty dissapointed. Note the size of the blast chamber (about the size of a 1/2" stefans):


I thought, "Man, I'll be getting NO range out of this. Then I realized that the air tank is deceptively large. The barrel going to the tank is all part of the blast chamber, so it's volume is similar to an AT2K or an SM1500.

A bit more excited about its potential, I did a basic barrel mod by drilling out the air restrictors (old style, like in the SF or PC, but they are very easy to get at as the turret comes right out) and slapping in some PETG. I tested it and was pleased with the strong sounding pop of the air tank and the high velocity of the dart. Then it was time to work on the water shooting end.

In the center of the gun you'll notice a cylinder. The pump leads right into this and attached to the pump tube is a cylinder with a hole, (about 1/4") with an O-ring glued around it's opening, facing the front end (where the pump handle is) of the blaster. The piece that fits over this is a cylinder with one end open and two holes on the sides: one leading to the blast chamber for the turret/dart end and the other leading to the water tank for the water end. If you turn the top so the turret faces front, air is pumped into the blast chamber. If you turn the top so the water end faces forward, you can pump air into the water tank. I found that you can pump air into the water tank end, swivel it and pump air into dart end. The water tank will hold the air for only short period of time as it leaks fairly quickly (empties in less than a minute). I looked at the water nozzle and decided that cutting off a quarter inch of it (the narrow tip) wasn't going to hurt anything. Once I did this, I looked down the nozzle opening and it looked no different than any other blast chamber's opening. Determining it functioned the same way as a blast chamber I attached a 1/2" CPVC coupler to it, plugged the pump and put the thing back together.

The turreted end shot like a dream. It takes about three pumps for good pressure and the trigger pull auto advances the turret. The range was comparable to an AT2K and the time between shots is less than that on an AT3K (though you get less shots).

As for the water end, I put a 12" CPVC barrel on it, pumped about 30 times and was pleased with the range (over 100'). The major problem with it was that it was completely impractical because of the reload time. I thought it would be nice to pump it up, swivel and use the turreted end and have a nice back-up shot, but the air leaked too quickly. I figured this was because of the pivot seal (the design just begs to be a bad seal), and I stewed for a few days on the best way to fix this problem. I thought about putting a ball valve on their, cutting open the yellow tube segment and inserting a small check valve, different ideas, but I didn't really want to cut up the shell of such a sweet vintage gun. So when I took it apart to see what my options were, I decided to double check that the leak was coming from the swivel seal...and guess what...it wasn't. I was pleased to see that there was a small check valve just after the opening (I guess there would have to be to keep water from coming out of the pump tube). The leak was coming from the point that connects the water tank to the nozzle (I'm not sure why it comes apart, but it does).


So I threw on some DevCon Plastic Weld two part epoxy (the best stuff I have ever found for NERF blasters) and put it back together.


The seal works great and now I have a new primary. I pump up the water tank before I go into combat and carry the long CPVC barrel with me. I primarily use the turreted end, but if I need to make a long range shot (around 100' as the turreted end still has pretty good range) I swivel the top pop on the loaded barrel and enjoy the surprised look in the eyes of my opponent. This may have dethroned the SM1500 in my opinion (which I do love dearly...I'm fairly positive I have the largest collection of SM1500's) as my favorite primary (not counting integrations).

Questions, comments, drooling?

Edited by imaseoulman, 22 February 2008 - 12:16 AM.

[sputnik]

Really cool. I love finding guns that don't have writeups.
Clean, and while not as sexy as the Arachnophobia I or II, still awesome.
Good work.

[Thomas]

I've got a question; do you have an extra?
That's pretty beastly, quad barrels AND 100's. Great job, I've never heard of that gun before.

[imaseoulman]

Really cool. I love finding guns that don't have writeups.
Clean, and while not as sexy as the Arachnophobia I or II, still awesome.
Good work.

Thanks!

I've got a question; do you have an extra?
That's pretty beastly, quad barrels AND 100's. Great job, I've never heard of that gun before.

I wish I had another, then I could paint and integrate it, but only having one, and it being the only I've ever seen, I just can't make myself put my dremel to the shell.

[nerfer34]

Yea, I gave mine to GC for virtually nothing.

I don't like how bulky it is though. I knew the gun had a ton of potential though. Good job using that!

I'd personally just fill the tank end up with some gatorade and drink from it when I'm thirsty in the heat of the battle.

I also HATE the trigger, but it does make the rotation mech very solid on this gun.

[mystefansdontflystraight]

WOW. Im soo happy that I got one of these in a recent trade deal.
I don't think it will be my primary, but a great weapon none the less.
Thanks for including this im sure it will be used and added to the directory.

[jwasko]

Questions, comments, drooling?

I choose "C."

*drools*

I knew these Switchshots had potential...too bad I don't have one.

Edited by jwasko, 21 February 2008 - 04:14 PM.

[Blasphemy]

It looks like your PETG barrels are crooked, or is that just the angle of the picture. Anyways, excellent job, I like the different modes you get with this blaster, 4 shots at 2k (70'-90') range or 1 at 100'+, it allows for a bit of versatility for different situations where you may need more range, or greater rate of fire.

[Pineapple]

I'm not going to do a Paint drawing, but look at that trigger, right above the trigger (where fingers go), connected to the pump sleeve.

That looks like a candidate for early breakage.

Reminds me of my collection of six SM1500s (new version), of which at least half broke because of a flaw in the trigger design... plugged overpressure valves in the pump made for tight release rod, and the amount of force to pull the rod to fire the blaster eventually broke the triggers. The internals went into everything from a Sawtooth to a SM3000, and eventually were trashed.

You might think about reinforcing that puppy, especially since you'll be pulling two releases (water tank and dart tank). I think swivelling that thing around might eventually cause it to have a chronic leak also.

But that thing looks really, really cool.



-Piney-

[imaseoulman]

It looks like your PETG barrels are crooked, or is that just the angle of the picture?

A little bit of both. The clear plastic does make it seem to be bent more than it is, but this picture was taken before the barrels were in all the way, so they are a little bent. Why would I take a picture of it before the barrels were actually all the way in? Because I had my camera out and I didn't want to have to take pictures of it later when everything was tweaked and fine tuned.

I'm not going to do a Paint drawing, but look at that trigger, right above the trigger (where fingers go), connected to the pump sleeve.

That looks like a candidate for early breakage.

Reminds me of my collection of six SM1500s (new version), of which at least half broke because of a flaw in the trigger design... plugged overpressure valves in the pump made for tight release rod, and the amount of force to pull the rod to fire the blaster eventually broke the triggers. The internals went into everything from a Sawtooth to a SM3000, and eventually were trashed.

You might think about reinforcing that puppy, especially since you'll be pulling two releases (water tank and dart tank). I think swivelling that thing around might eventually cause it to have a chronic leak also.

But that thing looks really, really cool.



-Piney-

You make a good point with the trigger design (you're talking about the part where the trigger connects to the cylinder that wraps around the pump tube?). I have two of the new style SM1500's but they haven't seen much use. I have about 25 old style SM1500's and I've never had a problem with those triggers. But I'll mess around with the trigger and see if it seems to be a problem. It's pretty thick plastic (the whole thing is rather large) and is a two finger trigger (just for a size comparison) but if it seems weak I'll definitely reinforce it, because I think this thing is going to see a lot of action.

As for the leak in the swivel seal, at first I was pretty skeptical as well, however after REALLY close examination it seems to be quite remarkable. There isn't a whole lot of tolerance and there are check valves on either side of the seal so even if it doesn't seal the best, leakage won't be too much of a problem. But if worse comes to worst I can always put a ball valve in there and the swivel will just be for comfort (having the trigger and the barrel on the same side of the handle is a pretty important aspect of comfort).

And by the way, it is really, really cool. Thanks for the comments.

[PointBlank]

Thats a really big air tank for a Nerf gun. They really should start make Nerf guns with that much potential now days.

[The Shadow]

I've heard of the Switchshot line, but never seen a mod for it. Good job. Also, I see some open space near the bottom-right portion of the gun for a possible integration.

[Forsaken angel24]

Nice, Consider this added.

Holy fuck! Resize those photos its so fucking irritating.

Good work once again.

[imaseoulman]

Nice, Consider this added.

Holy fuck! Resize those photos its so fucking irritating.

Good work once again.

Sorry about that, I forget that not everybody has a widescreen. It fits just fine on my screen. I'll resize them...let me know if they're still too big. Thanks.

[mystefansdontflystraight]

Sorry to post in an old topic, but I did this with my SSM, amd I get like 20ft max with the turreted end.
any suggestions?
Thanks

[MoonMaster]

Do nerf guns shoot with any end other than thier barreled/turreted end?

[imaseoulman]

Sorry to post in an old topic, but I did this with my SSM, amd I get like 20ft max with the turreted end.
any suggestions?
Thanks

Do nerf guns shoot with any end other than thier barreled/turreted end?

Hey MoonMaster, It might help if you read the thread before posting. The SSM shoots out of multiple ends. A turreted end and the water blaster end. It's rather interesting...read about it.

Anyway, crookeddart, did you plug the pump? What sort of barrel material are you using? If it's PETG, make sure it's pushed all the way back into the turret. Your barrels should be around 6" in length. Other things to check for are leaks (shouldn't be too much of a problem for the turreted end) and a good seal between the turret and the blast chamber. And make sure you're pumping it up enough times. It should be fairly hard to pump. Because of the swivel seal it's unlikely that you'll break anything...but just to be sure, how many times are you pumping it for the turreted end?