45 replies to this topic

[Fu-BJ]

Hey Guys

Thought I'd let you know what inf0rm3r @ oznerf has been been working on over here in Australia for the last year. Video pretty much explains his two current completed projects.

First project was a Custom Tubular foam, second was 1.7g safe Silicone tipped dart heads. Video also shows how much time this method saves in creating darts. 50 Darts in 3 minutes and 38 seconds.

From May 15, both Pink and Blue will be available.

He doesn't have a user account activated here so I have posted it on his be-half.

[ChaosPropel]

This is a great idea,! The problem, however, is that I (and most likely others as well) think of dartsmithing as an art, and am very proud of myself when I achieve a nice-looking dart. Because of this, I do not care about speed of making darts. Others may be different, but that's just my 2 cents.

[VACC]

The problem, however, is that I (and most likely others as well) think of dartsmithing as an art, and am very proud of myself when I achieve a nice-looking dart.

No, I've never heard anyone else cite this as the primary objective of dart making. People generally make darts so that they can nerf, not as a means of artistic expression. Speed is a very important factor.

[andtheherois]

This is a great idea,! The problem, however, is that I (and most likely others as well) think of dartsmithing as an art, and am very proud of myself when I achieve a nice-looking dart. Because of this, I do not care about speed of making darts. Others may be different, but that's just my 2 cents.

Personally I'd rather pick up dart that I know will perform well rather than look pretty on the field. These darts are really interesting since I saw SGNerf do a writeup on the SG forums. I was amazed that he was able to get Nerf foam to be accurate, and more so the fact that he's already gone and customized them to suit his needs!

I do have a few questions though; Do these work in hoppers? From what I've gathered most people have difficulty with streamlines because of that rubber core, and when I saw it I wondered if they to inherited feeding problems in wyes. Are the cores the only thing keeping them in your foam or are you using some sort of glue? I couldn't tell from your video. And last, is it possible to use these with hole-less FBR (as in the standard stefan blanks) by making a hole in the blank?

[Fu-BJ]

Littlebro has left me with his login to reply.

@ Chaospropel

Nice looking darts are good to, I'll agree. But really once you start warring every second week, it's ridiculous to supply 30-40 person wars constantly, especially when your spending more time making darts than playing. Our public generally looks down on dodgy looking darts, but when they walk past and see something which looks safe, they think positive about what's going on and it gets the parents of the younger kids approval to.

@ andtheherois



You can see the tip has a stub which holds it in. The adhesive used to bond silicone and Foam together is just your cheap store super glue. You can do roughly 100 darts with a packet which costs $1.00. The tips themselves are solid silicone, so they may work in your hopper, you can't manipulate the shape of the head by pushing on it like streamlines. I haven't built one myself but they work flawless in RSCB setups.

You can easily customise the weight of the dart by cutting the stub down to, a lot of our community is into stock guns for some silly reason. So when they purchase these the trend is cutting off the stubs to get less weight, after testing this out of lower powered reverse plungers you'll notice and instant 4-5 Meter (15FT) increase on range. But out of 4B's, Titans and anything shooting in excess of 100FT most guns are accurate at what you are aiming at at a pretty good distance.

I can't see why it isn't possible in using them in blank FBR stefans if you cut the hole right. Hell you could even cut the stub off completely and super glue them on. The bond is exceptionally strong. The full tip weighs 1.6-1.7g. Cutting off the stub will bring it down to about 1.2-1.3 which would imitate a BB weight I guess.

[taerKitty]

As someone who tried melting holes in blanks with a soldering iron, I would advise against it. It's next-to-impossible to get the hole centered and straight simultaneously, at least to the degree these pegs would require. It's either that way from the factory, or you end up ruining a lot of darts trying to get it right.

Another advantage to the hole-in-peg is that it is not a single plane against which for the glue to shear. I've found that slugs with divots in the foam outlast slugs where the foam is left flat.

Lastly, for me, I do think of dartsmithing as an art. It's not the only reason, nor is it the main reason, but I like designing signature ammo, from stuff as simple as 'ghost darts' for Brit (b1g13en's white foam + white felt slugs) to some of the more elaborate dart head designs such as my nuthead darts.

Edited by taerKitty, 25 April 2011 - 07:54 AM.

[andtheherois]

You can see the tip has a stub which holds it in. The adhesive used to bond silicone and Foam together is just your cheap store super glue. You can do roughly 100 darts with a packet which costs $1.00. The tips themselves are solid silicone, so they may work in your hopper, you can't manipulate the shape of the head by pushing on it like streamlines. I haven't built one myself but they work flawless in RSCB setups.

Reading SGNerf's review, it seems as if they are not 100% silicone. Then again I've never snorted silicone so I wouldn't know what it smells like (if you've read his review). Would that have to do with the ability to use superglue to fix them to the darts? From what I've been reading about silicone tips, it seems that gluing them to anything is a complete bitch. However if that solves the problem I would say it's an ingenious solution.

Edited by andtheherois, 25 April 2011 - 08:08 AM.

[Fu-BJ]

Reading SGNerf's review, it seems as if they are not 100% silicone. Then again I've never snorted silicone so I wouldn't know what it smells like (if you've read his review). Would that have to do with the ability to use superglue to fix them to the darts? From what I've been reading about silicone tips, it seems that gluing them to anything is a complete bitch. However if that solves the problem I would say it's an ingenious solution.

I have the ROS certification that these are 100% silicone here, but you never know what actually ends up in these products as there is a number of factors which could cause a change. Superglue according to my supplier is the only cost effective way to bond these two types together, you can see in the video I'm shoving the heads in really easily as superglue is paper thin.

I'd never seen this article until now, good to see someone is further testing

[shmmee]

And last, is it possible to use these with hole-less FBR (as in the standard stefan blanks) by making a hole in the blank?

I'd love to encourage the development and use of safer dart heads. These things look great! If you want to make a centered hole in fbr, may I suggest this link: center hole jig (I just barely broke it away from the thread where we've been developing other similar heads:Slugs and Domes (and other dart heads, including DIY ones)

I don't know how your silicone is any more friendly than the silicone I've been trying to work with (Jet brand), but when I tried using super glue to bond fbr to the silicone heads I made, the head fell off under it's own weight. Do you still get much of a bond even without a stem? I've tested several adhesives trying to find a suitable bond. (I've also tried: amazing goop, plumbers goop, shoe goo, hot glue, un-cured silicone, and multi-purpose cement.) The only thing I've found so far has been "liquid nails small projects silicone adhesive" (in the toothpaste tube - not the caulk gun tube) It held up to 10 - 12 shots from a BBBB into the concrete floor before separating.

Edited by shmmee, 25 April 2011 - 02:44 PM.

[andtheherois]

I don't know how your silicone is any more friendly than the silicone I've been trying to work with (Jet brand), but when I tried using super glue to bond fbr to the silicone heads I made, the head fell off under it's own weight. Do you still get much of a bond even without a stem? I've tested several adhesives trying to find a suitable bond. (I've also tried: amazing goop, plumbers goop, shoe goo, hot glue, un-cured silicone, and multi-purpose cement.) The only thing I've found so far has been "liquid nails small projects silicone adhesive" (in the toothpaste tube - not the caulk gun tube) It held up to 10 - 12 shots from a BBBB into the concrete floor before separating.

This is the research i was thinking about in terms of my composition of the dart heads question. I've been following the dart head developments and it seemed that 100% silicone had trouble adhering to foam.

[BrokenSVT]

That was silicone sealant, which is an entirely different subject.

[Blue]

These darts look excellent. The only issue I have found with the foam with a hole in it is that higher power guns blow them up, but as far as making replacement darts for AR removed n-strike guns this is perfect.

[WicketTheModder619]

These look great. They are easy to see and work in stock guns! I definitely need to buy some of these.

[KaneTheMediocre]

I've already e-mailed him about the tips. If they feed through hoppers well I'm going to order a crapload and make darts with the pink foam.

[taerKitty]

If anyone can handle a drop shipment of 10k heads, it'd be MHA.

[Darksircam]

Huh. I'm interested in the foam especially - more regulated foam diameter, and blue reduces dart loss.
Might order some after some people try them out. Mainly waiting for reviews on approximate shipping cost, how the snap caps attach to the dart body, and hardness of the tips.

Edited by Darksircam, 26 April 2011 - 10:13 PM.

[Fu-BJ]

In regards, to hoppers. I'm not sure what the issue is with streamlines as I haven't used them yet. But the heads are much more solid than streamlines, they aren't hollow and don't compress. That said they don't leave nasty welts like plastic caps or metal tips and the sting from these out of a 4B is reduced from experience by at least half. I have tested them out of RSCB setups if that's any help and they work fine hitting about 130FT out of a triple shot setup.

@ blue

The blue foam has an increased density and slightly smaller hole than Nerf is using, but not small enough to affect someone using a stock gun. You'll need something ridiculous to blow holes in this foam.

@ darksircam

I will have sample packs up on ebay shortly. I already have some guys at Nerf Revolution looking to bring in a large amount to supply which ever side of the US. I believe perhaps working with one-two people on each side of your country to distribute them out might be a good option. As for me to ship a 500g parcel to any part of the US is $15.00 which blows it out of the water. However drop shipping can solve that issue and avoid the freight costs altogether and then anyone ordering smaller amounts only has local within US freight which is much cheaper.

I have this method going in Singapore through Hanzo on their forums. I basically supply the foam and tips direct to him at a heavily discounted rate very close to my cost, then he distributes it to the of the community.

[interflop]

@ Fu-BJ

Can you keep me updated on those sample packs you're putting up on eBay? I'm really interested in getting some of this foam. Also is there anywhere I can keep myself updated on the guys at Nerf Revolution bringing this foam to the US?

[Fu-BJ]

Sample packs available

http://cgi.ebay.com....e=STRK:MESOX:IT

[WicketTheModder619]

Fu-BJ-

I ordered one of the sample packs on ebay. I have no use for the snap caps though, so could I receive 15 of the silicone tips instead? Ebay name is: magicalxradical
I will send the payment after I get your response, so there is no mix-up.

[mintee]

We need to have ourselves a distributor for this stuff here in North America. I'd be 100% down for an immediate purchase.

[WicketTheModder619]

I thought I might as well mention that these DO in fact work in hoppers! I ordered a sample pack and made all of the silicone headed darts. My snap's hopper never jammed up and I was using a 10 dart hopper(stefans)and 16 inch cpvc barrel.

[Monkey Hunter]

I thought I might as well mention that these DO in fact work in hoppers! I ordered a sample pack and made all of the silicone headed darts. My snap's hopper never jammed up and I was using a 10 dart hopper(stefans)and 16 inch cpvc barrel.

Did you have to cut the foam at all to fit the hopper? In the video the foam looks pretty long, and in my experience hoppers tend to only accept < 1.5" stefans

[mintee]

Eff it. I gotta get me some of this. Group buy time, any Vancouver area people want in on this, it'll be on NUV's facebook page.

[Demon Lord]

Did you have to cut the foam at all to fit the hopper? In the video the foam looks pretty long, and in my experience hoppers tend to only accept < 1.5" stefans

I've gotten regular streamlines to fire out of a hoppered +plus bow (8.5 inch 17/32" brass barrel), so I doubt any foam cutting would be required.