After the fiasco that was my attempt at the RTP I realized that the concept was more important than the initial product (since after a concept was proven a better model could be made). I wanted to attempt a standard Snap, but I don't find copying a preexisting design nearly as interesting as either formulating a new one, or improving on a old one.
I looked at the many innovations in the snap series dealing with ROF, Plunger mass and size and began formulating an idea in my head.
Note: This was made before the influx of pump action homemade's, but as stated in the modification and paint job's thread I have not had enough time to fully document all (or any, actually) of my projects so I'm doing this now
. This is my take on a pump action SNAP, and although not as pretty, I find that it functions almost as well.The original inspiration for this came from the Acebow (made by Ace on Nrev) and carbon's Snap and revolutionary clothespin trigger so... PROPS!
Read on from here, or just look at the pretty(ish) pictures.
The idea of this blaster is to combine the priming and breech loading motion into one allowing for higher ROF and the possibility of using a clip of some sort (Although, like on the Mirage I have not had the resources, or, since I'm back at school, patience to make a clip). Although I haven't made a clip for it I have tested with a stack of darts held in position by a couple toothpicks and hot glue and the feeding motion seems perfectly smooth.
So, without further ado (because we all know there has been enough, erm... ado already) here is the Snap-Compact.
Ugly, yes. Almost as bad as my nano stephans; but it is the concept that goes into this that I think is revolutionary.
First things first the thing is tiny. Because the barrel replaces the priming handle (explained later) the whole thing is the size of a Primed snap without a barrel.
How it works is simple, yet in my opinion quite effective.
You pull the breech open and the dart drops, or is loaded in.
While pushing the breech closed, the end of the barrel contacts the front of the plunger (the two pvc endcaps). First, the dart is fully pushed into the barrel, and when the end of the barrel contacts the plunger head the breech stroke continues, compressing the spring and locking the plunger head in place (below)
Then, simply pull the barrel assembly back to the starting position. The dart is in the barrel, the plunger is back and the spring compressed; you're ready to fire.
Although I know this all sounds ridiculously complicated the firing motion is quite simple. Pull forwards slightly, push all the way back, and pull back to starting position. Exactly like a standard pump action setup, just with the slight pull at the beginning.
The reason this all works without a rod to stabilize the spring is because the [k25] used fits snugly into the PVC used. Again, because I'm doing this in China the materials are different but the PVC seems to be standard 1 1/4" Snap material.
Because of this the plunger just has to be the sealing surface in this case (I'm sorry) E-tape (Again, China. As far as I can tell no McMaster here), and the catch surface; the second endcap.
This gets rid of the plunger rod entirely, no wire, no PVC, no fuss.
The only difficulty in doing this is that the clothes pin trigger nail (wow that sounds long winded) must be rounded very well so that it won't catch on the spring while priming. Because the spring fits snugly, but loosely this helps nudge the spring upwards rather than catching. I also added a bit of Vaseline just because it can't hurt, and hopefully this way it won't scratch the spring up as badly.
The rest of it is simply for the sake of functionality. A trigger relocation, or a wooden dowel taped to the trigger allows the back of the blaster to be used as a stock further minimising the blasters size, a T and the front with a hole drilled for the barrel exit acts as a handhold to prime the blaster, and the flexible string (taken from my BBB) keeps you from pulling the entire thing apart.
And because I know how absolutely confusing this must be here is a:
Firing video!
I get the feeling this writeup is much more confusing than my Mirage one and for that I apologize. Feel free to ask any questions, and make any comments because more of these are to come, and hopefully they will get better and better (as mentioned in the Mods and PJ's thread I have a backlog of projects, and I will be releasing them from least to most interesting/ revolutionary. This is the least (after my very mundane draw extended NF)
In terms of manufacture the ONLY differences between this and a standard snap are the plunger, the barrel assembly, and maybe the care taken in creating the catch.
Although I realize this is terribly ugly, the ranges speak for themselves. This is getting 90-100ft ranges, and that is with: 3/4 of a [k25] for power, and an E-tape seal (on both the plunger AND the gap between the moving and stationary parts of the breech)
I think people were right about how much plunger mass effects these things, for what it is this thing is ridiculously powerful.
Here's to hoping someone makes a cleaner one of these,
-Boot
