197 replies to this topic

[Ubermensch]

I'm interested in ranges, but I have a problem. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you got rid of the chains, right? That is like singling an RF20! I mean, come on, the rapid firing capability of the Vulcan is the best part of the gun's perfomance!

[mintee]

I'm interested in ranges, but I have a problem. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you got rid of the chains, right? That is like singling an RF20! I mean, come on, the rapid firing capability of the Vulcan is the best part of the gun's perfomance!

Exactly. But he has no choice until he fixes the rotation mechanism somehow.

[Split]

I'm interested in ranges, but I have a problem. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you got rid of the chains, right? That is like singling an RF20! I mean, come on, the rapid firing capability of the Vulcan is the best part of the gun's perfomance!

I've mentioned a major overhaul about 4 times now. It'll be taken care of

[Ubermensch]

Sorry. I just got back from vacation and skipped through to this page. Guess I should have read it through.

[Split]

Two more mods for you guys: One experimental, one obvious.

Obvious mod: Battery replacement.
Final Product:

How to:
What you need:
Scissors
Electrical Tape
Rechargeable batteries and matching connectors
--Note: I have 4 7.2V RC batteries. Each came with a charger. I cut the connectors off of 2 of the chargers, and use the other 2 chargers to charge, two batteries at a time. I recommend this, because the alternative is buying 4 male and 4 female two pin connectors and installing each one.
Utility Knife (I use this monster for everything)
Sharp utility knife blades
Dremel

First, in the Vulcan red is positive, and orange is negative. Find the positive and negative for your connectors.

Using the scissors, cut your two female connectors about to have about 6 inches of wire.

Use the utility knife to remove about 1/4" wire insulation from the ends of the following:
Red wire in vulcan (goes to hatch switch and then power switch then trigger)
Orange wire in vulcan (comes from motor IC; I also cut this wire shorter so I wouldn't have to deal with the slack)
Positive and negative wires to connector 1
Positive and negative wires to connector 2

First, connect the ends of the orange wire to the first connector's negative wire. Wrap with e-tape, or solder as preferred.

Then, get the first battery connector's positive wire and the second's negative ends together, and twist them together. Then wrap with electrical tape.

Repeat with the second connector's positive and the red (Vulcan's positive) wire.

Then dremel out a half inch by half inch piece of plastic from where the sticker is (into the battery box). Route the wires through here.

Ta da!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Experimental Mod: Sound activated Vulcan tank

Note: This mod failed for obvious reasons. I predicted it would, but I wanted to see anyway. More on it failing in a moment.

Take one of these, sound activated circuits:


Remove the circuit from the casing, and remove the battery compartment from the circuit.
Run a wire from the point at the top (labeled +), and another from the negative point at the bottom right (labeled -). These are your positive and negative wires, respectively.

What you need to do now, I have no pictures of. You need to cut the wire coming from the point on the on/off switch on the vulcan that goes to the electronic trigger switch. Run this wire to the input of a SPDT switch (usually the center, DPDT is okay to use also, you just won't be using one side). Run a wire from one output of your switch to the cut end of the wire that goes to the electronic trigger switch.

Then, run another wire from the other output of the SPDT switch to the positive wire from your circuit (from above). Connect the negative wire of the circuit to the orange (negative) wire of the circuit (coming out of the Vulcan's motor).

Now, cut into the wire that comes out of the electronic switch, and splice two wires into it. The first spliced wire, closer to the switch, should then connect with the positive of the output of the circuit (in this case the left wire going into the LED). The other should connect with the negative of the output of the circuit (in this case the right wire going into the LED)

Overall:


Mine:


Now why does this fail? Simple. The circuit I have is sound activated. It works nice to start, but the Vulcan makes so much noise that it triggers itself and shoots again, making a loop. So it hears a noise, then fires eternally.

Well, since this failed, why do a whole writeup? Simple. This whole process is the same as installing any circuit. So all you need now is a motion sensor circuit! Ta da:
http://www.allelectr...T-SYSTEM/1.html

Just cut the speaker wires and replace the word LED with speaker in the instructions. There you have it, a motion activated Vulcan.

Edited by Splitlip, 13 August 2008 - 01:22 PM.

[Ubermensch]

Ranges when supercharged with four 7.2V batteries? (That's 28.8 volts, right? Would 3 or 4 9V batteries work too?) Does it even affect ranges, or does it just make it easier to do a spring replacement?

Edited by Ubermensch, 28 July 2008 - 03:27 PM.

[Split]

Ranges when supercharged with four 7.2V batteries? (That's 28.8 volts, right? Would 3 or 4 9V batteries work too?) Does it even affect ranges, or does it just make it easier to do a spring replacement?

Mmm. Like I said in the actual post, I'm using 2 batteries at once (you can even see this in the pictures where I add two connectors and have two batteries installed). Batteries are charging right now. 4 hours of charging means they'll be done 7pm EST. Will test out everything tomorrow.

9v batteries will work, but they will die very quickly. The reason hasbro used D batteries is because they last a long time.

Really, I will post ranges when I have them. I'm sick of post after post just asking for ranges.

So what do you think? It looks clean, doesn't it?

Oh, and Ubermensch, like I mentioned before, Upping the batteries doesn't change ranges, just ROF. And rechargeable also saves a LOT of money spent on batteries.

[GMD]

right befor i got my vulcan
I thought of this because we (dad,bro,me) have quite a few traxxax r/c cars but u got to it befor me Oh well
we have a lot of batteries and chargers so it would work great for me

Edited by GMD, 28 July 2008 - 05:33 PM.

[keef]

Try switching out the Tamiya wire connectors with "Deans Ultras". People use them in airsoft, and they work GREAT for me!

I love the vulcan! Airsoft batteries FTW!

[smeagolsaur]

You got the vulcan a couple days after ordering from the hasbro toy shop, correct?

What shipping method did you use?

[Split]

You got the vulcan a couple days after ordering from the hasbro toy shop, correct?

What shipping method did you use?

Standard

[C5 Z]

I like the battery mod looks very clean, I was waiting for someone to do this....

[jwasko]

How good is the seal between the plunger chamber and the belt links, really? I mean, sure, it comes forward, but is it a really tight tolerance? Or is there some sort of rubber/foam gasket?

If not, then perhaps it would be a good idea to add a gasket.

Edited by jwasko, 29 July 2008 - 12:00 PM.

[Split]

How good is the seal between the plunger chamber and the belt links, really? I mean, sure, it comes forward, but is it a really tight tolerance? Or is there some sort of rubber/foam gasket?

If not, then perhaps it would be a good idea to add a gasket.

It's tight. The orange piece is actually concave in, so it forces the links right up in there. And yes, there is a foam "gasket" already there.

Thanks C5_Z

Alright guys, range and speed tests are in. Under the same conditions (even the random darts thing because I still have never fired them) I'm hitting a 45' average, at around 4+ darts per second after it gets going (about 1-1.5 seconds). Don't feel I need pictures, since they're all basically the same but with different numbers. Same field, even close to the same time of day. I put a brass barrel on and ram rodded each dart about 2" in.

Edited by Splitlip, 29 July 2008 - 01:24 PM.

[poorrecon]

My stock, unmodded Magstrike gets 11 consistently. Either my magstrike is an exeptionaly good one, or your magstrike is an exeptionaly bad one.

[Split]

Alright guys, range and speed tests are in. Under the same conditions (even the random darts thing because I still have never fired them) I'm hitting a 45' average, at around 4+ darts per second after it gets going (about 1-1.5 seconds). Don't feel I need pictures, since they're all basically the same but with different numbers. Same field, even close to the same time of day. I put a brass barrel on and ram rodded each dart about 2" in.

The combination of ramrodding the darts, and measuring rate of fire (4+ darts per second - nice) has me confused.
Are you saying you put brass barrels on the Vulcan belt?
25 of them?

I have no chain, and I have no rotation mechanism, and I have no manual cocking mechanism. All covered before..

I listened to and counted the number of time the gun cycled, and I have a stopwatch feature on my watch to keep time. I ramrodded the darts for the range test. I used 30 shots to get that distance average (if anyone cares, max was 57, min was 34 or so (I exclude max and min when calculating mean for accuracy)).

[GMD]

#1 2 things go to nerf.com find the vulcan buy it and if you buy it type in NERF10 and get 10% of and i live in Ohio and got it next day

#2 what do you tupe in do get a discount something like nerfhaven and get % of?
10% or 15%?

sorry on spelling not too good at it so dont yell at me for it

Edited by GMD, 29 July 2008 - 08:07 PM.

[Quilan Fett]

No discount for nerfhaven. It was for another store.

[serpent sniper]

Try switching out the Tamiya wire connectors with "Deans Ultras". People use them in airsoft, and they work GREAT for me!

I love the vulcan! Airsoft batteries FTW!

Seems like you're familiar with airsoft. Here's what I've been wondering. People have been buying custom MOSFETs for 3 rd burst and stuff. I've been wondering the whole time, anyone think that MOSFET could replace the stock electronics to give it auto and burst settings?

Select fire capabilities combined with the use of airsoft battery packs may get me to buy one of these. Though electrical work beyond soldering is a little beyond me.

Edited by serpent sniper, 29 July 2008 - 10:15 PM.

[keef]

Try switching out the Tamiya wire connectors with "Deans Ultras". People use them in airsoft, and they work GREAT for me!

I love the vulcan! Airsoft batteries FTW!

Seems like you're familiar with airsoft. Here's what I've been wondering. People have been buying custom MOSFETs for 3rd burst and stuff. I've been wondering the whole time, anyone think that MOSFET could replace the stock electronics to give it auto and burst settings?

Select fire capabilities combined with the use of airsoft battery packs may bet me to buy one of these. Though electrical work beyond soldering is a little beyond me.

Ohh a mosfet could work VERY well. We'd just need to experiment.

I'm thinking more about the capacitor additions though.
http://www.airsoftre...9&topic=58086.0

There you can see the deans. Very nice connectors. Also, the capacitors.

They help to "increase trigger response", but with more added by the trigger, and rotation mech, it could also improve ROF.

[wespelarno]

If you want to change the rate of fire, take my rc car componentry a step further. Buy a cheapo electronic speed controller (ESC) and a pistol grip remote. Take out all the electronics and fit the ESC, solder connections to the batteries. Cut appart the pistol grip remote. Put the throttle trigger, which is identical to a gun trigger in place of the trigger in the vulcan. House the rest of the electronics somewhere inside. Once connected up, the further you squeeze the trigger the faster it fires.

The use of an actual speed controller will restrict the voltage to 7.2, but with the power of rc car motors that shouldn't be an issue.

This could also be achieved with a variable resistor wired to the trigger, but i'm not sure how the heat generated by the resistor would go with the plastic casing. The advantage of a variable resistor is that you could use as a high a voltage as you wanted (Bar melting the case).

If you would prefer the switch to be an on/off switch as opposed to the rate of fire controller, a variable resistor could be soldered in series with the connection between trigger and motor. Turn the dial to select the rate of fire.

The above idea's would allow any rate of fire to be selected, from very slow to maximum. But if you hold the trigger in it will still keep firing, so it won't be a genuine single shot.

[Split]

If you want to change the rate of fire, take my rc car componentry a step further. Buy a cheapo electronic speed controller (ESC) and a pistol grip remote. Take out all the electronics and fit the ESC, solder connections to the batteries. Cut appart the pistol grip remote. Put the throttle trigger, which is identical to a gun trigger in place of the trigger in the vulcan. House the rest of the electronics somewhere inside. Once connected up, the further you squeeze the trigger the faster it fires.

The use of an actual speed controller will restrict the voltage to 7.2, but with the power of rc car motors that shouldn't be an issue.

This could also be achieved with a variable resistor wired to the trigger, but i'm not sure how the heat generated by the resistor would go with the plastic casing. The advantage of a variable resistor is that you could use as a high a voltage as you wanted (Bar melting the case).

If you would prefer the switch to be an on/off switch as opposed to the rate of fire controller, a variable resistor could be soldered in series with the connection between trigger and motor. Turn the dial to select the rate of fire.

The above idea's would allow any rate of fire to be selected, from very slow to maximum. But if you hold the trigger in it will still keep firing, so it won't be a genuine single shot.

But why wouldn't you just always want the maximum rate of fire? Which is what this is right now..

[needak]

love the mods , got some questions though, is it possible to make another belt and/or barrel out of pvc or some other pipe?

P.S. AA and AAA batteries last the same amount of time with the same power as D batteries. Is it possible to wire some AAs or even some AAAs in place of the D batteries? it wouldn't make it smaller (without putting in a new battery case [should I do that instead?]) but it would make it lighter.

Edited by needak, 30 July 2008 - 12:13 PM.

[slowguitarman]

I just wanted to say that I got my two vulcans yesterday, and an ar removal basically does nothing. I took the ar out of one, and sat it next to a stock one. My friend and I both fired at the same time (one shot at a time), and my modded one consistently hit 1' further than the stock one. They were fired flat from the tripod setup on the floor. Standing up, it fires a few feet further. I was getting a little over 30 feet.

[Split]

love the mods , got some questions though, is it possible to make another belt and/or barrel out of pvc or some other pipe?

P.S. AA and AAA batteries last the same amount of time with the same power as D batteries. Is it possible to wire some AAs or even some AAAs in place of the D batteries? it wouldn't make it smaller (without putting in a new battery case [should I do that instead?]) but it would make it lighter.

Go ahead and try it. No one is stopping ya. I'd suggest making the cuts as perpendicular to the tube as possible, for the best possible seal. Distance between links will be crucial. A possible route is a long piece of fabric, epoxied or glued on one side, wrapping halfway over a link, then glued on the other side. It's basically how the Vulcan's links are connected already.

AA and AAA batteries do not last the same amount of time with the same power. The voltage is the same, but the amperage, which determines how long it can handle a load (basically, don't nitpick, I know the difference), is different. D batteries last much much longer.

I just wanted to say that I got my two vulcans yesterday, and an ar removal basically does nothing. I took the ar out of one, and sat it next to a stock one. My friend and I both fired at the same time (one shot at a time), and my modded one consistently hit 1' further than the stock one. They were fired flat from the tripod setup on the floor. Standing up, it fires a few feet further. I was getting a little over 30 feet.

Thats really good to know actually. Thanks for doing that. I'd definitely believe those stock ranges when compared to those (mine) with seal improvement, spring replacement, battery replacement and a brass barrel. I don't believe the 40-45' stock averages that multiple people are posting at all.