17 replies to this topic

[xXD3V1LXx]

Why isn't there homemade kits where you get the materials instructions for like a rainbow or eslt and a few resources to make darts and if there are please tell me the link I know of the crazy ghost but they are all sold out ;-;

Edited by xXD3V1LXx, 03 January 2016 - 05:22 PM.

[Meaker VI]

Why isn't there homemade kits where you get the materials instructions for like a rainbow or eslt and a few resources to make darts and if there are please tell me the link I know of the crazy ghost but they are all sold out ;-;

 

They aren't super profitable, and they basically largely exist. "Kits for a plusbow" are basically just McMaster orders, "kits for ESLT" a batch of 3d printed parts and McMaster order (though I'm not sure whether the 3d files are largely available). The problem is that If you're looking to save money by buying unassembled blasters the hardest part of the rainbow/ESLT/etc. blasters is not the assembly, it's the part fabrication. So to save money you basically need to be making the whole blaster from scratch.

 

The biggest cost-savings for a kit of parts is in the fact that you can't always buy the parts for just one blaster, but the problem there is that the minimum order for some of the parts is in the hundreds of blaster parts. So you might be buying just one screw instead of several hundred from a kit, but I don't think a single US seller has broken 100 blasters. And the markup they'd need to charge to kit out the set, cut the pieces to length, do QC, etc. would eat up the savings you'd get for not buying a box of screws.

 

The mad ghost is an air blaster and requires gluing, so the blaster is time-consuming (thus, expensive) to assemble than a spring blaster. So a kit makes more sense. Also, I think JSPB/3DBBQ's market for homemades is different and more accessible than what we have here in the states, so it makes sense for him to sell the kits. I'm not sure if NERF brand blasters are as widely available where he is, or if the materials to make homemade blasters are available to the layperson at all.

[xXD3V1LXx]

I don't care about the price I just want the experience and instructions on how to build the homemade without having to go everywhere looking for parts. In fact I might even pay more for a kit than the finished gun

Edited by xXD3V1LXx, 04 January 2016 - 01:41 PM.

[The2ndBluesBro]

I don't care about the price I just want the experience and instructions on how to build the homemade without having to go everywhere looking for parts. In fact I might even pay more for a kit than the finished gun

That is a terrible way of looking at it. This hobby is built on people learning how to do things like this on their own. A kit teaches you nothing, and since it's basically going to be a McMaster order anyway, there's no incentive on the part of the maker to do it, it isn't worth their time. It makes sense if there are many custom pieces in the blaster that can't be fabricated without exotic machinery unavailable to the average nerfer like a mill, lathe or 3D printer.

[xXD3V1LXx]

Yea but I don't have access to any 3D printers large enough for an eslt or pcsr and finding the right size is a pain maybe not instructions but still it would be nice to get new home made makers into the hobby. I personally have never made a working homemade and if there was a kit for like an eslt I would get it because I do not have access to a lot of stuff for a homemade because I am a child. Kits could get new makers into the hobby.

[The2ndBluesBro]

Yea but I don't have access to any 3D printers large enough for an eslt or pcsr and finding the right size is a pain maybe not instructions but still it would be nice to get new home made makers into the hobby. I personally have never made a working homemade and if there was a kit for like an eslt I would get it because I do not have access to a lot of stuff for a homemade because I am a child. Kits could get new makers into the hobby.

If you have never made a homemade before start with the snapbow and once you master the easier ones just buy one of the ones you can't make yourself. It'll cost about the same as a kit would, and the makers would actually sell them. There's no shame in buying a pre made homemade, I've done it before. I understand you want to learn how to do it, so learn on the ones you can make without exotic machinery. Using nerfomania's video tutorials in conjunction with the writeup on this site, a snapbow is easily built, even by a beginner. The ESLT is a terrible design anyway, and with the introduction of the PCSR, is now almost entirely obsolete. Plus, I'd take a pullback any day over a pump action anyway, but that's just my style.

[xXD3V1LXx]

I'm buying a pcsr when it comes out already and a pull back would never be used by me because none of my friends or me use pullbacks and I actually have been working on a design for a single hopper shotgun but still as a kid my father and mother are not willing to drive everywhere and order a hundred springs from a website or buy a 3D printer so if maybe I could just buy the stuff from someone to make a gun I would do that but it would be a good idea to maybe personally buy the parts just in a box maybe not like a kit but the materials not counting screws and epoxy and lubricant

Edited by xXD3V1LXx, 04 January 2016 - 02:55 PM.

[The2ndBluesBro]

You have a good point, but you don't need to order 100 of everything. You live in the states, McMaster ships right to your door. Just look at the materials list on the writeup and look them up on McMaster, there's your kit. 

[xXD3V1LXx]

Yea I guess hey maybe i could make kits and sell them on here for like snapbows but I am only a kid so that isn't really a thing but if someone does make a kit for pcsr I'll get it so I can make some for my friends for their bdays

[Langley]

I'm buying a pcsr when it comes out already and a pull back would never be used by me because none of my friends or me use pullbacks and I actually have been working on a design for a single hopper shotgun but still as a kid my father and mother are not willing to drive everywhere and order a hundred springs from a website or buy a 3D printer so if maybe I could just buy the stuff from someone to make a gun I would do that but it would be a good idea to maybe personally buy the parts just in a box maybe not like a kit but the materials not counting screws and epoxy and lubricant

 

 

Yea I guess hey maybe i could make kits and sell them on here for like snapbows but I am only a kid so that isn't really a thing but if someone does make a kit for pcsr I'll get it so I can make some for my friends for their bdays

 

Start using punctuation and stop thinking out loud.  This is not a chat room.  I moved this discussion to it's own thread because it was shitting up the 'ask a stupid question' thread.  Please don't take that as an invitation to keep talking.

[cheerios]

Here you go a couple pump action snaps where everything (except the spring) can be bought at a Menards or Ace and I'm sure if you tried just a teeny tiny bit you could find a spring at ACE or another hardware store that would work. http://nerfhaven.com...or-new-members/

http://nerfhaven.com.../21824-quixote/

Edited by cheerios, 04 January 2016 - 04:46 PM.

[Ice Nine]

Meaker encapsulated pretty much any substantial content I could add to this thread, so I'm going to take the opportunity to mock an opinion. Also, thanks for posting those links, Cheerios.

 

The ESLT is a terrible design anyway, and with the introduction of the PCSR, is now almost entirely obsolete.

 

This is wrong. There are two reasons that I will use an ESLT design over a PCSR and they trump the seal advantage Aeromech designed into his blaster (in my opinion).

1.) In warm weather, latex tubing provides all the benefits of a bow design (in particular, a smoother prime) with none of the size disadvantages. It's definitely more of a hassle to set up initially but it provides a significantly better warring experience. An extension spring is still superior in feel and use as it offers no chance of binding.

2.) Close-action triggers are always better than long-action triggers. I have Zorn's FAL-1 in my possession and have used it at wars. It's a great blaster except for a mediocre at best trigger that has to reach to the back of the blaster to activate the catch. The ESLT's trigger is light, snappy, and easy to use, and yes, this makes a difference if you're using the blaster all day.

 

I still think that power complaints are way overstated; the context on the forums is "all things being equal, I would like more power" but the fact of the matter is that if you give a dude at his first Nerf war a PCSR and Groove a breech-loaded Crossbow then Groove is probably going to be winning most of those engagements.

 

The consolation I give is that at a war where everyone uses a pump-action blaster, and all the same darts, a stock ESLT bought right from Ryan will probably have the least range. Anyone buying one can swap in a different tension spring, put in high tension elastics (see: the ESLT being sold by Hoongfu), and anyone making their own can do those things as well as increasing draw or whatever.

[The2ndBluesBro]

Meaker encapsulated pretty much any substantial content I could add to this thread, so I'm going to take the opportunity to mock an opinion.

Very good points I hadn't thought of. I mostly don't like the childish look of the blaster and the odd nature of the mechanism.

Edited by The2ndBluesBro, 04 January 2016 - 10:16 PM.

[Meaker VI]

I don't care about the price I just want the experience and instructions on how to build the homemade without having to go everywhere looking for parts. In fact I might even pay more for a kit than the finished gun

 

I seem to have neglected to mention the Mark 8. Designed to be your first blaster, everything should be available at a well-stocked hardware or home improvement store. If you don't have experience, you'll be frustrated by a kit-form of either of the blasters you're looking at unless they're basically just unassembled finished blasters, in which case you can buy a finished blaster and take it apart and put it back together. You would need to cut slots to build either of them, and slots are a bear to make without a specific machine setup for cutting slots.

 

I taught myself how to make homemades, don't really finish a ton of the ones I start (See: Mark 8, my first published blaster is my 8th attempted blaster; only one other - a boltsniper pistol modified to use a snap trigger - is worth mention), and continue to do it because I enjoy the process. If you enjoy the result, buying the blaster whole will be your best proposition.

 

Here's the Mark 8 shopping list:

[Drev]

I started making homemades back around when I was 13. I was able to make a pistol SNAP and an AAbow solely from parts that I found at Lowe's. Did they look a fancy ESLT or PCSR? They didn't, but I still successfully built a homemade. Since then, there have countless writeups made specifically for newcomers that instruct you how to build a homemade. Meaker's Mark-8 is the perfect blaster for a beginner, and it walks you through every step of the way. Yes, I know the new colorful 3D printed homemades are cool and all, but building a simple snap is sufficient. If you end up truly liking homemades, you'll find yourself being able to make one of those cool blasters you want a kit for. As for a homemades kit, it would be pointless. Either make a homemade yourself, or buy one. A kit will do absolutely nothing for you.

[Birch]

I started making homemades back around when I was 13. I was able to make a pistol SNAP and an AAbow solely from parts that I found at Lowe's. Did they look a fancy ESLT or PCSR? They didn't, but I still successfully built a homemade. Since then, there have countless writeups made specifically for newcomers that instruct you how to build a homemade. 

Exact same for me, except I built a SNAP carbine.

 

Trust me, to any noobs reading this, building a homemade is nowhere near as daunting as it may seen, as long as you follow a write-up.

[KevinLG]

In addition to all of the above, I honestly *wouldn't* be surprised if you asked any of the folks who normally make the homemades to cut all the parts, throw them into a box, and then send them to you without putting it together. While it's probably not something that'd be popular enough to list typically, I'm sure several people out there would be willing to do it for you. Just ask.

[KaneTheMediocre]

Personally I don't sell kits because I can't test them, customers will complain that their blaster doesn't work, and I won't know whether they fucked it up or I sold them a defective part.