19 replies to this topic

[Grinch]

Excuse my horrible pun. I originally posted this in April of 2004 right here on NerfHaven...and I've yet to find a way to fix it. Epoxy, hot glue, Plumber's Goop...they are all not strong enough. I can't figure a way to get this baby together again.

Does anybody know something that can really hold to pieces of plastic together? Would a metal brace work?

Here's the pics:

[J cobbers]

Veggie over at NHQ fixed one for his little brother, I'd ask him... I know that what ever kind of glue he used it was wrapped in layers of electrical tape to boot.

[leftnut]

Ask Wangley, he fixed mine but then it got destroyed. He used a bunch of metal braces and things, it was called the Frankenshot until something went terribly wrong.

[WEASEL]

Maybe you could put some metal straps from the front above and below the barrel and strapping them around the back. Or you could use some huge ass zip ties.

[xedice]

any kind of glue to hold a stress point is the shittiest thing you could do.
Thats next to taping it with electrical tape.
If you absolutely are determined to glue a stress point, use plumbers goop. Why? Because plumbers goop is flexible and will not crack like epoxy/elmers/plastic cement/ect. No garuantee how long that will hold, maybe a few shots.

If you want a permanent fix, go to homedepot/lowes/ace whatever, and buy strips of metal. Flat rectangular pieces or anything of the like. Using screws attach the two plastic casings together. This way, the max shot can still be opened like normally unlike a glue connection.

[stevo123]

I believe most people fixed it by buying a ton of max shots when they came out to avoid any problems. If not, they should have.

[okto]

*giggle*
How the hell did you do that, Grinch?
I would bolt strips of aluminum on the sides to give the shell some tensile strength, and epoxy it together as well to keep it from moving around laterally.

[Pineapple]

No worries, Grinch. That very break last year prompted me to write an article that got published on Nerf Haven. I kept talking about reinforcing my son's Max Shot so it'll last at least a year or two. Now here's what it looks like.


This is the shot of the brace. I peeled away some of the Reflexite tape I covered it with, so you can see what I did. It's a piece you can get from Home Depot, in the electrical section...simply a sheet metal bracket that had a convenient "H" shape with a tail section, that allowed me to wrap the front area , bridge the thin, breakage prone zone, and again wrap the back of the "H" around the mid body of the blaster. The tail section is there to give extra support at the rear. A good two part epoxy holds it to the plastic, and of course, it's reinforced with the usual tape job.



Here's another view that might make it easier to understand. Maybe not.
The area with the reflective tape, to the left of the foregrip, is the rear "collar". The black tape covers the front "collar".

So, in essence, you have two separate halves, reinforced in this fashion. Once the epoxy has set, you can re-assemble the blaster, and tape the two "H" areas that meet at top and bottom, creating a collar of sorts. That, combined with the lateral strength of the metal-braced plastic, should be good for many more wars, provided you don't dry-snap the thing into pieces.



Here's the blaster all wrapped up with reflexite tape to make it look spiffy. I also made and epoxied on a double trigger so his 8 year old fingers can snap it like a pro.

He's shot too many rounds to count, and it hasn't even sneezed...yet. I know that the shell is good to go, I'm just praying about the plunger, spring, and the plunger head...I've seen some damage to other's Max Shots already. But no matter, he's getting a modified AT2k soon...

Hope that helps, at least a bit. It worked for me.

EDIT; Oh, wow. Looking at the picture of your break again, it looks like it's in the vicinity of the rear collar on mine. You may have to epoxy your brace a bit behind the break area, so it would be bonded to "good" plastic and not the actual break itself. Good luck on that one, buddy.


-Piney-

Edited by Pineapple, 24 March 2005 - 12:14 AM.

[Tinkerer]

I'd suggest, two relatively light, steel, chains, then epoxy after epoxy.

I say, when a gun breaks, repair it with something stronger than what it was origionally made of. (steel)

You could also try solvent welding, but I'm not sure there's enough surface area on the break.

[xedice]

I say, when a gun breaks, repair it with something stronger than what it was origionally made of. (steel)

Cool, nerf guns are made of steel now! Awesome. Thats so fascinating!



Why are you fools suggesting epoxy. Have you ever used epoxy? heres a hint, its brittle dumbasses.

Edited by xedice, 24 March 2005 - 11:26 PM.

[Pineapple]

Why are you fools suggesting epoxy. Have you ever used epoxy? heres a hint, its brittle dumbasses.

Huh?

Tell that to my son's MaxShot.

And my Sawtooth/SM1500/SS2 hybrid (it's all stuck with epoxy).

And my homemades. And most of my modified blasters, which are still working.

And my irrigation system, which is a 3" PVC main, over 3/4 mile long, running constant 130 psi water pressure (your city pressure is average 40 - 60 psi).

And my '99 Dodge van, which needed to have it's dashboard knobs re-attached after I took them apart the wrong way. (Oops.)

And my weed wacker, which cracked it's threaded casing, and needed to be bonded back and threads re-tapped to function.

And a whole lot more pieces of equipment here. My life depends on this stuff.


Brittle? Maybe you're using the wrong epoxy (Hobby Poxy is brittle but that's because it's light in weight and designed for planes, etc.) Is that what you're using? Or maybe that stuff you get from the department store. No-no.

Try PC-7 epoxy. This stuff kicks butt (if epoxy did have a butt to kick). I really like this stuff.

Mixing is critical too. I made a teflon topped mixing board just for mixing epoxy. When the job is done, the set epoxy can be knocked off with hand tools. It still sticks somewhat, though.

I dunno. I'm puzzled why you'd think epoxy is brittle.


Bonded by epoxy,

-Piney-

[Grinch]

I've told you guys, epoxy just isn't strong enough. I think I need plastic cement.

[xedice]

Pineapple im not going to try to argue againts your epoxy's strength, you will mosdef win. What I am saying is there is no way in hell epoxy could save grinch's gun. It is just not possible. There is a spring that is constantly forcing his gun in two parts at every fire, epoxy is not made to hold up to that abuse.

I have used epoxy many times, for nerf and non nerf applications. Fixing a knob is fine, there isn't that much stress. Fixing a nerf gun's case with epoxy is fine, as long as the case is not being forced apart at each shot.

Plumbers goop would hold better in this situation because it is more elastic and can absorb the shock of the fire better. Brittle is relative, and in this situation, yes, epoxy is brittle.

What he needs is a mechanical connection.

[Avatar of WoeBrian]

Excuse my horrible pun. I originally posted this in April of 2004 right here on NerfHaven...and I've yet to find a way to fix it. Epoxy, hot glue, Plumber's Goop...they are all not strong enough. I can't figure a way to get this baby together again.

Does anybody know something that can really hold to pieces of plastic together? Would a metal brace work?

Here's the pics:

Hey that looks my gun haha except I think mine's damage is beyond that of yours so it's in my, "Can't Fix" pile or whatever.

[Tinkerer]

I say, when a gun breaks, repair it with something stronger than what it was origionally made of. (steel)

Cool, nerf guns are made of steel now! Awesome. Thats so fascinating!

okey, that didn't quite come out the right way, I'm, saying always repair it with something (like metal), that's stronger than the origional materials.

Solvent welding, heat welding, metal bracing, and top-of-the-line epoxy. That'll fix it.

[cxwq]

Why are you fools suggesting epoxy. Have you ever used epoxy? heres a hint, its brittle dumbasses.

1. Buy the correct kind of epoxy for your application.

2. You don't butt-glue the pieces, you epoxy a brace across the break like Piney did.

3. Follow the directions on the epoxy.

4. Avoid making idiotic blanket statements about the applicability of well-tested methods.

If you do the above correctly, it will be stronger than the gun was out of the box.


Dumbass.

[last man standin]

I would try a welding torch

[Grinch]

*snip*

Yeah, but what I should have done was strengthen it from the beginning. For those who haven't had it happen, make sure you reinforce it.

I'm going to try to use plastic cement to "weld" the breaks together. Then, I'm going to use K&S sheet aluminum to brace them with epoxy. Sound good?

[xedice]

4. Avoid making idiotic blanket statements about the applicability of well-tested methods.

I have a maxshot with the EXACT same problem as grinch has and I used epoxy the first time. It broke because the connection was brittle. Epoxy alone will not hold to the stress of firing. Don't give me shit about making idiotic statements of well tested methods, I already tested the method.

My mistake was, i didn't think about using epoxy with a brace at the time. I fixed my problem with a metal brace and screws, and it is still functional to this day, thats why I suggested it to you grinch.

I'm going to try to use plastic cement to "weld" the breaks together. Then, I'm going to use K&S sheet aluminum to brace them with epoxy. Sound good?

Sounds fine but make sure the sheet aluminum is thick enough so your max shot won't need another fixing in the future. I used sheet metal just thick enough so it didn't bend like paper when I held it at one end.

Edited by xedice, 25 March 2005 - 11:46 PM.

[cxwq]

My mistake was, i didn't think about using epoxy with a brace at the time.

Like I said, you're the dumbass, not the people you're trying so hard to belittle.