603 replies to this topic

[happybiscuit]

yahman1254, on Aug 4 2009, 06:56 PM, said:

Does the Polyethylene FBR offered by McMaster fit 17/32 brass well? Sorry if this has been asked before...

I think Ryan Mcnumbers talks about it on the first page of the communal dart making thread.

Edited by happybiscuit, 04 August 2009 - 08:28 PM.

[Ryan201821]

It depends honestly.

The last batch I ordered fit loose in 17/32" brass. It had a nice tight fit in CPVC.

The foam seems to vary depending on the batch that was made, and which warehouse you received it from. I've seen guys out on the east coast getting the same stuff from the same manufacturer and it had a different texture, density, and diameter than the stuff I was used to.

But really, fit your darts to your barrels. Not the other way around. It doesn't work like that.

[yahman1254]

My current stuff is the cheap foam from Ace and it fits 17/32 perfect or too tight depending on how i straighten it. I was ordering a bunch of stuff from McMaster so i was trying to save on shipping by just going for their stuff.

[sparks]

Falcon, sorry I keep bothering you about this. I know you listed how you make your stock to stefan conversion darts, but I'm interested in how you make the other type of darts you mentioned, the ones for your NF and X-Bow. If its like a secret of yours or something, sorry but just say so.

[Ryan201821]

Before reading this post, read this one first, #469

So I ordered the clear domes. They have a lip just like the black ones. The outside rows and columns are slightly off centered. Most of them don't fly straight, but a few do. Some of the domes on the inside rows also seem a bit off centered. Since they weigh a bit more than traditional stefans, a square end on the dart is more critical to it's ability to fly straight. Any slight imperfection in the dart will cause them to behave erratically. But if you take your time, cut your blanks straight, put a centered hole for the weight, and glue the dome centered, they fly super straight and far.

They make beautiful darts too.







One thing that's an extra bonus, is that these darts seem to fly 5-10 feet further than my traditional stefans, and about 20-30 feet further that felt disc + washer darts. Keep in mind these figures are from high powered blasters.

I don't intend on using these darts at wars. They hurt a bit more than a regular glue dome, and leave nasty marks. If you don't use the outside rows and columns, they come out to be $0.07 a dart. That's expensive compared to the cost of hot glue per dart in a traditional stefan. Usually my darts are around $0.03-0.05 per dart.

But I'd love to see them used for nano's.

EDIT: I'm using 1/4" slingshot weights in conjunction with the molded tips.

Edited by Ryan201821, 14 August 2009 - 02:20 PM.

[umpshaplapa]

I'm tired of mile high foam being destroyed in 2 seconds. What FBR is out there that has a Snug fit in PETG? I looked at swiftnerf's foam, and it seemed to expensive for me.

[1337]

umpshaplapa, on Aug 18 2009, 09:29 PM, said:

I'm tired of mile high foam being destroyed in 2 seconds. What FBR is out there that has a Snug fit in PETG? I looked at swiftnerf's foam, and it seemed to expensive for me.

Contact ggk. He has some good stuff he may sell.

[soccerbeast003]

SwiftNerf foam is awesome. It is worth the money. I haven't tried his new foam yet, but I have never had any SwiftNerf foam tear like Mile High Foam.

[RVMVTVProductions]

First off, let me point you to a quote that I thought about when I was taking my allergy medication.

elf_avec_gun, on Oct 29 2006, 10:31 PM, said:

Ok so this morning I was taking my allergy medication (Darned mold) and I looked at the wrapper. It is square shaped and flat, save for one place in the middle where there is a dome. The dome houses the pill and protects it from getting crushed. So anyways I was looking at the thing and I thought: hey this thing could be used to make stefens have really aerodynamic heads! Used as a mold for the hot glue, one would simply add a step after the application of the hot glue, which would be to stick the darts head into the medication wrapper while the glue is still warm. (Moldable)

Now someone might ask: "But Elf wont the hot glue stick to the wrapper?"
Just use some lubricant.

What do you (the collective nerf community) think?

(I editted it for a few grammatical and spelling errors, they bug me.)

Here's what I think: it works.

Only one thing, put it in a pan of water that doesn't go over the wrapper, so the plastic
1. doesn't melt very as easily, cause my glue gun is low temp
and
2. Give a place to put some water to help make the glue less warm (and thus, not melt the plastic) and not stick to it.

It's my cheap solution. And considering that this is Nerf, it works.

Pros: more consistent, faster domes
Cons: The fact that you have to build this little contraption to use the mold, which took me about two minutes.

Well, that's all I got now.

[Lt Stefan]

That's a very interesting idea. Now I gotta go popping pills.....

Anyway I have a qauestion slightly off the current topic. It seems that the heads of my darts don't want to stay on. Usually one out of every 10 or so has a bad head. Except I Meade the heads well. I use bbs and red mrcrouse foam. I don't know what the problem is.

[TantumBull]

Cera Rod isn't very dense in general (it's all I use) so that may contribute to it (glue has less shit to adhere to). But in general my traditional style stefan heads hold up real well (slug style stefs are another story), so maybe you need to use a higher temp glue gun or at least wait a while for it to get hot.

[Lt Stefan]

I think it might be the glue I'm using. The old glue was great, it was clear and wonderful and worked. Same glue gun, but the new glue HD has is milky and shitty.

[TantumBull]

You may be using a glue meant for a higher temp glue gun.

[Lt Stefan]

Believe me my glue gun is really really hot.

[ilzot]

At Lowe's, they're now stocking felt pads as I saw them labeled.

Thank god, CS style darts without McMaster.

By the way - 500th dartsmithing post.

[DYonch]

Sorry for the idiot question, but what size FBR should I buy so that it will fit in stock barrels?

Thanks

[Daniel Beaver]

DYonch, on Dec 29 2009, 09:20 AM, said:

Sorry for the idiot question, but what size FBR should I buy so that it will fit in stock barrels?

Thanks

1/2", but it will depend on what brand you buy. Bring a blasters to the store (with the pegs removed) an try shoving FBR into the barrels - you'll want stuff that is fairly snug.

[FERD]

my friend bought 800 feet from log home foam and it fits perfectly in stock barrels

[nostyleguy]

is it necessary to drill (i.e make an inner diameter throughout most of the dart length) a la http://nerfhaven.com...ans/Diagram.jpg ?

I read about 6 pages into this thread before giving up. A lot of stefan making how-to's dont even mention it, but some of the (more well respected) ones do.

I assumed the advantage was increased accuracy, but with my first batch of stefans (which i didn't drill) the accuracy seemed spot on. Of course, these were my first stefans and it was just nice to not deal with streamline swirling

also, what are the advantages/disadvantages of different stefan lengths? I made a few different lengths (1", 1.5", 2") and the range and accuracy all seemed more or less the same. The one advantage i liked was i could shotgun fire more shorter darts in a single barrel.

[1337]

nostyleguy, on Jan 9 2010, 12:33 AM, said:

is it necessary to drill (i.e make an inner diameter throughout most of the dart length) a la http://nerfhaven.com...ans/Diagram.jpg ?

I read about 6 pages into this thread before giving up. A lot of stefan making how-to's dont even mention it, but some of the (more well respected) ones do.

I assumed the advantage was increased accuracy, but with my first batch of stefans (which i didn't drill) the accuracy seemed spot on. Of course, these were my first stefans and it was just nice to not deal with streamline swirling

also, what are the advantages/disadvantages of different stefan lengths? I made a few different lengths (1", 1.5", 2") and the range and accuracy all seemed more or less the same. The one advantage i liked was i could shotgun fire more shorter darts in a single barrel.

I don't know a lot of people (if any) who drill their stefans. However, I do know a lot of people who use their hot glue gun to burn a hole in the back of the dart. Some people claim it doesn't do much, but some claim it adds around 5 feet to the range of the dart.

As far as stefan lengths go, the shorter the dart, the longer the range. The longer the dart is, the more accurate the dart is. A good compomise between these two is around 1.5 inches.

[Roschili]

I know this probably gets asked a lot but where is a good place to get colored foam, something besides gray. I know log home store sells white and mile high sells black for cheap but are there other good online sites?
Where can I get good colored hot glue? (any color)

Thanks.

For what it is worth I find it helpful to melt a small hole in the end of my stefans.

[spencerak]

I when i am staitening the ends of my darts (the tips of the foam), i use a small CPVC holder that has a flat side and stick the the dart in the end til the is just above the flat end. Then i melt that part off. then i repeat the prosses on the other side.

[tomorrowsDarkness]

When I go to heat my FBR, even the slightest bit of heat causes them to shrink.

What am I doing wrong? It's 1/2 inch FBR, and I've tried the hair dryer method, and putting in into the dryer. Unless I'm supposed to just blow at the FBR with the hair dryer for a few seconds, I'm doing it right as far as I know...

Would it shrink because of an inferior brand or what? (I bought the FBR someone had linked to in a thread. Don't currently remember which.)

[Roschili]

I have used three different types of foam all of which got slightly bigger upon heating. I put my blanks in a pillow case in the dryer on high heat for 10 minutes and they come out very straight but slightly larger in diameter. I would recommend log home store foam it is good foam and not expensive and the stuff I have gotten from there did not shrink. My guess is that you got bad foam, maybe you got open cell instead of closed?

[tomorrowsDarkness]

Roschili, on Feb 16 2010, 02:40 PM, said:

My guess is that you got bad foam, maybe you got open cell instead of closed?

Possibly, I'll check for closed cell next time. I mean, without heating they seem to be fine, and relatively straight, so I might not even need to heat them, just straighten.

But I'll check out the log home store foam and see which I like better.

Thanks.