66 replies to this topic

[CaptainSlug]

I bought my nephew one of these for his third birthday because I've gotten him addicted to Nerf already. This is the only gun short of the Mech Tommy 20 that he can operate himself, but I refuse to buy that gun.
After seeing NerfMonkey use one at DCNO, Dark Shrimp use one at LCM Tune Up, and then subsequently my nephews play with one this weekend I broke down and bought myself one at the K-mart near me for $9. It was also a plus that I already had all of the materials I needed.


Here's what I did to mine


And here's how I did it.

Supplies Needed
+ Hot Glue Gun
+ Screwdriver
+ Hacksaw, dremel, or drillpress
+ Wire cutters
+ PVC 1-1/4" to 1/2" socket weld reducing hex bushing
+ 1/2" SCH80 CPVC (or whatever 1/2" pipe barrel setup you want to use)
+ Hobby/X-acto knife

1. Pry the orange piece off of the front using a flathead screwdriver.
2. Dissect the gun. The screws are tiny, but thankfully the holes they're recessed in are huge so any size of screwdriver from #0 to #3 will work. Make sure to store the screws and trigger spring in a small cup because they're easy to lose.

3. Cut both body shell halves ahead of the bulkhead shown here.
4. Remove the bulkhead section as indicated in the image using wire cutters, a dremel, or a drillpress with a stone grinding bit.

5. Slide the 1-1/4 to 1/2" PVC adapter over the original barrel with it inserted into one or both body shell halves then use a hobby knife to scribe around it on the body shell so that you know what you need to sand/cut off.

6. Use your preferred tool to cut out the hole you scribed.

7. Cut off the stock barrel 1/2" ahead of the white plastic chamber so that when the 1-1/4 to 1/2" PVC adapter is seated over that the lip on the inside of the adapter is the same height as the stock barrel.

8. Clean off the molding seam from the inside edge of the adapter using a hobby knife.
9. Glue the adapter onto the white plastic chamber using hot glue, super glue, or whatever kind of glue you want. Make sure the stock barrel is centered in the middle of the adapter.

10. Drill a 3/16" hole 1/4" to 3/8" ahead of the glue seam so that you have access to the dead space inside the adapter.
11. While watching from the barrel end of the adapter, insert the tip of the hot glue gun into the hole and start pumping hot glue into it. Two or three pumps of the hot glue gun should fill it completely and stop immediately once you can see it reaching the height of the remainder of the stock barrel. You have now reinforced the adapter and filled in all of the dead space.
12. Hold the trigger valve open and continuously cycle the pump to get the hot air out of the inside of the gun to avoid cooking the o-ring. Do this for a minute or two until the output from the barrel is no longer really hot.

13. To keep the internals of the gun from sliding forward in the gun when you cycle the pump, hot glue a thick piece of plastic or a short section of 1-1/4" PVC pipe to the plunger tube just behind where the bulkhead holds it. Alternatively you could just glue the internals to one side of the gun body so that it stays as far back in the gun as it will fit.

14. Decide if you want to do anything else like plug the pump or reinforce the trigger.
15. Put the gun back together.
16. Decide on what kind of barrel you want. Either a single barrel, a flip-around clip, or a breech system. It's up to you.

Ranges: Crazy good

Edited by CaptainSlug, 24 May 2007 - 09:21 PM.

[Dayko]

Looks sweet.

[PointBlank]

Thats flippen sweet. Actual ranges would be nice two.

[CaptainSlug]

Actual ranges would be nice two.

The ranges are somewhere between 100 and 130 feet using a 9 inch 1/2" SCH80 CPVC barrel. I'm not going to bother measuring, I simply know that it's shooting consistently about 10 feet further than my Titan that has the same barrel length and barrel material. And I haven't bothered to plug the pumps on either so those ranges are at maximum pressure levels for both (around 35psi).

I avoid posting official ranges because where I live there is absolutely no level ground to be had. And add to that the fact that I don't give two craps about how far it shoots, I only care that it's accurate and reliable.

Edited by CaptainSlug, 22 May 2007 - 08:54 PM.

[Rambo]

Good to know you weren't just after the title

Great job, I hope I'm on your team at DCNO...every round.

[nerfboi]

Nice job as always CS. You always amaze me on how clean all your modds are. And nice Drill Press too . Also, whats the difference between regular 1/2 CPVC and 1/2 SHC80 CPVC?

[CaptainSlug]

Using the right tool for the job will always produce the cleanest possible result.

Nice job as always CS. You always amaze me on how clean all your modds are. And nice Drill Press too . Also, whats the difference between regular 1/2 CPVC and 1/2 SHC80 CPVC?

Well SCH80 itself is supposed to indicate that the walls are thicker but it can also simply mean that the pipe itself is rated for a higher pressure load than SCH40 pipe of the same material.
If you shop for pipe the terms can get dropped sometimes. I have all the nice tools that allow me to measure all of the pipe at the hardware store and know exactly which ones will work and which ones will. But nowadays I just order everything direct from mcmaster, and there they have the perfect barrel material listed as 1/2" SCH80 CPVC (has a .524" ID)

Edited by CaptainSlug, 22 May 2007 - 10:59 PM.

[Prometheus]

Very nice. I didn't see a lot of potential until now in this gun, with this ridiculously well-written and simple mod. A lot cheaper than a titan too.

Oh yeah, nice drill press. If Mastercraft is the tool of choice for CS, then it's good for any job.

[CaptainSlug]

The drillpress was on sale at Home Depot for $80 and includes a laser guide. When it comes to drillpresses all you really need is one that's NOT FROM HARBOR FREIGHT and includes a durable belt drive. It's one of the most heavily used tools in my collection.

Edited by CaptainSlug, 22 May 2007 - 11:23 PM.

[nerfer909]

Pretty neat mod.

[CaptainSlug]

Video is up:
Impossible to see in the video but the dart landed infront of the mailbox on the other side of the cul de sac.

Range using 2" length stefans and 14" aluminum barrel: 110-130 feet (might get better ranges with red FBR instead of gray FBR)
Range using 2" length stefans and 9-inch CPVC barrel: 100-120 feet

Edited by CaptainSlug, 28 May 2007 - 12:47 AM.

[nerfer909]

Thats pretty cool.

[Athune]

I love this mod, but I discovered that around ten pumps the barrel would sometimes shoot off the gun. To fix this, I simply added a short length of 1/2" PVC with a male threaded adaptor to the gun, and a female threaded adaptor to the barrel; problem solved. When I have the time I'm going to Home Depot to look at making a multi-barrel attachment that could screw onto this as well.

[General Cole]

If you don't want to have to completly unscrew the barrel each time, just cut a length of the treads off of each adaptor.

[Dayko]

I just picked myself up this gun today and I will be doing this mod too it. Whats the difference between red FBR and gray FBR?

[nerfboi]

Red FBR is sexy. And it has a smoother outside that the grey FBR i think. Ask FA24 or look in his thread about selling it.

[Dayko]

One other thing. CS said that he used 1/2" CPVC, did he mean that it was 1/2" inside diameter or outside diameter?

[mp130]

1/2 CPVC is usually 1/2 inch inner diameter. It's also just the slightest bit too thick on the outside to fit into standard 40 sch pvc.

[CaptainSlug]

No no no. 1/2" SCH80 CPVC has an ID of .546". YOU DO NOT WANT a barrel that has an exactly fractional inside diameter of 1/2" because your foam does not come in a precisely fractional size. Even if it did you would still need a few thousandths of an inch of give between it and the barrel in order for it to move.

Red FBR from my experiences has the same surface texture of light gray and dark gray FBR but it's more rigid and durable. It's also a tiny bit larger in diameter so it gets a more snug fit in 1/2" SCH80 CPVC and PETG. This is generally preferable for spring guns or high powered air guns.

1/2" SCH40 PVC pipeis only usable for megas since its inner diameter is .602". Both SCH80 and SCH40 1/2" pipe have THE SAME OUTER DIAMETER (.84"). If the CPVC you are buying has a smaller outer diameter then it's not SCH80, but something different. I think it's called 200 rating thin wall or whatever, I've never used it.

Edited by CaptainSlug, 09 June 2007 - 07:45 PM.

[Dayko]

So if I pick up some regular CPVC at Lowes it will work for your mod?

[SHADOW HUNTER ALPHA]

Yes. I've done this mod already (very effective, although I did not saw off the front of the gun). However, I fitted a 1/2" CPVC coupler into the center of the reducing hex bushing because I found that 1/2" (no indicated schedule) CPVC was the only thing Lowes had for this mod, and it wouldn't fit correctly inside the bushing alone.

Edited by SHADOW HUNTER ALPHA, 09 June 2007 - 10:01 PM.

[CaptainSlug]

So if I pick up some regular CPVC at Lowes it will work for your mod?

Yes, and it should have SCH80 printed on the side somewhere and it should fit into standard SCH40 fittings.

[CaptainSlug]

No, I'm trying to emphasize SCH80, which is the specification that infers the wall thickness and therefore the inner diameter. SCH80 Gray PVC (not CPVC) will still have a usable inner diameter of .526"