The Nerf season is closing in fast, and it's time to get some old blasters tuned up and some new blasters built. For the veterans, it's the same old routine. For the new guys, seeing some of the writeups around the site can be intimidating, and parts acquisition, labor, tools, and cost can all be prohibitive to the new guy without any build confidence yet. This contest is meant to be a fun little backyard engineering project, with blasters that can be completed in a few hours from locally available parts, and detailed writeups to go through the steps taken for these new blasters. Cost, machinery, time, and labor are all to be minimized to appeal to the new builder, or the seasoned vet that needs a quick and dirty backup blaster.
Design Goals
1) Minimize the use of specialty parts: Most parts should be able to be picked up locally.*
2) Minimize the use of special machinery: Assume your noob audience doesn't have bench tools like a scrollsaw or belt sander.
3) Minimize the overall build time: If it takes several days to complete, you're doing it wrong.
4) Eliminate the use of 3D Printed parts: Most people don't have one, and any print time IS considered part of build time.
5) Minimize Cost: Blasters should be less expensive to warrant easier entry into the NIC war community
6) Durability: Blaster should hold up to the abuses of an NIC war.
7) Efficacy: Blaster should be competitive compared to other NIC type primary arm, and safe to use.
All design goals are worth roughly the same value in terms of scoring. Additionally, it is a contest, so it will be competitive. If guy A's blaster costs $50 and guy B's costs $30, guess who's going to get placed higher up in that category.
This illustration give an EXAMPLE of how judging will be done, (yes there are more categories, but this is just an EXAMPLE). Blaster B got first in durability, but only second place in cost and build time. But it still had the best OVERALL composite score compared to the blasters it was competing with. The idea is to make an optimized design. If you need to go over a little on price or build time, you're OK so long as everything else is kept to a minimum. That being said if your design is UNSAFE (see rules) its an automatic DQ.
*Most springs will have to be ordered online. The Spring database is a good resource: http://nerfhaven.com...pring-database/
If you find a usable spring in a local store, please post it in your writeup for mucho brownie points.
Writeup Requirements
Address the design goals stated above. You will need to provide a simple list of the items bought to make the blaster, as well as where you got them and the cost of each item. Write the cost of the entire item, even if it's something that you only use a portion of (if you only need 1 square inch of plywood, which costs maybe 5 cents per square inch, you still had to buy the entire sheet of plywood for $8 to get that little piece). If the item is already cut up, estimate the price to the best of your ability. Google is a powerful tool. Include the estimated time it took to build the blaster; you can leave out adhesive drying times assuming it has 12 hours to cure if built the night before a war. Writeup should have detailed photos of each step taken to make the blaster.
The writeup itself should be written in a way that the layperson can understand. Your audience is the guy that is just dipping his toe into the homeamdes realm. Think of it as a Chapter 2 to the homemades contest we had last year.
Rules and Other Things
You are welcome to borrow from existing designs, tweak or update an old one, or make something new entirely. If you posted in the old homemades contest and found some flaws or made some improvements in your SNAP-class blaster, now would be the time to make a Rev 2 build. Just link to older designs and inspirations, and give credit where it is due.
Parts availability is different for everyone, so I'm going to leave it up in the air for this one. If you have access to thinwall or magic PVCs you can use it but be sure to have some kind of alternative material or build method in mind. Just be sure to clearly state where you got everything. Or if you are posting from outside the US, feel free to post components from your local stores. This would be a great opportunity for metric version writeups of popular US blasters.
This is designed primarily for spring type blasters solely because of the dangers associated with homemade high pressure air systems. Airguns are not explicitly banned, but they must be safe to use and build. A PVC pressure chamber blasting darts at 400+FPS would NOT be safe in use, in manufacturing, or even in holding in your hands in my opinion. I'm looking at you, Australia.
Submission Thread Coming Soon
Post writeups there : http://nerfhaven.com...mission-thread/
Judging
A panel of moderators, and various builders from across the country. Please note if you are a judge and submit an entry (as I probably will) you will be eliminated from judging. Posting critiques, constructive criticism on writeups is encouraged, and the author should defend or modify his design decisions based on these. Judging will be based on the design goals stated above, and all will be taken into consideration. All goals are important, we are going to look at every one and assign an overall score.
Prizes
Second Place
Package of five springs ([k25] or [k26], your choice) and a 12" x 12" plate of 1/4 polycarbonate. Go nuts.
Also, ten feet of PETG barrel material GRATIOUSLY DONATED BY DRACONIS.
First Place
All prizes from second place + A rainbow pistol built and signed by yours truly.
If there are sufficient entries, I will consider adding to the prize packages, or adding another. We'd need at least 7 or 8 for me to consider this.
Deadline is July 1st, 2016
Terms (lovingly ripped from the 2014 homemades contest)
By entering this contest you grant NerfHaven permission to reproduce your submission in other formats and/or on other sites for noncommercial purposes (you will be credited as the author). You grant NerfHaven permission to host images and other resources which are included in your submission. You grant NerfHaven permission to make (mostly minor) changes to your writeup after the contest has concluded and winners have been announced. All contest winners outside of the contiguous 48 states must pay the difference in shipping prizes to their location. All submissions must be written and created by you, the contestant and you must post your submission on this site. You must be an active member in good standing (not banned or suspended) during the contest submission period and judging period.
Edited by Aeromech, 15 March 2016 - 03:13 AM.
