5 replies to this topic

[CaptainSlug]

Preface: This thing isn't working perfectly. Darts feed through it too easily and I'm currently getting double and triple-feeding issues. This is however something I have wanted to try making for a long time and it really only involves a 45-degree conduit elbow.

 

Step1: What the fuck am I doing?

Step 2: No really, this looks retarded. But if I go slowly it seems to be working. 1/2" 4-flute end mill in a lathe drill chuck where it doesn't belong.

Step 3: Huh, it worked.

Step 4: Using Dykem Steel Red Markup Layout Fluid to see how much of the 1/2" OD aluminum tube I need to sand off.

Step 5: Sand sand sand, check fit.

Step 6: Use lathe and drill chuck on the 1/2" OD aluminum tube as well as some rubber bands to keep all the parts in alignment.

Step 7: Apply Super Super Glue for a temporary hold, then tip the part over so the excess glue doesn't work its way inside the elbow.

Step 8: Make a CPVC piece to slip over the aluminum. Had to drill out the CPVC and sand down the aluminum because we want a nice fit that won't require too much force or we risk braking the super glue joint. If it does break take everything back to the lathe and use it as a fixture again.

Step 9: PLEXUS OVER EVERYTHING

Step 10: Let it cure overnight. Also make sure to put it in a cabinet with someone else's cereal so that when they come in the next day they get a face full of glue fumes when they open it.

Step 10: Plug in the other parts and test it.

Step 11: Shoot more darts that you intended to every time.

Step 12: Get frustrated with Wye hoppers because they only work perfectly in certain very specific proportions.

Step 13: ????

[Snoop Doggy doge]

I think there's too much of an angle that darts are sitting, and lots of darts can get pushed into the barrel because of that. Or it may be because of the extra material sitting in the front of the wye. Maybe chop that off and you can feed one dart consistently, 
 

[The2ndBluesBro]

Cool idea but there's a reason people just use regular wyes. Just hammer a piece of cpvc into a stub of pvc and connect that "knifty" wye you just made. 

[CaptainSlug]

This was more of a boredom curing device than anything. I can't source the usual Wye fittings locally so this was an expedient alternative.

 

I'll lathe down a barrel and futz around with different insertion depths in the mean time.

[KaneTheMediocre]

So I've actually done this a few times before.  Getting everything in place to shoot 1 dart at a time extremely difficult, but if you succeed you will overcome the friction limit to hoppering darts.

Unfortunately, I've found that darts make with even semi-rigid foam (MHA foam, which is more rigid than mcmaster grey but more flexible than almost everything else) will get stuck in the bend.  This can be overcome with a pusher weight in the hopper, but said pusher weight is a huge pain in the ass to deal with every time you reload.  So really we need something that's basically the same shape, but either a slightly gentler bend or a slightly looser fit. 

Also a protip for hopper and dart experimentation:  Everything works for a while, until it suddenly doesn't for no apparent reason.  I've been through the cycle many times.  There are witnesses, this is a thing.

 

Edit:  Also, welcome back from the dead, and I admire your bravery with step 2.  Congratulations on not returning to the land of the dead during that step.

Edited by KaneTheMediocre, 17 July 2016 - 06:41 PM.

[Montymarks]

If you wan't an easy alternative you can just dremmel out the inside of a pvc trap. I think that they come in 3/4 at Lowes. I didn't think twice about it when I found them, but I guess that would work instead of that process.

Actually, I think (now that i'm doing it) that maybe its a bit less easy than I thought... Maybe its not an easy alternative. You have to saw down two ends of it, and glue/epoxy 1/2 of a coupler to the sawed down ends. So disregard my "easy alternative".

-Montymarks

Edited by CaptainSlug, 29 July 2016 - 10:57 AM.
Double_Posts merged