603 replies to this topic

[Team Slaya]

About the online store, there was one I came upon after searching. This was in a post as well. It's called Loghelp, and CX was talking about it. Just a thought.

TS

[Langley]

For perfect domes, shape them with your finger. Sounds painful? If you use low-temp glue for your darts (I do; don't have to worry about it getting too hot and melting the foam) then lick your finger before you tap the tip and smooth it out. If you use hi-temp hot glue, dip your finger in that bowl of water you guys've been talking about. Rinse and repeat for all of your darts. Perfect domes, every time.

To prevent getting glue stuck in the first place (causing the big, stringy mess that results), continually put your gluesmithing fingers in your mouth. ~TAD

If you do that when making darts, and you use fishing weights, you may want to read on the weights package where it says, "CAUTION: this product containts lead, a chemical known to cause cancer in the state of California". Of course, you may not live in California, in which case you're safe. Because obviously from the warning you can conclude that lead knows better than to start shit with someone from NJ.

Lead+Mouth=BAD

[Arcanum]

For those that make tack stefans, and I know there aren't many of you, most people just put glue on the pointy side and stick it into the foam. I do this but then put a hot glue dome on top of the tack. I found these darts to work just as well as my fishing weight darts...just as a note.

[foamsmith]

Make them with rounded foam tips, or domes. That's what my leg says, when shot a couple of inches away.

Cons: More time. If it's not done perfect, your darts won't be as accurate.


Cut them up perfectly straight. Make sure you build some sort of template for this.

Pros: More accurate darts

Cons: more time


Burn a hole in the back of your darts, if they're going to be primarily fired from air guns.

Pros: The dart creates a better seal inside the barrel when it's being fired. It also makes a slightly more aerodynamic dart during flight. Both result in farther shooting darts.

Cons: More time. Darts don't perform quite as well in spring powered guns.

[NerfLad78]

What type of weight should I use if I'm making Stefan Titan rockets?

[LordoftheRing434]

The Finnish way to make Stefans

This is a family tradition that will be passed down to many generations. Feel free to use my techniques to your fullest advantage.

Allowing Darts to Dry:
After glueing my Stefan tips, I like to put the darts in a PC clip. This allows them to dry evenly (if your darts are cut straight). Also, it's easy to keep track of, rather than all sorts of PVC holders. And, 10 darts can dry at once. How cool is that? Go grab a bit of lutefisk while you wait. And if your gun is Hi-temp, you have time for a sauna too.

On the topic of shaping a dome:
I start by letting the glue spread naturally. I then tip the dart back and forth, and breath smoothly on it to continue the spread of glue. The final step is to shape it by means of your finger. I essentially use a low heat glue gun, but after the time spent tipping and blowing, your glue should be cool enough. The weights I use are either BB splitshots for spring guns, or 3/0 splitshots for air-powered guns.

To straighten foam:
I'm very impatient and stubborn, so my Stefans tend to be a little crooked, but the point is that they still kick enough ass.
Take 5' lengths of foam and hang them by the rafters in your garage/basement/mom. Tape a heavy battery on the end of your foam rods in order to slightly stretch foam and straighten. I let mine sit for about 5-7 days since I'm impatient. I'm sure that if you wait longer, results will be better. Since I live in Northern Minnesota and it's 50 degrees or below 10/12 months, I perform this ritual indoors as there is more heat.

Drilling/burning holes:
I am one of those who insert a straw in the posterior of the dart. It is a fairly reliable option. If you're sitting still, the hole should be pretty straight. However, I tend to burn holes in the darts by means of my hot glue gun. This is pretty straight, and the heat tends to make the thing a little more stiff around the edges...

There you have it: a Finn's guide to making Stefans. We tend to go for quality instead of quantity. However, with enough time, I can mass-produce. Hope the insight is helpful.

~Rings

Edited by LordoftheRing434, 26 July 2005 - 10:32 PM.

[LastManAlive]

I use a PC clip and the fronts off AT2K turrets when sawed off if I can nto access water. If I am at home, I jsut fill a tuckerwear thing up with water and plop them in it to cool down faster.

[SneakUP]

How do you make the tips of your stefans colored?

[MattPaintballer]

Colored hot glue.

[LordoftheRing434]

The only complaint for my Stefans are that they don't get very stiff at all. Does anyone know how to make the foam a little more stiff. Yes, I'm sure heat does, but I don't like to try that for various reasons.

[quasar]

I think it depends a lot on your particular batch of FBR. My light grey stuff was a lot stiffer than the black stuff I've found recently.

Recently I've been making 'goldeneye' darts with gold sparkles in the end and black bodies.

[murakumo32]

I straighten my stefans by wrapping duck tape around it (which also serves as a weight combined with glue) and then wrap some bright colored electrical tape by the tip.

[nerfisfun]

Will good stuff insolating foam s(something I don't know the rest) Work for stefans?
See, I didn't make my own topic You can thank me later

[NinjZ]

Give us a link to this foam so we can see and we will tell you.

[nerfisfun]

Again; http://www.homedepot...dgmn.0&MID=9876]
I know this is the n00bishest question ever (besides, what is nerf?) But... What kind of foam do you use to make stefans?

Edited by nerfisfun, 27 September 2005 - 09:08 PM.

[Robonerfer]

It's called Foam Backer Rod, it's essentially a round rod of foam that you put in large cracks so that you don't have to use as much caulk to seal them. It's by the weather strip in most hardware stores. It can also be brand-named Caulk-Saver. Be prepared for a long trip to find it- in my Home Depot, I had to go through five staff members before I found one who actually knew where it was. Asking where the weather strips are would probably be much more efficient.

[LDM]

What I do for straightening darts is put them in some 17/32" Brass. That's tight on my foam, so after a week or so it's very straight.

[DTReaper]

Note some of these may have already been said but I am giving my theories on darts.
Well as far as I know there are a few things that effect accuracy, range and power on a dart.
They are weight, spiraling, size (both diameter and length), guns power, barrel length, and conical or non conical head.
The heavier the weight usually the farter but slower and reaches its max speed farther away. it goes until you reach a weight in which you start losing range or its best weight as I call it. If it is lighter it has higher speed at close range but lacks the punch and range heavier darts have so…
within ten to like 20 feet lighter darts are better and any further you probably want heavier darts. That's at least my theory on darts and as for spiraling it is the same principal as a bullet and the difference between the revolutionary war and the civil war (AKA muskets vs. rifles). but with spin you usually decrease range because energy is being used to spin the dart out of the barrel and therefore loses a certain degree of power. The solid darts however do not spin unless the barrel is rifled so therefore it doesn't lose any energy to spinning. As for the conical head it makes the dart more aerodynamic and therefore has less air resistance and therefore it has more range. as for diameter of the dart the thinner the better the range due again to wind resistance.

And so ends my rambling theories on darts and range and spiraling.

-DTR

[nerfisfun]

To straighten foam:
I'm very impatient and stubborn, so my Stefans tend to be a little crooked, but the point is that they still kick enough ass.
Take 5' lengths of foam and hang them by the rafters in your garage/basement/mom. Tape a heavy battery on the end of your foam rods in order to slightly stretch foam and straighten. I let mine sit for about 5-7 days since I'm impatient. I'm sure that if you wait longer, results will be better. Since I live in Northern Minnesota and it's 50 degrees or below 10/12 months, I perform this ritual indoors as there is more heat.

uhh, can't you just cut it up, throw it in the dryer for 10 minutes on low?
It took me at MAx 5 minutes to find 1/2 inch PVC Foam backer rod, File and hacksaw...
Oh, and that other "foam" WAS caulking...

[Langley]

uhh, can't you just cut it up, throw it in the dryer for 10 minutes on low?
It took me at MAx 5 minutes to find 1/2 inch PVC Foam backer rod, File and hacksaw...
Oh, and that other "foam" WAS caulking...

like I said in the origonal post, alot of straightening methods change the diameter of the foam. Stretching the foam out makes it thinner, and using a dryer makes it thicker.

[Suave]

Here in the south we teach the newbies to put their foam in the dryer at 12 or 14 inch pieces, then stretch it. Makes for a perfect fit in sch 40 PVC once you get the hang of it.

[mongor64]

First let me say that i have been doing this for a short time and most of it i figured out myself and looked on the net for tips and tricks to refine my style and this is a GREAT site for super tips.

First: i know most people seem to think that you have to straighten the darts before you cut them, but not me i kinda use my hands and pull on it and stretch it a bit THEN cut. i had a crappy way of TRYING to cut the dart straight (flush) but the PVC way stated at the beginning post is by FAR the best way as long as you have the means, So do IT.

Second: Now that you have lots and lots of dart blanks put them in a pillow case (king size) cause 1. it holds very large amount of darts 2. lets air out. 3 can be very flexable for manual circulation. Now go get a hair dryer and fasten your pillow case on the end with your hand and turn that baby on for around 7 min (this all depends on your hair dryer and the settings on it) checking every so often and make sure while the hair dryer is on use your other hand to be shakeing the pillow case so there is alot of movement. Now you have straight darts!

Third: putting the hole in for what weight you choose and glueing. This seems to be a very personal thing with alot fo people. but let me say this i like using high temp glue gun for the reason of bonding with the FBR, cause i have used my HGG in low temp setting and it seem to do the job but once the dart have been fired a few times with a powerful gun the tips don't seem to be to secure but when i use the high tem setting the darts are like new still with a few marks from hitting stuff on the tips of the darts.

Fouth: A very simple tip for when you decide to make your darts. What i did and i think most people can do and will. When you find yourself in homedepot or whatever store you buy your FBR make sure you buy a 20" 2"X4" wood block and make a Jig out of it using 1/2" drill fitted with a 1/2" bit and drill lots of holes in it spaced about 1" apart from one another, you should end up with about 20 holes. you can put this to use very easy, once you have the holes drilled just find your spot where you are going to make darts fill the holes with dart blanks and start to make darts. this is very fast way to make dart super fast and if you have glue spill over or anything of that sort it isn't a big deal to peel the dry glue off the wood and you can make an assembly line out of by burning your holes in all of the darts and putting your weight in all the darts and glueing all of the darts. The only place that this doesn't help is if you are going to put holes in the back of your darts longer than the tip of the hot glue gun (as in if you are going to use a drill press or somthing of that sort).

Last: coloring your darts. The fastest way i found to color your darts besides using colored glue sticks or colored FBR is to go to homedepot purchase some upside down paint(spray paint sprayed with the can upside down, used for grading and other things of that sort to deal with construction) and the cardboard from a case of soda. (cause it has edges and won't let the darts roll away) go outside and find a safe ventilated area that wont be affected by over spray and load some darts up in the box so it is a layer of darts that don't over lap one another and spray them about a foot away so it kinda mists over the darts, Shake the box a bit so the darts have rotated some and repeat til you get the coverage you desire.

This is a simple system that i have used a few times and it is the best way that works for me and the key word is me, so make a point of using what works for you! I hope this was helpfull to someone out there.

[heybob777]

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[NinjZ]

I hear the ban boat!

[The Infinite Shindig]

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heybob777,

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