26 replies to this topic

[cxwq]

Well, the other day I was bored and drew up plans for a homemade which it turns out I'll finish building tomorrow. I've always maintained that any moron can make an arbitrarily powerful homemade so there's not much point in discussing them all that much unless you're doing something cool like bolts or clips or constant pressure or whatever... I didn't do any of that stuff. This is a pretty basic homemade I just threw together for fun - but now that it's sitting here I was wondering if it was worth making a writeup.

It's a non-folded ported polished brass manual-bleed-trigger sprinkler-solenoid-valve interchangable-barrel single-shot rifle. If testing goes well tomorrow I may add dove-tail mounts for a scope. Total cost for parts was about $30.

So, is it worth a full-blown writeup or should I just post photos of my groups from accuracy testing? Either way, I won't be doing max range tests so please don't ask for that.

[Jangadance]

It would be keen to see a well done homemade writeup, but I would personally like to see one of your good Nerf mod writeups. Do you have any other guns sitting around that you could start working on? That seems like a higher priority to me. That, or the karma system.

[cxwq]

I currently have my XBow, RF20, NF, and... something else I don't remember... in pieces on my workbench.

I got bored of them but expect to return to those mods eventually. Preference for order?

Regarding code, I just tweaked the parsing library and turned IBF code in sigs back on. Going to put in the Respect system next, then Karma will step up to the plate. Actually have lots of late-night time with nothing much to do since I'm on paternity leave and my sleep cycle is disrupted so I'm actually getting more done now that I have a 1-week-old in the house.

[Jangadance]

Sorry to hear that you won't be able to enjoy the same sleep cycles, but this does provide a silver lining of you possibly being able to put more time into NH. As far as ordering of your projects, may I suggest RF20, "something else", homemade, Xbow, Nite Finder. I put the Crossbow and NF last because we already have those mods available on this website, and those guys did a great job with them. The RapidFire 20 is a gun that I would like to see modified, if it is at all possible. They are more available right now, and I have yet to see a well documented, successful mod for it.

[Pineapple]

Personally, regarding homemades, I don't think much about them, but it seems that the stuff cxwq cranks out is generally of high quality, and we've seen too many examples of homemades that were generally quite ghetto. Excepting, of course, boltsniper's monster, among few others.

The solenoid valved air release interests me, as ball valve blasters are too many and too much. And hey, maybe, just maybe, this is the kind of Nerf blaster that would mandate a scope. Go for it!

I recall being most creative (or at least mind wandering) while feeding the baby and giving wife a break. But that was four long years ago. Hang in there, cx. The tunnel is long but it's a nice ride.

-Piney-

[Langley]

I'm interested. Lets see it. We don't have any writeups of homeades here. Just designs.

[undeadtom]

The RapidFire 20 is a gun that I would like to see modified, if it is at all possible. They are more available right now, and I have yet to see a well documented, successful mod for it.

I have a write up for the RF20 piston mod but i have a tubing problem because i destroyed the part of the case (the part that sealls the tank good) in the midst of puting it back together so i think I'm going to single barrel it since i have nothing better to do and have no way of fixing it, yet. anywho it will be like diablo's single barreled pc since that's an interesting dealy. for now I'm waiting to get some good barrel materials and some couplers but those will have to wait till after the 27th (hehe my B-day). anyways carry on.

[cxwq]

Man, my darts suck. I just killed three of them (disintegrated on impact) at 50-70psi. I need to make better darts for testing this thing. Or pump it up less I suppose. Blah.

[Langley]

Are you sure they burst on impact and not on their way out of the muzzle? What are you shooting them at?

[cxwq]

Yeah, I'm quite sure.

I was using a piece of scrap plywood as a backstop. When the dart hits it, the hot glue and weight ricochet in different directions. The foam drops straight down.

I tried firing one a little downward so it would end up in the grass but I think it skipped and went over the fence. That or it embedded itself completely under the grass.

Maybe I need to hang a tarp or something to catch the darts.

[sporkboyofjustice]

A good backstop can be made by hanging a piece of carpet or really heavy cloth on a clothesline. It takes the impact well and isn't as dangerous as plywood. I'm not sure how a plastic tarp would do, it may be fine but may break.

[THIRST]

Or maybe thats just one sick homemade. I cant wait for the writeup, my brother has been looking into making a homemade, so this may give him some ideas...This sounds great, but a few questions: Is it useable in a war, is the rof good, and practicality?

THIRST

Edited by THIRST, 10 February 2004 - 06:01 PM.

[cxwq]

All right, I've made a combination backstop and target holder by throwing a blanket over the back of two patio chairs and suspending a piece of PVC between them then taping it down. Thanks for the idea, spork.

I'll sandbag the gun down in the morning and see how accurate it is from a bench rest. If it posts < 6" groups from 50' or so, I'll drop by walmart and get a scope for it before I finish the writeup.

Is it useable in a war, is the rof good, and practicality?

Sorta, no, some.

ROF bites ass because there's no onboard pump. This could be remedied I guess but it would still take a good 20 seconds to load and prime. It is not usable in any war I run because I wouldn't allow a gun with half the power of this thing. If someone else allowed it in a war, it would be useful for strategic takedown of important targets (5n1p3r!!!1) in themed games like CTF. With a well-integrated pump the practicality isn't that bad. I went with a threaded barrel mount but could swap that out for a regular socket coupler and improve the ROF. The ergonomics are excellent with a good stock and no obstructions to sighting down the barrel or adding a sight of your choice.

[Pineapple]

Bless you, cx.

Please get the how-to, up soon.

I have some dogs that have been coming on to the property here chasing my chickens, and my Sawtooth/1500 PVC'd just doesn't cut it. Neither would bringing out my 12 gauge be really good with the neighbors. Maybe a strange PVC contraption would be acceptable (I could tell them it's an irrigation device).

Thanks in advance for sharing with us. I'm really interested.

-Piney-

[cxwq]

Well, it doesn't deserve a scope (yet) but the fault lies with my darts not the gun.

At 60' the dart is caught every time by my 2.5'x2' backstop. About half of the darts went through an 8.5"x11" piece of paper hanging in front of the backstop.

I made a few 4" long size 7 split shot weighted darts but they still fishtail (not enough porting, too much tank) and spin out (not enough weight for the velocity this thing generates).

I fired a couple darts off down the block at about a 10 degree angle to observe the flight characteristics. Over time the spin out seems to cancel somewhat, probably as the dart spins slightly and the symetry imbalance shifts. I think I could comfortably hit a 3'x3' target at 130' or so with well-made darts. The darts were still climbing as they cleared my neighbor's yard and probably travelled well over 200'.

I'm going to work on new barrel and dart technologies with this platform. I think I can make some improvements to accuracy.

Edit: Just posted the writeup in the homemades section... very tired so there are probably mistakes to fix tomorrow. Hope it's reasonably clear.

[Gamefreak]

Nice, how much do those Orbit Valves cost anyway?

[J cobbers]

Something to try on your darts is putting cushioning layer material over the hotglue and fishing wieghts to absorb the shock of hitting solid targets. I know hardware stores sell rubber and cork pads that come in 1/2" diameters.

Something to try to prevent fishtailing is to add to the legth of the dart or making them less front end heavy. Something like the custom darts made for the bolt action loser rifle design on nerfhq. It looks like he used plastic air restictors out of a PC or RF20.

[xedice]

When I use homemades/maxshots in our wars, I make a regular stefan, then hotglue a little section of foam to the tip. So it looks like just a straight piece of foam. There are two advantages: When you shoot someone, they don't feel pain, they feel impact (which is good), and also, your darts don't get ripped apart if you shoot something solid.

Pretty much what J_cobbers said.. but I haven't tested them for range yet, I don't know if it increases/decreases range, or affects fishtailing yet.

[Langley]

BAMF like the sound nightcrawler makes when he teleports? Or BAMF as in Big Ass Mother Fucker? If the former, then will we be seeing a SNIKT soon?

[cxwq]

Actually it works both ways here since you can't see much of the darts while in flight.

BAMF: Bad Ass Mother Fucker

Aside from the cool double meaning, BAMF.ORG was my first domain.

[snyper]

I don't really get these valves are they just like other vavles? How do these valves work?

[Ragornocks]

Nothing sucks more darts crapping out on you. I've had to switch to Hunting Shot recently due to the power in the Nite Finder and Crossbow. I don't think that was quite your problem.

I'd love to see your take on the Crossbow and Nite Finder...of course, the things NH doesn't have should come first. If you've got any ideas, man, toss 'em down. I need some more valuable information to devour.

[NerfManiac]

One thing that has crossed my mind about fixing your problem is maybe, just maybe trying to use a mega, with a mega-fitting brass size. This idea has no backup whatsoever, so don't tear me a new ass with your formulas and "why nots."

[cxwq]

The thought had crossed my mind. Since it's physically easier to construct a radially symmetrical mega it should exhibit less variance with them.

The other approach I'm considering is imparting spin on the micro stefan so that flight irregularities are canceled out. This would be a better long-term solution if I can get the rather sticky details ironed out because this technology could be applied to other guns rather than just resulting in a monster homemade.

[LOMHawkeye]

Has anyone developed any non pressure based homemades (spring powered) I saw boltsniper's pistol a week or so ago, but that doesn't quite have the power I would like (he said 45 feet). Although pull and release would be easier, has anyone made triggers? I think you could use 1/2" PVC with an endcap that has an O-ring for the seal. The barrel chamber could be 1". I have rudimentary plans on paper, but I lack knowledge of how well various sizes of PVC fit in one another, so the gun would require experimentation (and money, which is tight for me).