9 replies to this topic

[KaneTheMediocre]

So this is another ball-valve alternative that allows the user to push darts into their magazine without removing it. This differs from most "dart door" designs in that it doesn't behave like a check valve, and the rubber flaps do not form a seal. Instead, the most recently inserted dart seals in the body of the dart door, and the flaps merely allow darts to be pushed in by fingers but not out by air pressure. Assembly is fairly self explanatory, and the files to print are on thingiverse at http://www.thingiver...om/thing:431138

You'll need a 3d printer to pull this off, as well as some rubber sheet cut approximately into this shape (2x)


The screws holding it together are 6-32 x 1", although I'm pretty sure 3/4" would be fine.

The fit of the part where the darts are pushed through is a bit finicky, not in the sealing well sense, but in the tight-enough-to-stay-and-not-too-tight-to-push-through sense. So you may need to tweak the design if your foam is substantially fatter or thinner than nerf foam / MHA foam. Sometimes after having fired, the seal dart will get pushed up a little bit, and the flaps will be pushed up a bit as well. This hasn't ever been a problem for the seal or for blasting darts out of the magazine, but you may need to press the dart and flaps back down before inserting more darts.

Also, this is not going to work with the gray Ace foam, mcmaster gray foam, or any similar and not-very-rigid foams. MHA pink foam has been war-tested with these, but I expect the beige stuff and the white loghouse foam would also be sufficiently rigid.

Edited by Aeromech, 23 November 2015 - 02:47 AM.

[Langley]

Thingiverse? Really? Ugh.
Granted, you provide more useful information and files than 90% of the users on Thingiverse, but still.

[KaneTheMediocre]

Thingiverse? Really? Ugh.
Granted, you provide more useful information and files than 90% of the users on Thingiverse, but still.

It's a shitshow, I know, but I don't know of a comparable repository for this sort of thing.

Also, I resent your implication that 10% of users on thingiverse provide more useful information and files.

[Draconis]

Langley, weren't we discussing the creation of a Nerf-related repository for design files?

Or was that suppository? I don't remember for sure.

[Ryan201821]

It's a shitshow, I know, but I don't know of a comparable repository for this sort of thing.

Also, I resent your implication that 10% of users on thingiverse provide more useful information and files.

Yeah, I think you misplaced the decimal point. It's like .001% things are useful. And if it is useful, its probably a dude who uploaded just the stl in an orientation thats impossible to print.

Anyway, these things are pretty awesome. The only drawback is the diameter of the foam has to be in a sweet spot. Too loose and darts will fall through and not seal, too large and it'll be difficult to push through. However, I would still use this over a ball valve/endcap/anything else. It's scary awesome when you have a pump action diddle blaster with one of these attached.

[Langley]

Yeah, I think you misplaced the decimal point. It's like .001% things are useful. And if it is useful, its probably a dude who uploaded just the stl in an orientation thats impossible to print.

Anyway, these things are pretty awesome. The only drawback is the diameter of the foam has to be in a sweet spot. Too loose and darts will fall through and not seal, too large and it'll be difficult to push through. However, I would still use this over a ball valve/endcap/anything else. It's scary awesome when you have a pump action rape blaster with one of these attached.

Yeah, that's a fair assessment. I just hate doing anything that might accidentally give Makerbot an even imperceptible boost. It takes all of my willpower not to pancake my Cupcake 5.0 every time I visit my old hackerspace.

On the up side, you have a mechanism to filter out darts with bad barrel fit, assuming this piece is matched to your barrels. Do the darts that are too small or squishy eject from the dart door cleanly or do they get jammed up?

[AMATHE821]

Yeah, that's a fair assessment. I just hate doing anything that might accidentally give Makerbot an even imperceptible boost. It takes all of my willpower not to pancake my Cupcake 5.0 every time I visit my old hackerspace.

On the up side, you have a mechanism to filter out darts with bad barrel fit, assuming this piece is matched to your barrels. Do the darts that are too small or squishy eject from the dart door cleanly or do they get jammed up?

I don't know about other darts, but at a war yesterday I was using orangeparkour's silicone domes with that dart door, and the ones that were too squishy were just a hassle to get in, so most of the time I just threw them on the ground and grabbed a new dart. I don't have boatloads of experience with the dart doors on a variety of different blasters, but they worked good with the ESLT's that Ryan and Kane brought.

Edited by AMATHE821, 22 August 2014 - 09:24 PM.

[KaneTheMediocre]

I just hate doing anything that might accidentally give Makerbot an even imperceptible boost. It takes all of my willpower not to pancake my Cupcake 5.0 every time I visit my old hackerspace.

Me too. My hackerspace also has a plywood and acrylic shitstorm cupcake, and I just want to light it on fire every time I see it. Sure, it's old tech, but theres just so much profoundly stupid shit on that machine that's impossible to upgrade around and was well known to be terrible at the time.

Theoretically the space has a kossel kit on the way, thank god. Maybe they'll at least hide that POS so I don't have to look at it whenever I walk through the space.

On the up side, you have a mechanism to filter out darts with bad barrel fit, assuming this piece is matched to your barrels. Do the darts that are too small or squishy eject from the dart door cleanly or do they get jammed up?

Like AMATHE821 said, if the dart is too fat or squishy they're just a pain to get in. Basically, if the force of resistance to entry is large enough the dart will buckle and bend when pushed rather than slide into the sealing tube part of the dart door body. Darts that are too thin will go in no problem, but they will fall through into the magazine rather than stay in the dart door where they are needed to seal. Darts will never eject from the magazine. If you loaded thin darts through, then loaded an appropriately sized dart last, the last dart would make the seal and the blaster would operate fine, but if the last dart that you load is too thin and falls through then the dart door will not seal.

Edited by KaneTheMediocre, 17 August 2014 - 08:26 PM.

[shmmee]

It's a heck of a necro but with a semi relevant update and request for advice...

 

Intro: this dart door seals by trapping a dart in the entry way - sacrificing your very last dart as a plug. The dart trap is formed by two flaps placed over the passage darts are loaded into - kind of like a heart valve.

 

I printed one last night as part of a panicked last minute preparation for 'geddon. The instructions called for a .03" rubber sheet but I could only find .06" sheets locally. With that predicament in mind I tried a few alternatives on my RSCB'd panther...

 

.06 thick rubber - Could only get a dart through if only one flap was installed, but it was a tough dart crushing maneuver.

Craft foam - dart flew out the back and shot myself in the face.

Craft foam with packing tape to stiffen and reduce loading friction - same result.

.06 split leather (very supple) - couldn't load dart

single layer of latex glove (the thicker dish washing glove - not the thinner blue disposable ones) - dart ejected out the back again.

Folded layer of latex glove (Folds meeting in middle) Darts were loadable and stayed put when fired. I haven't war tested it but that might be a viable option if you're having trouble sourcing the .03" thick sheet. 

 

 

Does anyone else have any ideas where .03" ish might be locally sourced or harvested from?  or have any thoughts for other dart flap materials that might be worth testing? If carefully crafted the .06" rubber flaps actually formed an air tight seal when the dart was pushed through. The folded latex glove flaps are still a little sketchy. I've got some licorice sitting on my desk. It's packaged in some very thick Mylar. I think I'll try that tonight.

 

Also, is anyone aware of any other dart door-ish options? I've got the traditional flapper dart door but again with .06 rubber its hard to load.

 

 

So, theoretical question... if a nerfers RSCB ejects a dart out the back and he shoots himself... is he out?

Edited by shmmee, 22 June 2017 - 10:42 AM.

[CaptainSlug]

Does anyone else have any ideas where .03" ish might be locally sourced or harvested from?

Thinner fender washers or the roll-up style of cutting boards from a home goods store like Target.