12 replies to this topic

[murakumo32]

So I picked up a new hobby, Electronics. I'm reading through 5 different books and looking up projects to build, but none of them seem appealling to me (except a homemade laser).

I now seek inspiration to apply what I have learned.

-Project 1-
Magstrike Interface
The idea here is to attach a digital pressure gauge to the MS bladder and a LED display so I can see how much PSI the bladder is holding. The second part of this is that another LED display will show the approximate number of shots I have left.

That's what I'm working on right now, but if anybody has any ideas, I'd like to know what they are.

[davidbowie]

The magstrike thing sounds interesting, but I think it would be much cooler if you could also do a little work with the innards. My idea is to disconnect the trigger from the valve it operates, and connect it to a microswitch. Then use a solenoid to operate the valve. You could have a mini keypad or a toggle switch that would change between semi and full auto. With the keypad, you could also select a certain burst length. You could even include a potentiometer to adjust the rate of fire (the valve wouldn't be held open, but opened and closed for each shot). This would be a whole lot easier if you used a microprocessor. The parallax BS1 is very cheap and would probably be all you would need.

[badger]

Here's another idea for you. The Longshot has no way for you to know how many shots are in a clip. They put that simple indicator to tell you when the gun is primed, but nothing to show you the clip count. That wold be very useful to me. I've seen plenty of people at the last war I attended dry-firing, not knowing they weren't shooting anything in the heat of the moment. Even if it was a simple tone that went off or a light to say that the clip was empty. That would be extremely beneficial.

Edited by badger, 15 August 2006 - 10:04 AM.

[z80]

Make a robot! Get some old motors and wheels and such, make a frame. Put a receiver hooked up to some speed controls to power the motors. Then make a homemade using a sprinkler valve, and attach it to the receiver (through the solenoid) make it a shotgun barrel for a tactical advantage, and BOOM you're ready.

[elf avec gun]

badger, on Aug 15 2006, 05:29 AM, said:

The Longshot has no way for you to know how many shots are in a clip. They put that simple indicator to tell you when the gun is primed, but nothing to show you the clip count. That wold be very useful to me. Even if it was a simple tome that went off or a light to say that the clip was empty. That would be extremely beneficial.

I second that!

[acumen101]

badger, on Aug 15 2006, 02:29 AM, said:

Here's another idea for you. The Longshot has no way for you to know how many shots are in a clip. They put that simple indicator to tell you when the gun is primed, but nothing to show you the clip count. That wold be very useful to me. I've seen plenty of people at the last war I attended dry-firing, not knowing they weren't shooting anything in the heat of the moment. Even if it was a simple tone that went off or a light to say that the clip was empty. That would be extremely beneficial.

A way you could set up a full/empty clip indicator would be to have a set of green and red LEDs to indicate full/empty clip. In the clip, you attach some sort of contact that attaches to the bottom of the clip and would make contact with the main assembly to indicate an empty clip. To summarize, when the bottom of the inside of the clip does not make contact with the main assembly, then green LED is on (full clip). When the bottom of the inside of the clip DOES make contact with the main assembly, then the red LED is on (empty clip).

[munson20]

You can easily make a nerf gun using the same idea as a AEG airsoft gun or Tokyo Marui airsoft gun. If you got a strong enough motor, you could hook it up to a piston and make a great electric nerf gun. This is what nerf should try some day.

[murakumo32]

acumen101, on Aug 15 2006, 11:33 AM, said:

badger, on Aug 15 2006, 02:29 AM, said:

Here's another idea for you. The Longshot has no way for you to know how many shots are in a clip. They put that simple indicator to tell you when the gun is primed, but nothing to show you the clip count. That wold be very useful to me. I've seen plenty of people at the last war I attended dry-firing, not knowing they weren't shooting anything in the heat of the moment. Even if it was a simple tone that went off or a light to say that the clip was empty. That would be extremely beneficial.

A way you could set up a full/empty clip indicator would be to have a set of green and red LEDs to indicate full/empty clip. In the clip, you attach some sort of contact that attaches to the bottom of the clip and would make contact with the main assembly to indicate an empty clip. To summarize, when the bottom of the inside of the clip does not make contact with the main assembly, then green LED is on (full clip). When the bottom of the inside of the clip DOES make contact with the main assembly, then the red LED is on (empty clip).

Or...

I can attach one of these babys (not babies) to the clip and mount is on the caryying handle:


or maybe one of these



extreme

How would I get an ammo count though? I don't want to mount things in the actual clip though, since disassembling the clip seems to be difficult.

I was thinking of 2 switches, one on the plunger, and one near the LED display. The switch near the display will reset the display to 6. The switch on the plunger will be triggered every time the plunger returns to its normal state and will deduct one digit from the display until it reaches zero. Another variation is to mount to reset switch in the magwell. Every time a clip it insert, the contacts on the switch will touch, and the diplay will reset to six. The only problem with this simply setup it that if the clip isn't fully loaded, there will be false data displayed. Ideas?

Edited by murakumo32, 15 August 2006 - 03:55 PM.

[badger]

Quote

I was thinking of 2 switches, one on the plunger, and one near the LED display. The switch near the display will reset the display to 6. The switch on the plunger will be triggered every time the plunger returns to its normal state and will deduct one digit from the display until it reaches zero. Another variation is to mount to reset switch in the magwell. Every time a clip it insert, the contacts on the switch will touch, and the diplay will reset to six. The only problem with this simply setup it that if the clip isn't fully loaded, there will be false data displayed. Ideas?

How about this for an option. Mind you, I have some electronics background, but it is more geared towards repair than manufacturing. Place one switch on the plunger like in your first idea, but instead of simply a switch to reset the display to zero, here's another possibility. I'm sure there could come a time when you would be loading a clip that isn't full, so hook up the display (I like the second one better, by the way. it's simpler) to a simple knob to set the correct amount of rounds on the LED display. It is easy to figure out how many shots a clip has by looking through the view window on the clip before you load it into the LS. Then all you would need to do is set the display to the correct number, then with every pull of the handle, the counter will reduce by one. How does that sound to you?

[Walter]

Perhaps set up a series of contacts inside the clip at intervals that can tell how many darts are loaded based on how far the clip is pressed?

[murakumo32]

The idea sounds good, but I want to avoid adding an extra step to the reloading process. Keeping the interface from interfering with the gun performance while still being helpful is my main goal here.
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I was thinking of combining the two ideas, with one switch in the magwell and the knob in the most egornomical place on the gun. When a clip is inserted, the switch will reset the diplay to 6, then if you don't have a full clip, use the knob to set the correct amount of darts in the clip. The best thing is, if you load a full clip, you don't have to use the knob to set the diplay to 6 (or 7).

Now then...

What kind of switch is on the Nite Finder & the Firefly? I was thinking of using these in the magwell and the plunger, since they are fairly small. A push button switch might work in the plunger, but with the force of the LS plunger, the button would be destroyed is a couple of shots at best.

(Dammit, I wish I could get started instead of tallking about it, time to see if TRU has the LS in stock!)

EDIT:

Quote

Perhaps set up a series of contacts inside the clip at intervals that can tell how many darts are loaded based on how far the clip is pressed?

Quote

I don't want to mount things in the actual clip though, since disassembling the clip seems to be difficult.

I too thought of this as a possible setup, but Carrtoon (I think) said that the LS clip was hard to disassemble because it was welded shut or something. Also, i'd have to mod both clips instead of one gun, and if extra clip get onto store shelves, we can safely assume that it would be really long nights...

Edited by murakumo32, 15 August 2006 - 05:18 PM.

[flashflint]

I think that Acumen101 had the best idea in just having something to tell you if there are darts.
Something that tells you the number of darts is a bit excesive on a gun that only has 6 shots.

[davidbowie]

I think the best solution for the number of darts problem is to count the shots fired, rather than the shots remaining. You can have warning lights or something for the 5th, 6th, and 7th shots, because that will always be the max, but if you have a partially loaded clip, you can still keep track of how many shots are left, without having to do any on-the-run subtraction.

Instead of a mechanical switch to indicate a shot being fired, you might want to try mounting a photogate in part of the loose cosmetic barrel. It would be less prone to false alarms than some of the other setups proposed, and it wouldn't be in direct contact with any moving part of the gun, which seems a bit more reliable.

While I don't know the LS in and out, I'm pretty sure a lever microswitch could be easily mounted in the mag well to operate a reset function.