30 replies to this topic

[rork]

Based heavily on Split's SlamBow, among others. Also, props to Dizzy for the plunger design.

The plunger shafts consists of a length of 1/2" oak dowel. You could use drilled and tapped nylon as well. The plunger head is Dizzy's version of the standard Superlative, with a 1 1/2" disc of wood which has one edge beveled acting as the catch ramp.


You could substitute 1/4" plastic sheeting, if you liked. It has a 1/2" hole in the center, so it fits around the plunger rod and auto-centers. The sled is a 3/4" T fitting, which has a 5/8"-wide section cut out at the top. 2 5/8"x16" dowels are attached via 3/4" #6 bolts, the heads of which are countersunk into the wood. The bolts fit flush with the inside of the T, eliminating the need for any slots, etc. The push plate at the rear is a 2 1/2" section of 3x1 oak, with a 3'4" hole drilled in it, the midpoint of which is 1/2" from the upper edge.



The blaster body is a standard SNAPbow, with a few modifications. The plunger tube is cut to 13", with the bushing nested completely inside the front of the gun. The bottom rail is extended by 3" or so, to accommodate the foregrip.

The pump sled fits on thusly, with the back of the plunger getting topped off with a screw, a washer, and an "I fucked up the length of my plunger rod" spacer.

The stock is very wooden.

You can also field strip it with the sled on.

The spring rest is held in by 2 screws behind the rest.

Here's the complete gun, yo. It's super badass.

[Stark]

There's nothing classier than some nice firm wood.

Edited by Stark, 05 November 2010 - 02:00 PM.

[soccerbeast003]

How easy is it to prime? Like does it get sorta "stuck" along the pvc as you slide it?

[Carbon]

Color me surprised that wood works for the catch ramp. I'm really interested in seeing how well that wears. I also find it hilarious that for so long, I made effort to remove wood from SNAP construction, when it works quite well and is, to say the least, visually distinctive, not to mention cheap. I'm going to have to revisit that method.

[rork]

Soccerbeast, it's really smooth. You just have to pull it back naturally, and the handle finds the optimum position. Try to straighten it, and it will bind. The back of the T is ground down to a smooth curve for this very reason.

Carbon: Yeah, it actually works about as well as the epoxy putty. It's more consistent, due to being cut rather than molded. I'd say it's a bit more durable over all; if you cut your pin too long, it will dent it, but it doesn't really seem as prone to gouging as either pvc or epoxy putty. Of course, as I noted in my writeup, if you're worried, you can easily substitute a bit of 1/4" polycarb sheeting--or hell, a circle cut from a large PVC plug or flat endcap. Even if the material isn't to your liking, the method works great.

PVC and Oak go together like 2 super compatible things.

[Daniel Beaver]

I've been dicking around with wooden plunger rods too, and I'm liking them. What tool are you using to bevel that wooden disc? Cause I like that plunger head, but I hate having to use epoxy putty. I can hardly keep up with all the innovations in homemades that are happening this year. And the winter building season has only just begun. What a terrible time for me to be quitting nerf.

Stark: You are just made of class.

Edited by Daniel Beaver, 05 November 2010 - 11:20 AM.

[Carbon]

rork, on Nov 5 2010, 10:39 AM, said:

PVC and Oak go together like 2 super compatible things.

Oh yes. The additional wood parts make me want to go back and rebuild this for reals.

Also, excellent use of the rounded endcap as the spring rest. I just realized that that will center the spring, so you won't have the end coil gouging your plunger rod. Nice!

[Zorns Lemma]

Daniel Beaver, on Nov 5 2010, 11:15 AM, said:

I've been dicking around with wood

I like dicking with wood too.

[rork]

I used a sophisticated, expensive, hard to find...dremel with a sanding drum. A router would be prime, though. And yeah, the wood plunger rod works great. You just have to center the hole for the plunger head, and be sure to use enough screw. I use 1" #8 sheet metal screws, and they're treating me well so far. However, I wouldn't be comfortable using a less-burly wood for a plunger.

[TxNerfer]

What is the advantage of using a wooden plunger rod over a cpvc one? The cpvc one fits in the plunger head perfectly, and it's lighter as well. Other than that, looks great! Props.

Also, can you put up a parts list?

[hawkshot]

The oak to PVC ratio makes me giggle like a little girl inside. I want one.

[Abyss Mods]

Stark, on Nov 5 2010, 03:13 AM, said:

There's nothing classier than some nice firm wood.

That's what she said.

Anyway, very nice gun. I wasn't sure if I was going to like the wood at the beginning, but once I got to the end i saw that it looks very nice.

[defcon44]

Stark, on Nov 5 2010, 01:13 AM, said:

There's nothing classier than some nice firm wood.

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

[qwertyupp]

defcon44, on Nov 11 2010, 02:08 PM, said:

Stark, on Nov 5 2010, 01:13 AM, said:

There's nothing classier than some nice firm wood.

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

He was just asking for that.

[BustaNinja]

qwertyupp, on Nov 13 2010, 08:49 AM, said:

defcon44, on Nov 11 2010, 02:08 PM, said:

Stark, on Nov 5 2010, 01:13 AM, said:

There's nothing classier than some nice firm wood.

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

He was just asking for that.

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

[TxNerfer]

Hey...I got a crazy idea: how about you stop all that sigging stuff? It's not even my thread and it annoys me. Bringing it back on topic, Rork, could you possibly get a short firing video up? I'm particularly interested in seeing the slider. Looks...unstable

[qwertyupp]

BustaNinja, on Nov 13 2010, 09:26 AM, said:

qwertyupp, on Nov 13 2010, 08:49 AM, said:

defcon44, on Nov 11 2010, 02:08 PM, said:

Stark, on Nov 5 2010, 01:13 AM, said:

There's nothing classier than some nice firm wood.

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

He was just asking for that.

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

I'd sig that.... but somebody would get pissed and I'd get more time off then I needed.
Plus, I don't use sigs.

And slightly more on topic, do the other small improvements you made to this version of the Mk. V affect performance at all?

Edited by qwertyupp, 14 November 2010 - 04:19 PM.

[Fome]

Gee, looks familiar.


I have my doubts about all the wood in the construction, especially in the plunger shaft, i'm not sure it has the elasticity to withstand the abuse of a [k26] but I suppose time can only tell. The wooden catch ramp is pretty cool, I'm sure if the wood is hard enough it wouldn't have any durability problems, I wonder if it's actually easier or quicker than just smearing E-putty over an endcap and fender washer though.

I wonder if there's an appropriately sized finishing washer out there that could be affixed to the "superlative" plunger head so we could just avoid all this e-putty, pvc shaving, woodworking nonsense altogether and have something that could just be screwed together out of prefabricated parts. Metal catch face and metal catch ramp? fuck yeah.

But good job, pump action SNAPs are always sexy in my book. I'd like to hear how well the wooden parts hold up after a war or two.

[diamondbacknf1626]

TxNerfer, on Nov 13 2010, 12:42 PM, said:

Hey...I got a crazy idea: how about you stop all that sigging stuff? It's not even my thread and it annoys me.

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

Anyway, 'cause Talio scares me. I dig it, rork. A little too much wood for my taste, I like the familiarity of just using CPVC particularly for the plunger rod. Looks a lot like Fome's design. Once we get settled back here, I'll probably fool with some pump action designs I've been tossing around in my head and share. I've always wondered though, since I first saw the design when Fome posted it, how sturdy is the 90 between the priming bars and the rear plate with the hole through it to accommodate the plunger rod?

[rork]

The only strain the plunger shaft needs to stand up to is the force of priming, which isn't a problem if your screws have sufficient bite.

This is neither quicker nor easier than the superlative plunger head; however, it's not that much more annoying to make, it uses fewer, cheaper parts, is lighter, and centers around the plunger rod, which is quite a useful attribute that my next build will depend heavily upon. Also, not all epoxy putty is created equal, and some people have trouble working it into a good catch ramp.

EDIT for DB: It's wicked strong. I used a big ol' chunk of oak, and really overbuilt the whole thing. That stress point is no problem at all, as long as you throw sufficient mass at it.

Edited by rork, 17 November 2010 - 11:56 AM.

[Fome]

diamondbacknf1626, on Nov 17 2010, 08:56 AM, said:

Anyway, 'cause Talio scares me. I dig it, rork. A little too much wood for my taste, I like the familiarity of just using CPVC particularly for the plunger rod. Looks a lot like Fome's design. Once we get settled back here, I'll probably fool with some pump action designs I've been tossing around in my head and share. I've always wondered though, since I first saw the design when Fome posted it, how sturdy is the 90 between the priming bars and the rear plate with the hole through it to accommodate the plunger rod?

Like rork mentioned, an "overbuilt" (overly thick materials) pump sled will no doubt give you enough strength.

However, if you don't want something that's very bulky there's a couple of ways to make the bolt sled as inconspicuous as possible:

1.) Stronger materials: hardwood is tough to beat in terms of sheer economics and machinability, but a variety of rigid plastics or even metals could do the job while providing a drastic reduction in size and weight.

2.) Keep the transfer bars close and parallel to the source of the force. The closer the transfer bars are to the direction of the plunger path, the more the force of priming will travel down the strongest part of the wooden dowels, which is the length of the dowel. The transfer bars in my design literally physically slide against the recess made by the plunger tube and the wooden handle.

3.) Triangles: if you don't want to overbuild the plate that impacts the rear of the plunger shaft, use triangles to reinforce the joint by distributing force down the length of the dowel. A variety of methods could work here, from E-putty to metal angle brackets.

[Echnalaid]

It looks like the Atari 2600 of SNAPs!
I've always wanted a full wooden gun or at least a wooden shell.

[TxNerfer]

Fome, on Nov 17 2010, 01:24 AM, said:

The wooden catch ramp is pretty cool, I'm sure if the wood is hard enough it wouldn't have any durability problems, I wonder if it's actually easier or quicker than just smearing E-putty over an endcap and fender washer though.

Just a little heads up: I built a wood catch ramp today and it's definitely alot more time consuming than smearing epoxy putty over the whole thing. With the proper tools, I'm sure it could go alot faster. I am using a cpvc plunger rod so I went with the typical plunger head. Therefore, I had to trace out the on oak board, trace the outside diameter of the 1-1/4" fender washer, then cut it out with the scroll saw. Very time consuming. As I was saying, if you used a wooden dowel for a plunger rod, you could drill out the middle with a spade bit and do the outer part of the circle with a hole saw. The other time consuming part was sanding it down and getting the proper angle. Since I was using oak board, it was difficult for my dremel to efficiently sand it (may be due to an old bit). Either way, I wouldn't really reccomend this method if you're using the typical superlative plunger head.

[rork]

Use a 1 1/2" hole saw, yo. Seriously, a serviceable set costs like $3 at Harbor Freight. The only real reason to cut out a wooden circle with a scroll saw is to show off your scroll sawing skills.

Also, stick that sumbitch in a vice and go to town on it with a 60 grit sanding drum. It's faster than mixing epoxy by a good bit.

[TxNerfer]

I've got a couple hole saw blades, I have no idea where the attatchment is though, and that is the reason I stuck it in the scroll saw. I actually can't use a scroll saw for my life. Anyways, I assembled the SNAP with the wood catch ramp and the priming was horribly rough. Even after sanding it down as much as I could, I couldn't get it smooth. Personally, I'd just stick with epoxy putty. With my other SNAP which uses epoxy putty as a ramp, it's lasted fine after about 500 primes.