17 replies to this topic

[koree]

Having a sidearm is largely irrelevant in today's nerf climate. However, with a good enough holster, they can still be very useful. With that in mind, I think I've come up with the best solution to date.

And here are two very manly nerfers sporting my holster design.



Hoongfu and I have been using these all summer, and they work incredibly well. They are held onto the back of our vests with a set of rare earth magnets. (Which you can easily purchase on ebay.) They are placed on the blaster with epoxy putty like this.


Note, the magnets were arranged in such a way that their polarity is the opposite of their neighbor. This is important as it allows the blaster to snap into a specific orientation. This makes the blaster always stick to the exact same location on the holster every single time.

Now onto the holster. It's a piece of ultra high density polyethylene with epoxy putty also holding the magnets in place and the magnets are arranged to pair with the ones on the nitefinder. The magnets are also in stacks of two to make the hold stronger. I then wrapped the magnets in duct tape. This is to prevent the magnets from shattering each other when coming in contact. (Yep, they're that strong.)



I put some velcro on both sides of the holster, then put corresponding pieces of velcro on both sides of the insides of a pocket of my vest. I found that the best place to put a magnetic holster is somewhere your lower back. That part of your body won't move very much so there is close to zero chance of your blaster from falling off from moving about.



Here's a video demonstrating the blaster sticking to its holster.



This holtser works REALLY well. I'd say pulling out this blaster is faster than even just priming my crossbow. Hope this was helpful and hope some of you will try making one.

Edited by koree, 09 August 2012 - 11:17 PM.

[ChaosPropel]

Who's the chick on the left?

Seriously though, I was really excited to see your holster at DCNF, I loved it. You also deserve bonus style points for "NF tail wagging action."

[hoongfu]

It's the best holster ever! It never falls off if set up properly. I've set it up improperly for 2 wars as for apoc I set it straight and it never failed. The magnets set in alternating order give the holster a perfect release and holstering. And when holstering if you hold the blaster close enough the magnets' attraction is strong enough to pull them together and set the blaster perfectly in the holster. It's the quickest and best no nonsense holster period. Bloody no tampon period.

Btw I'm wearing the black shorts in the picture.

Edited by hoongfu, 09 August 2012 - 08:12 PM.

[Bchamp22795]

Could this work with a larger nerf gun? I know I personally love to use my rainbowpump, but also like having an UMB with me with 7 darts stuffed in one barrel to shotgun if I need to (for certain games like defend/offend the core)

[Daniel Beaver]

I can also confirm that these don't fall off randomly when you're running around, and detach easily when you grab them.

That second to last picture shows the original method used for this type of holster: a hard drive magnet integrated into the handle. While that works well enough in a pinch, it is clearly inferior method compared to using the disc magnets off of eBay. They're cheap, they help self-align the blaster, and are easier to integrate into the blaster (all you need to do is drill a hole, instead of cutting out an odd banana-shaped slot for a hard drive magnet).

This method probably wouldn't work too well with a much larger blaster. Pistols are light enough that they don't have enough momentum to detach themselves while they are being jostled around. But the only way to really know is to try.

Edited by Daniel Beaver, 09 August 2012 - 08:20 PM.

[ShaNayNay]

Glad to see some current holster ideas. This is a very clever design. However since I have a harddrive magnet on me I think I'll try the old method first.

[Nerfomania]

Might I ask the size of Magnet used? This is pretty interesting.

[koree]

Thanks for the feedback.

Who's the chick on the left?

Seriously though, I was really excited to see your holster at DCNF, I loved it. You also deserve bonus style points for "NF tail wagging action."

Heh, I thought of it more as a nitefinder tramp stamp.

Could this work with a larger nerf gun? I know I personally love to use my rainbowpump, but also like having an UMB with me with 7 darts stuffed in one barrel to shotgun if I need to (for certain games like defend/offend the core)

This method probably wouldn't work too well with a much larger blaster. Pistols are light enough that they don't have enough momentum to detach themselves while they are being jostled around. But the only way to really know is to try.

Yep, the only way you'll know if it'll work is if you try. If you do try, be liberal with the use of magnets and place them in strategic locations across the blaster/holster so that there won't be too much movement.

Might I ask the size of Magnet used? This is pretty interesting.

They are 0.5" diameter.

Edited by koree, 09 August 2012 - 11:18 PM.

[hoongfu]

China I mean Ebay also sells square magnets which may prove to be a better magnet because of the perfect alternating fit as opposed to "close enough" fit and the circular magnets are a pain to line up and keep them that way until e-putty is applied. Be patient during the eputty application step because if you rush the magnets might clump together and precious time is wasted meaning the eputty to set in more than you want before the magnets are aligned properly making this very difficult. This happened to the 4 magnet section on my NF.

Edited by hoongfu, 09 August 2012 - 11:52 PM.

[Draconis]

I used the hard drive magnets on some blasters a few years ago to allow them to hang from a sheet of steel that I screwed to the wall in my son's room. FYI, Magstrikes just slide all the way to the edge and fall on the floor. Even with three massive (1"x0.5") magnets. I imagine it would be similar on clothing.

[Ozymandias]

How far away do you have to keep those from phones/credit cards/etc.?

[Daniel Beaver]

How far away do you have to keep those from phones/credit cards/etc.?

Not very far. The strength of the field drops off dramatically even a couple of inches away. Just don't stuff the gun in the same pocket as your wallet and you'll be fine.

[hoongfu]

I used the hard drive magnets on some blasters a few years ago to allow them to hang from a sheet of steel that I screwed to the wall in my son's room. FYI, Magstrikes just slide all the way to the edge and fall on the floor. Even with three massive (1"x0.5") magnets. I imagine it would be similar on clothing.

You clearly need more magnets! On the serious side did you use 3.5" HD magnets or 2.5" HD magnets (desktop or laptop basically) And modern HD magnets are SUPER weak compared to old school ones.

How far away do you have to keep those from phones/credit cards/etc.?

I normally keep my valuables in the front pockets on my vest.



Protip: A flat surface with little to no slack in the fabric makes a better holster area. The more movement the holster is allowed the less secure the blaster is.

[Colonel Zach]

This would also be really great for HvZ instead of making integrations.

[hoongfu]

This would also be really great for HvZ instead of making integrations.

That is a great idea. You could also have custom integrations that are more forgiving if you mess up and can be adapted easier to each mission.

Time to magnetize my jolts and SSPBs!

[spencerak]

Would these be big enough?

[hoongfu]

Would these be big enough?

You would need more magnets to achieve the same strength as the big ones but I think it would be stronger overall. I actually bought those and compared them to the circular ones on my NF. They are a bit smaller but I think they will still be useful. Next time I need more magnets Im going for the bigger ones so I can attempt to magnetize bigger stuff, like the DCIT.

[Draconis]

You clearly need more magnets! On the serious side did you use 3.5" HD magnets or 2.5" HD magnets (desktop or laptop basically) And modern HD magnets are SUPER weak compared to old school ones.

Yeah, these were all 3.5" drives that were at LEAST ten years old. Except for the Quantum Bigfoot that was a modernish design on a huge 5-1/4" platter. The real problem was not their ability to stick, but the low friction interface between bare steel and plated magnets. It was late when I posted that, I don't know why I said any different.