23 replies to this topic

[King Of Butt Land]

No, I didn't make it. Anyway, some of you may have seen this, its quite ingenious and I plan to scale it up soon for nerf use.

http://www.instructa...-Release-Valve/

[analogkid]

Cool, this gives me some ideas. If you could somehow do the same thing with PVC fittings you might have a cheap alternative to solenoids, which didn't work well for me. In fact, I think, I know what I'm doing tomorrow. I'll update if I come up with anything.

[King Of Butt Land]

PVC would most likely not work due to the fact that the sizes do not naturally nest in each other. Bras is a must.

[analogkid]

Fair enough, I'll grab some of that too. Somehow or another its going to have to mate with ©PVC if that's what you use for barrels though. I'll figure something out tonight or tomorrow.
EDIT: Just found out, a blowgun, like the kind you attach to a compressor, has pretty much the exact same mechanism as the valve in the video.

Edited by analogkid, 03 July 2008 - 09:45 AM.

[Raj Man]

hehehe. The video is pretty funny. This valve looks like it will be the valve of choice for people looking to make homemade valves for cheap. Everything is pretty easy to get apart from the brass, but that could probably be replaced with aluminum if brass is not available. Also, it might be difficult to make this valve large enough for nerf use simply because of its design.

[Uncle Hammer]

Isn't that pretty much the valve used in nerf guns?

[CaptainSlug]

Isn't that pretty much the valve used in nerf guns?

Yes. This type of valve is also know as a sleeve valve. Pipe standard sleeve valves are pretty heavy and can be kind of expensive, but their flow rate and low mechanical resistance are unmatched.

I was designing a really cheap one a while ago but I've been too busy to look into it further.

And you can use pipe, you just have to be very precise in which O-Ring size you select in order to get a good seal while still minimizing friction.

Edited by CaptainSlug, 03 July 2008 - 12:33 PM.

[jwasko]

Is brass tubing, in the thickness that we usually use for barrels (1/64" or 1/32"...I can't remember) tough enough to withstand the amount of pressure we need to launch a dart?

My instinct says no, but I'm hoping for a yes...

[Thom]

Now I wish I were working on an air gun. I'm tempted to actually build the Nerf football mortar I've been envisioning.

Tower Hobbies has brass tubing down to 1/16", which I'm sure is more than small enough. I'd guess that even thin brass would hold the <200psi that we use.

This seems like it would be reasonably easy to adapt to Nerf use. Connect the air tank to your barrel with 1/8" OD tubing and use 3/32" OD for the moving part. I'm sure that something could be found to plug the end, and o-rings and springs aren't a problem.

CS, would this perform better than a modded sprinkler valve? It certainly seems that it would be cheaper, if it were made in quantity. (Given than Tower Hobbies sells the brass 15 feet at a time, it would be inefficient for a one-off.)

EDIT: Ooh, save five bucks by going aluminium. Probably be stronger, too.

Edited by Thom, 04 July 2008 - 01:01 AM.

[King Of Butt Land]

I've taking brass tubing up to 400 psi before with no problems, but if you do the same and it kills you, I'm not responsible.

[oodalumps]

I decided to make a large scale one of these with some spare brass and PVC I had laying around. Uses 2" PVC and two different sizes of brass (I think 1/2" and 17/32"). To make a good seal (and to stop it from leaving the tank), I wrapped electrical tape around the back of the moving piece of brass. I plugged the back of the moving piece of brass with the top of a goo gauge.

Finished air tank (now connected to an at2k pump)



Pieces



The moving piece of brass

[Kid Flash]

So whats the psis that you have tested so far? 2 inch pvc is kind of large for me though... I might be trying 3/4 inch just for fun. It would be nice if I could find brass.

[CaptainSlug]

The pressure you need to fire a dart is very low. You can fire at as low as 10psi if the flow rate and supply volume are high enough. Even the weakest vinyl tubing sizes available are not going to burst at pressure levels that are likely to destroy darts. If you're trying to fire darts at pressure levels higher than 50psi, you're doing something wrong.

Most metallic tubing is rated for more than 150psi.

Edited by CaptainSlug, 06 July 2008 - 03:11 PM.

[pizlo]

Its a new valve to nerf, yes. And its a good way to make one, but its just a manually operated hammer valve.

[Shadow 92]

The flow rate seems low and it looks like it wastes some space. It can be scaled up to nerf proporions, but it wouldn't be the most efficeint design. Great find though!

Edited by Shadow 92, 08 July 2008 - 01:19 PM.

[Uncle Hammer]

It already has been scaled to nerf. It's the exact same valve found in air guns.

[oodalumps]

You guys talk like I just didn't just make a Nerf scale version of this valve. While it lasted, it got Big Blast ranges. Just needed to super glue the electrical tape and it would have lasted forever.

[King Of Butt Land]

It is not the same valve found in nerf guns. I recently made a tiny one for airsoft bb's and its great, I don't really have any interest in nerf at the moment though, so I have no plans to upscale it.

[3DBBQ]

cooooool!!

i love ths!! great~

[Vishamon]

cooooool!!

i love ths!! great~

This bodes well. Can't wait to see what you do with this valve!

[Lynx]

It is a nice valve that works well.

Scale it up, put a good trigger ring around it and you have a fire control group ready to go for a homemade.

EDIT: Sorry, I just got off of WarCraft 3 so I can only assume the worst after that...

Edited by Lynx, 19 July 2008 - 04:55 PM.

[zaphodB]

lynx- what? he didn't say anything offensive about his english. He's just excited about what 3DBBQ will do with the valve.

[Carbon]

EDIT: Excluded.

Well, changed. I didn't want to muck up the formatting, and this amused me.

cooooool!!

i love ths!! great~

This bodes well. Can't wait to see what you do with this valve!

I like turtles!

I'm pretty sure that Vishamon's comment does not mean what you seem to think it means.

Edited by Carbon, 20 July 2008 - 09:52 PM.

[Vishamon]

On top of it, I'm fairly certain that 3DBBQ's primary language is, in fact, Mandarin.
EDIT: In response to Lynx's edit: I'd appreciate it if Carbon would edit his post to exclude what Lynx said. I'd rather not have any problems with anyone on these forums. And yes, just to clarify, I am interested to see what genius applications of this new home made valve type come from the JSPB workshop.

Edited by Vishamon, 19 July 2008 - 10:52 PM.