7 replies to this topic

[4xdblack]

Okay so this project is a little weird... A while back I was given a piece of wood that looked like a rifle, so I turned it into a rubberband gun. But that wasn't powerful enough for me... So I turned it into a friggin crossbow... or slingbow... since it's technically powered by rubber... And now I've decided I want to make it shoot nerf darts. I've never made a homemade blaster from scratch, so I've got a couple questions that are out of my area of expertise.

 

Here are some pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

My plan is to mount a plunger tube where the barrel currently is. I'm thinking I'll either salvage the plunger tube from an old longshot I have, an old ball pump I have... Or I'll make one myself. Which is why I'm here.

 

 

What would you, the community, suggest I use for my plunger tube, and what would be the best plunger head I could use? If any previous homemade build threads come to mind when reading this thread, please link them to me. I'll be looking through them myself as well. 

 

Personally I'm thinking using pvc/cpvc for the build, because in my head it seems like it would make things easier during assembly. But once again, I'm not experienced in this field so I wouldn't know. All I know is that I'm gonna try my best to overkill this build as much as physically possible.

 

And for a side note: If you guys have any tips for me for this build, I'd love to hear them.

 

 

Thanks!

4xdblack

[Morgiliath]

The most logical solution in my mind is to salvage parts from an old Xploderz Blaster. I've played around with one myself and know that they tend to have massive plunger tubes and fairly heavy spring loads as the don't use stored energy which seems to work just fine for your purposes. The main issues I potentially see are keeping the assembly aligned and also just finding one; they shouldn't be too difficult to thrift but, if you can't find one something like a faux bow or anything with a large plunger tube that doesn't use stored energy should work.

[4xdblack]

Do you know if there is a point where a PVC plunger tube gets so large that it risks being being too fragile to handle the stress?

[hoongfu]

Look up guides for the AA Bow, it has all the answers to your questions. 

Edit: Here you go http://nerfhaven.com...actually-a-bow/

Edited by hoongfu, 21 December 2016 - 10:37 AM.

[Aeromech]

 

 

This is how I did it a while back if you want some kind of springboard to leap from. Take Hoongfu's advice and look at the AAB, that's essentially what this is in a wooden receiver. String runs through a plunger rod which drives a piston into a plunger tube, so the force is still provided by the arms. This one fires arrows, not darts, but turning it into a dart firing device is as trivial as changing the barrel out.

Edited by Aeromech, 21 December 2016 - 04:23 PM.

[Langley]

In addition to the aabow links above, check out the Mark 8.  You may want to upgrade to latex tubing if the bow part can handle the stress.  Also, I appreciate the poetry of this thing being on a cinderblock like an old rusty car. 

[4xdblack]

In addition to the aabow links above, check out the Mark 8.  You may want to upgrade to latex tubing if the bow part can handle the stress.  Also, I appreciate the poetry of this thing being on a cinderblock like an old rusty car. 

 

I was actually looking at the mark 8 thinking the exact same thing. And that's also why I'm here, my bow can handle the stress but I need to know what type of material to use for the plunger tube and what plunger head I could use for it. If Latex Tubing is an upgrade, I'll definitely be looking into it.

 

On another note: what is the name of that spring that most nerfers use.. It's called something like a K28 or something, I can't remember.

[Langley]

9637K26 is the mcmaster part number, which is why the springs are called k26 springs.