28 replies to this topic

[Nerferc]

I posted this on NHQ a little while ago and I did not find an answer. My dad doesn't want me shooting something with a peice of metal in it. So I was wondering if there was a way to make a stefan without putting metal in it? Hot glue alone doesn't get it heavy enough. Help?

[SirTofu]

Maybe this can be of assistance. If it isn't metal than it has to be just has heavy to perform, the only thing he could be concerned is the darts making welts. A weight thats as heavy as metal will still give the same effect. Meaning, that maybe you will just have to limit your range and make stefans without weights.

Edited by SirTofu, 02 October 2005 - 03:28 PM.

[Nerferc]

Not really, a peice of rubber going the same speed as a peice of metal wouldn't be as dangerous.

Edited by Nerferc, 02 October 2005 - 03:34 PM.

[murakumo32]

Take some duct tape, roll it around, and then hot glue it onside the dart. If that's not enough, then cut a small piece of fbr and glue it onto the tip.

[DTReaper]

What I do for less pain is make the stefan normal only instead of glue over the top put a small piece of FBR.

-DTR

[Nerferc]

It's not about pain, he's worried the metal with fly out and hurt somebody.

[Beaver Vortex]

A peice of metal thats incased in hot glue? I can understand the worry there, but I also can't really imagine that happening.

[NerfMonkey]

You're screwed. There's no way to make a Stefan without using metal as weight. It's not going to come out and I don't know why he would think that...

[Nerferc]

He's just trying to be cautious, if I screw up making the stefan and it comes out and hits somebody in the eye or something. well, that wouldn't be good.

Is there any rubber weights I could use?

[Langley]

Not really, a peice of rubber going the same speed as a peice of metal wouldn't be as dangerous.

But a dart with a rubber weight in the tip wouldn't be going as fast.
Theres really no realistic way to make darts without metal.

If it helps, the trick to making sure your weights don't fly out is to make sure the tip of the dart is covered or nearly covered in glue, and to make the glue relatively flat. This makes the darts the least painfull and the least likely to have the weight come out.

Just for the record, even on the rare occasion that the weight does come out of the dart, it usually comes out when it hits something like a cardboard target or ocassionally a tree. I've never seen a weight come out of a dart when the dart hit a person, nor have I ever seen a weight come out of a dart when the dart was fired (ie if the weight were loose in the dart) All that's nessisary to prevent the possibility of the weight leaving the dart is to make sure you don't pick up a dart where the glue has partially peeled away from the foam, and to make sure the entire end of the dart is a flat surface of hot glue.

Edited by Langley, 02 October 2005 - 06:41 PM.

[Nerferc]

It doesn't have to be as good, I'd just want them to be comparable to stock micros. It's more for the cash than the performance.

[Team Slaya]

If you first put a dab of hot glue into your weight hole, then drop the weight in, then dome it over, that weight isn't going anywhere. Your dad couldn't even say no to that. What a fucking tyrant, that sucks man.

TS

[AirApache]

Answer: Go buy...I believe they're called like sonic micros or something, and fill up the holes with hot glue. Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom.

AA

[Nerferc]

What are sonic micros, and where shall I obtain these jems?

[DTReaper]

The only time I ever had the weight come out was when I found an old dart I had lost and was kind of battered and shot it out of my most powerful gun. So as I see it the only chance of the weight coming out is if you use old darts so you should just have a dart rotation and throw out the old ones. I am tring to develope a dart saving technique.

-DTR

[SG Pilot]

Sonic Micros are darts that make whistling noises when you fire them. I believe you can by a pack of them wherever you can find stock micro refills.

[Nerferc]

I have some of those, but the point of me making stefans is to save mulah. Buying stock darts wouldn't help.

I was thinking the stock darts fly pretty well and they contain no metal, correct? So maybe what you have to do is try and replicate, or exceed, the amount of weight placed on the tip of the stock dart. You could do this using only hot glue. If you cut the FBR the same length as the dart then they should be essentially the same correct? Getting the same performance, no? I tried this, cutting FBR the length of a stock dart and making a hole with my glue gun and filling it in and making a dome of hot glue. They fired ok, getting half the distance of the stock darts, they would do a tail spin towards the end. Do I need to drill out the back? Do I need to cut straighter? Do I need to make my FBR straighter?

Edited by Nerferc, 02 October 2005 - 06:55 PM.

[Team Slaya]

It's the weight, man. If you shorten the stefans it will work better. Some of the nerfers I know use 1/2" long Mega stefans, with just a blob of glue on the end, and they use a shotgun type effect. It works really well, because they use H2H as well. Didn't stand a chance against my Maxshot. Heh heh heh.

TS

[Nerferc]

They aren't heavy enough when they are shorter.

[LordoftheRing434]

Theres really no realistic way to make darts without metal.

I've never seen a weight come out of a dart when the dart hit a person

True. The only accurate weight you're going to find would be comprised of metal. Whether it be copper (BBs for BB guns), lead shot (split-shots), or virtually anything of the right size, it's going to be metal. No use resisting it. I would take some safety precautions if your dad is that worried. My dad had the same complaint, so I started wearing sunglasses to my wars. I also let him war with me a few times, just to show him how safe it is.

As for weights breaking out: I've seen quite a few instances where I, or another, have been capped with lead shot. The foam fishtails about 5' and the next thing you feel is a sharp sting. It doesn't leave any big damage, just a welt that hurts more and is more concentrated than your average stefan welt. If there are concerns regarding that, just wear heavier clothing.

~Rings

[Forsaken angel24]

As for weights breaking out: I've seen quite a few instances where I, or another, have been capped with lead shot. The foam fishtails about 5' and the next thing you feel is a sharp sting. It doesn't leave any big damage, just a welt that hurts more

If you do a good job making stefans and have glue completely surrounding the dart. It will no longer just be a lead weight coming at you but rather a glue blob with a metal ball in its tummy.

Edited by Forsaken_angel24, 02 October 2005 - 11:11 PM.

[cxwq]

Weights eject from darts all the time. Hot glue will crack if it hits something hard enough and it definitely doesn't adhere to FBR all that well.

I'd use a method advocated by Zero for many years, though he used it with bbs. Simply hollow out as much of the tail of the dart as possible with a straw, then use plenty of hot glue for the tip. The problems caused by reducing the mass of the tip are offset by reducing the mass of the tail. Experiment with different dart lengths as well since common assumptions won't hold in this case.

For what it's worth, Zero got darts to fly properly out of pretty high-powered guns with only bbs in them using this method. He probably thinks I never noticed because I've always been in the "add more weight" camp, but that's just because I find it easier to add weight than hollow out FBR.

Let us know how it works for you!

[J cobbers]

Make you tips flat (I recommend drying the darts on a nonstick metal surface. Then buy some 3/8" diameter self adheasive vinyl bumpers. You can find them in store like meijers and walmart and probably Home depot. They are used on the bottoms of glass desk covers, and such. Vinal Bumpers and such

That should add some mass and make your darts more areodynamic.

[cxwq]

Then buy some 3/8" diameter self adheasive vinyl bumpers.

Nice idea!

[NinjZ]

Wow, that really is a good idea. They probably need to be trimed slightly so the body of the dart is bigger.

EDIT: I was refering to the 1/2" ones.

Edited by NinjZ, 03 October 2005 - 02:12 PM.