12 replies to this topic

[Zed8]

Hey all,

I just purchased a Rapid Fire 20 from Target and, at the advice of many people, immediately pumped it to capacity (NOT maximum, just about 15 pumps) and let it sit overnight. 9 hours later, a little over 50% of the pressure remained. Is this a good percentage, or should I try to get better by returning and exchanging the blaster?

Thanks,
Zed

Edited by Zed8, 03 March 2010 - 07:32 PM.

[nerfer9]

You're not going to be needing to hold air for that amount of time. You're good. Keep one or two pumps in the gun to keep everything well sealed.

[Doom]

To the best of my knowledge, latex is slightly porous. I wouldn't be surprised if the air that slowly leaked through wasn't insubstantial over a few hours.

Also, when you pump, the air gets hotter. As the air cools down the pressure drops.

I wouldn't be surprised by a 50% drop over 9 hours.

[CS-6]

single it and make it have a clip

[Zed8]

You're not going to be needing to hold air for that amount of time. You're good. Keep one or two pumps in the gun to keep everything well sealed.

To the best of my knowledge, latex is slightly porous. I wouldn't be surprised if the air that slowly leaked through wasn't insubstantial over a few hours.

Also, when you pump, the air gets hotter. As the air cools down the pressure drops.

I wouldn't be surprised by a 50% drop over 9 hours.

Very useful advice guys. Thanks. I will be keeping the blaster, then.

single it and make it have a clip

I will be leaving it mostly stock. It will be my new primary for my school's HvZ game (I am one of the mods) in about a month, so I don't need much more than reliable close range fire.

[Draconis]

single it and make it have a clip

What a ridiculous suggestion. Please don't say idiotic things anymore.

[Fome]

1.) Why would you pump it up and let it sit overnight? I fail to see the advantage of this. Bladder blasters (magstrike, powerclip, rf20, etc.) maintain a constant pressure system due to the elasticity of the bladder material. You're probably destroying the memory of the rubber/latex/whatever by doing this. This seems to be the equivalent of priming a springer and letting it sit overnight, inevitably weakening the spring in the process.

2.) Why does it matter if a blaster can maintain full pressure overnight? Are you expecting to be assaulted by zombies in your sleep? In realistic applications, I can't imagine needing an airtank of any kind to hold pressure for more than a few minutes before use. You should really get in the habit of keeping your blasters "primed" for as little time as possible before use, it'll make them last much longer.

As an aside, I'd also seriously question almost anything you read on the internet, especially these boards. Some moron on NHQ suggested someone poke holes in their spray can to hand paint the contents. Explosion, anyone?

[billyblue888]

[quote name='Fome' date='Mar 3 2010, 04:17 PM' post='267840']
Are you expecting to be assaulted by zombies in your sleep?
[/quote/]

added that hilarious quote to my signature, while playing with my butthole

on topic- Losing 50% pressure over night isn't bad.

[VACC]

added that hilarious quote to my signature, while playing with my butthole

on topic- Losing 50% pressure over night isn't bad.

How is that a useful comment to anyone? If you want to put something in your signature just do it. No one else cares to hear about it.

[Zed8]

1.) Why would you pump it up and let it sit overnight? I fail to see the advantage of this. Bladder blasters (magstrike, powerclip, rf20, etc.) maintain a constant pressure system due to the elasticity of the bladder material. You're probably destroying the memory of the rubber/latex/whatever by doing this. This seems to be the equivalent of priming a springer and letting it sit overnight, inevitably weakening the spring in the process.

2.) Why does it matter if a blaster can maintain full pressure overnight? Are you expecting to be assaulted by zombies in your sleep? In realistic applications, I can't imagine needing an airtank of any kind to hold pressure for more than a few minutes before use. You should really get in the habit of keeping your blasters "primed" for as little time as possible before use, it'll make them last much longer.

1) I did not pump it to maximum capacity. That would undoubtedly damage the bladder. I only pumped it up a bit to check for leaks.

1.5) Leave a super thin latex balloon inflated and it doesn't lose elasticity very noticeably (which would cause it to expand even further, which it does not). Granted, it looses air, but... Leave a bike tire pumped and it doesn't lose elasticity. I think a thick bladder such as that on the RF20 will be fine.

2) I have had experiences with air pressure guns losing pressure over a 30 minute mission and almost costing me my life.

3) I have often heard of manufacturing inconsistencies that cause Nerf bladders to fail after a very short time (or leak right out of the box).

4) The point was not to see if it would hold pressure overnight specifically, simply to check for leaks. If it held up that well for a few hours, I feel confident that it will hold up for the 1-2 hour missions that I will be planning and running.

5) You NEVER know when you'll be assaulted by zombies. I was attacked last semester leaving the local Safeway by a zombie on a bike. If my Powerclip had not been freshly pumped (it has a slow leak), I would have bitten the dust right there.

Edited by Zed8, 03 March 2010 - 07:55 PM.

[reko0418]

1.) Why would you pump it up and let it sit overnight? I fail to see the advantage of this. Bladder blasters (magstrike, powerclip, rf20, etc.) maintain a constant pressure system due to the elasticity of the bladder material. You're probably destroying the memory of the rubber/latex/whatever by doing this. This seems to be the equivalent of priming a springer and letting it sit overnight, inevitably weakening the spring in the process.

2.) Why does it matter if a blaster can maintain full pressure overnight? Are you expecting to be assaulted by zombies in your sleep? In realistic applications, I can't imagine needing an airtank of any kind to hold pressure for more than a few minutes before use. You should really get in the habit of keeping your blasters "primed" for as little time as possible before use, it'll make them last much longer.

1) I did not pump it to maximum capacity. That would undoubtedly damage the bladder. I only pumped it up a bit to check for leaks.

1.5) Leave a super thin latex balloon inflated and it doesn't lose elasticity very noticeably (which would cause it to expand even further, which it does not). Granted, it looses air, but... Leave a bike tire pumped and it doesn't lose elasticity. I think a thick bladder such as that on the RF20 will be fine.

2) I have had experiences with air pressure guns losing pressure over a 30 minute mission and almost costing me my life.

3) I have often heard of manufacturing inconsistencies that cause Nerf bladders to fail after a very short time (or leak right out of the box).

4) The point was not to see if it would hold pressure overnight specifically, simply to check for leaks. If it held up that well for a few hours, I feel confident that it will hold up for the 1-2 hour missions that I will be planning and running.

5) You NEVER know when you'll be assaulted by zombies. I was attacked last semester leaving the local Safeway by a zombie on a bike. If my Powerclip had not been freshly pumped (it has a slow leak), I would have bitten the dust right there.

i don't agree with everything he said but he made some good points.

1. leaving it inflated at all more then like two pumps will alter the bladder.
2. the ballons gain stretchyness which isn't what we want, we don't want it to stretch further we want to to maintain pressure better.
3. i do see the point in testing the bladder for leaks but overnight could seriosuly have worked your bladder, testing it for two hours though, like you expect for missions, would have been a lot more reasonable

[Broderick]

*insertlist*

It's a good test, but just ask yourself, "Am I really going to be leaving this thing unpumped for more than 5 or 10 minutes?". At least in my experiences, whenever I'm using an air blaster I always kind of "test-pump" every minute or so to make sure I'm not losing air. If I feel resistance due to a full air tank or the OPRV, I just stop pumping. When I'm at a war we usually don't do missions though, mainly fast-paced flanking.
About Nerf blasters leaking and such, that's bound to happen. I mean, they produce thousands of these things in different factories every day of the week. To boot, they're hand assembled if I can remember correctly, so there's bound to be a dud at some point; I got a dud raider than only shot around 12 feet out of the box due to a bad breech seal.
So yeah, your blaster's fine?

Edited by Broderick, 05 March 2010 - 08:24 PM.

[Zed8]

Well, I appreciate your concern, but the blaster still works just as well as it did when I bought it, so... I guess I'm lucky.

Even if it does break, it is only $25, so I would just be able to have a parts gun to fix any future problems.