12 replies to this topic

[Gengar003]

As I was browsing the internet for something to do to my Secret Shot, I ran across the 3-barrel mod. The SS is practically built for 3 barrels already; all that's missing is a hole in one of the internal pieces and a hole in the case to allow switching to a 3rd barrel.

Or so I thought.

I cut the required holes easy enough, hot-glued some crayola barrels on, and fired. The barrels flew out.
I epoxied the barrels to the orange piece where the air comes from, and fired. The barrels flew out.
I epoxied the barrels to the orange piece where the air comes from, covered the whole thing in hot glue, and fired. The barrels flew out.
I hot-glued the barrels to the orange piece where the air comes from, covered the whole thing in epoxy, and fired. The barrels flew out.
Finally, I epoxied stubs of tubing from the tube to the "secret" barrel to the orange piece, and hot-glued them to the barrels. Then I hot-glued the barrels to the orange piece and each other -- effectively constructing a makeshift shock absorber. Then I stuck some rubber bands on it to hold the barrel assembly in place. I fired. It worked! (pictured)



Then I shot it again. And the plunger knocked the barrels loose... but because the tubing was jammed inside the base of them, they couldn't fly out. Now it shot ~3 feet... worse than stock.

But the little pieces of plastic tubing didn't fall off, at least....

So I opened it back up, and epoxied long lengths of tubing onto the (stupid, $&*@#ing) orange piece, and attatched a CPVC coupler to the end of each of the 3 pieces of tubing. (I used straws  + hot glue to couple the tubing, where needed). I could now stick the (stuipd, $&*@#ing) barrels wherever the heck I wanted, and I'd have good, sealed airflow.

I opted for one on each side, and one on the top.







And so, the TST - Tubular Secret Trident.

Every barrel averages 35 feet, usually off by no more than 3 feet in either direction. It shoots very straight, with less than 2 degrees divergence from straight ahead.

I put a speedloader of 2 barrels taped together (same kind I use for my NF, incidentally...) on the main, top barrel. It sags downward a little bit, but as the Secret Shot stock had an incredible kickback that would send darts feet above where you aimed, it now shoots more or less straight vertically, as well as horizontally.

I like to fill one of the side barrels with 1/2" gimpy shotgun stefans.

The only downside is that the tubing makes it kind of hard to store anywhere other than in your hand...

Click for Video

[PREDATOR]

Very creative. I like it.

[Retiate]

Yeah, I like it too. 35 ft. isn't bad for 4 shots. Especially if you play indoors. Are you planning on integrating it into something or integrating something into it? It would make a decent primary, then you wouldn't need to put it anywhere other than in your hands. Maybe a 2k sticking out the main barrel? Then you'd have to drill holes for the tubes to come out of though.
I wonder if it would be possible to create some sort of gear like mechanism that would rotate the barrel switch after you cocked it...

[sam]

Making the tubing shorter should give you even more range.
Sweet Mod.

[Gengar003]

The pictures don't show this very well, but there is almost no room inside the shell where the tubing comes out -- so I can't really integrate anything inside it. The tubing and the barrel selector leave little room on the outside for attaching things or attaching it *to* something. It's already very front-heavy, so I wouldn't want to stick more stuff off the front.

I could maybe stick an air tank in the grip (it would require cutting away parts of the shell, though), run more tubing from that into a longer barrel coming out the front (1.5" of 1/2" CPVC might be able to fit [with the rest extending beyond the shell], but nothing else, so trigger mechanisms+air supply would have to be elsewhere in the shell), but it would be awkward... the SS1 shell is really skinny and small. It doesn't really lend itself to having anything integrated.

If I ever get another Secret Shot, I might go for it, but I think this one will remain a sidearm/indoor primary. I'm currently storing it upside-down, which stresses the tubing and glue the least of any position, so if I could fashion a holster that would hold it in that position...

Glad you like it

EDIT:

Making the tubing shorter should give you even more range.
Sweet Mod.

I hadn't wanted funky tubing, but once it turned out to be the only way, I went with it...

I wanted large-OD tubing that would restrict airflow as little as possible (I guessed that one reason the "secret" barrel was weaker than the main was that the air couldn't all flow through the tubing connecting it at once) so I opted for thicker, wider tubing than what was originally used. To bend this tubing at the angles required to greatly shorten the length used would have placed a large amount of stress on the relatively small surface area between the tubes/orange piece that was epoxied, leading to it possibly popping off and requiring a re-gluing. I opted to minimize the stress on the bonds by leaving the tubing's natural shape (I bought it in a coil) more or less intact. Thinner ID tubing would have been less tubular, but I wanted all 3 barrels to perform like the original primary barrel, not the secret one. Maybe I would have been fine with smaller tubing, but I didn't feel like carrying out that experiment. And hey -- "Tubular" is fun to say.

Edited by Gengar003, 16 January 2007 - 01:26 PM.

[Retiate]

Would it be possible to move the whole plunger assembly back? Then you could have much shorter tubing because it wouldn't have to circle around to the back of the barrel.

That could be pretty difficult though, and might need a new homemade case, which then it probably wouldn't really be worth all the trouble.
I've never seen the internals of a SS1, so I don't know how mush room you would have to move everything back.

[nerfer34]

Cool mod.

But as Sam said if you cut down the tubing you would gain atleast 15'.

Does that tubing ever catch onto anything? It looks kind of bulky.

But still nice mod.

Also what is a Gengar? I know I heard of it before but can't remeber where....

[Gengar003]

I've never seen the internals of a SS1, so I don't know how mush room you would have to move everything back.

I'm thinking none...


The orange selector and the orange piece in front of the barrel tube have specific spots in the shell they fit into.

But as Sam said if you cut down the tubing you would gain atleast 15'.

Why is that? I don't understand -- if my tubing is airtight, shouldn't it not matter (within reason) how long the tubing is?

[Falcon]

The excess tubing gives the air that the plunger compresses room to expand before it acts on the dart. If the plunger is literally right behind the dart, the dart can benefit the most from the compression. In your case, the compressed air coming out of the plunger has a bit of space to expand in before the dart is affected. Still, if it works, more power to you!

[nerfer34]

But as Sam said if you cut down the tubing you would gain atleast 15'.

Why is that? I don't understand -- if my tubing is airtight, shouldn't it not matter (within reason) how long the tubing is?

Think about it, for every millimeter of tubing you use, the airflow gets weaker because of distance. If you wanted to actually expirement on it. Distance- Time- Rate would be a great formula.

Lets say I'd put a perfectly airtight brass barrel that is 12" on my Nf.
Then I took another NF and put a 4.5 " barrel on it, which would shoot further?

I'm impressed that your getting those ranges now, that thing can be a beast!

[Gengar003]

Think about it, for every millimeter of tubing you use, the airflow gets weaker because of distance.

That's what I was thinking about and not getting -- but I get it now.

I think it's a tradeoff between tubing that will stay attached and carry enough air, but be long, versus easily manipulated tubing that's too skinny. When it (inevitably....) comes un-glued, I may experiment with other tubing.

[Gengar003]

Well, it (inevitably) broke. The epoxy couldn't hold up to the SMASH of the plunger... so while fixing it I decided I might as well clean it up a bit. It's no longer tubular, I'm afraid, but it is still a trident.

I removed the tubing and used bendy drinking straws to channel air 90 degrees from the (stuipd @!#$%ing) orange piece out holes I drilled in the sides and top. The straws enter the couplers, and the back is sealed with hot glue. The straws have smaller inner diameters than the tubing I used, but are so much more maneuverable and easy to work with that it's not even funny. Currently all the connections are hot glue, but if the range is very close to or better than with the tubing, I'll strengthen it all.

Range: 50 feet on all three barrels.

Tubing's gone.


It's much more compact, and possibly holsterable now.


Here it is with three speedloaders on, instead of its three single barrels.


Intimidating, no?

[Retiate]

Wow. That's quite an improvement on ranges. I don't know how well straws will hold up against the pressure, but it seems like they should do fine. I think it looks really cool too, even if it isn't tubular.

How is the plunger smashing and breaking the Epoxy? Is it hitting the front of the plunger tube real hard? If that's the case, then I'd suggest using a sponge gasket to cushion the impact used here in Angels Pump Shotgun mod.