4 replies to this topic

[Mr cleaver]

For a while now I have been looking for a McMaster free, cheap, easy, and painless way of producing great performing darts.

The solution: LDD's (I'm not expecting it to catch on)
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Here I compared one to a glue dome I made before I mastered this method:
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The first step in making this type of dart is to cut your blanks (no shit)
The foam I use is not that Frost King garbage, I buy my foam from Rona. It is pretty dense compared to what the other big hardware stores carry but its still freakin' gray and impossible to find.
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The next step is drilling a hole in the center of the blank, I used the wood sanding screw on thing that came with my Dremel and just put some duct tape on some cpvc so it fit well in it. I took a picture so you can see it for yourself:
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This step is just finding a rig to hold your darts. Iv'e seen people use berserker turrets, rf20 turrets, wood with holes in it but I just use cpvc shoved in some "blow marker" thing I had as a kid.
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You dont need to do this for your darts (especially if your going for that "safe dart") but I find all it does is add range. What I did is put a copper BB in each hole, you could also fill it with caulking from the next step.
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Almost there

Your going to want to grab your caulk for this step. I used this Mono Ultra stuff I had lying around the house. Your also gonna want to grab your caulk gun so application is smoother.
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Finally you should have a turret full of darts ready to dry, drying takes 2-3 days so account for that if your making these 10 minutes before you leave for a war. After about a day I go in with my clippers and clip off any excess, I then pat down the domes into a less harmful looking shape.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? I'm open to all!

Edited by Mr cleaver, 04 November 2013 - 07:55 PM.

[LinkMT]

Uhh... excuse me sir, but I find these pointless. You're using a more expensive material for the dome than hot glue, and putting a weight under it. I understand it may be less painful, though there still seems to be no point because you have a weight under the latex dome. Am I missing something here?

[Draconis]

This is pretty much the procedure for silicone domes. Except that latex is harder, these "domes" are not uniform, and you are using BBs. If you insist on using the BBs, I would suggest filling the hole in the foam with caulking, then inserting the BB, then molding the domes.

[Mr cleaver]

I understand it may be less painful, though there still seems to be no point because you have a weight under the latex dome. Am I missing something here?

Although I did put a weight under the latex dome, the latex is much more "squishy" and forgiving when it hits you. I've done tests where I shot my leg with both darts and not only did the latex hurt less but while the glue domes left large welts when I was hit with them, the latex domes absorbed the impact more and only left small red circles on my legs. I just make these darts because my neighborhood is full of children that moan and complain when I use glue domes, so I created and alternative that did not have a rigid plastic dome.

I have also listened to Draconis' advice and in my most recent batch filled the hole with caulk. I didn't expect such a minute difference in range, I only lost about 2-5 but my blasters are firing with considerably faster initial velocity.

[quertyman]

I have also listened to Draconis' advice and in my most recent batch filled the hole with caulk. I didn't expect such a minute difference in range, I only lost about 2-5 but my blasters are firing with considerably faster initial velocity.

He was saying that you just put a tiny amount of caulk under the bb for a more secure bond.