blacklion

Hi guys!

This writeup will cover my method of upgrading the N-Strike Light Beam Unit. I'll be replacing the stock red LED with a red Laser / white LED module. In this other thread "DIY Dummy AA Batteries" I used the bottom part of the Tradewinds 3-Function Light and Laser Pen, this time I'll be using the top part which contains the Laser/LED module (LLM), circuitry and batteries.

NOTE: I will be cutting the Light Beam Unit shorter just because I want it to fit on the bottom rail of my Stryfe, however you can skip the cutting part and add the Laser/LED module to the uncut unit if you want.

MATERIALS

• N-Strike Light Beam Unit
• Tradewinds 3-Function Light and Laser Pen
• Dremel (with cutoff wheel and sanding wheel)
• Soldering iron
• Solder + Flux
• Electrical tape
• 22 gauge (or similar) copper wire
• X-acto knife
• Sandpaper (I used 220 grit)
• Wire stripper
• Pliers
• Phillips screwdriver (to open the shell)
• Krazy Glue, Hot Glue or similar (optional)
• 2x "Micromini" 2-pin or 3-pin toggle switches
• N-type battery holder
• 4x LR44 batteries (The Tradewinds pen comes with 3 which is ok, but for maximum performance you'll need 4.)

First of all, get a Light Beam Unit (LBU). You probably have one laying around from your Recon or Element Action Kit you don't use anymore. Open it, and this is how it should look.


Take it appart and save all the parts, you'll be using some later,


Using tape or sharpie, mark a cutting line. I cut the back part of the LBU, where the battery pack used to be. Then sand and even the edges.



Now let's break open the pen so that we can remove the LLM. First remove the metal clip and using the Dremel cut or grind the two silver buttons so that they are flush with the body of the pen. BE CAREFUL AND GENTLE they are not very rugged.


Using some pliers, gently grab the top shiny metal part of the pen. Proceed to remove it by slowly rotating and pulling until it comes off. Some are easy to remove, some are hard. Note that it's glued to the LLM module.


Using the Dremel cutoff wheel and pliers, make a cut such that you can remove the LMM more easily. If needed, rotate 180° degrees and repeat on the other side.


Using the Dremel cutoff wheel, proceed to cut the LMM like shown on the images below.




Now let's go over wiring:

FRONT SIDE
RIght Wire (bare metal) ---> Common (+)
Left Wire (red) ---> LED (-)

BACK SIDE (Note that the small soldered little square is a resistor)
Left terminal (pre resistor) ---> Laser (-)
Right terminal (post resistor) ---> DO NOT TOUCH. If you accidentally apply current to the right terminal YOU WILL burn the Laser.

Proceed to solder a wire to each indicated terminal. (Three total)




Now the battery pack:

In order to ensure proper contact with the batteries, add a ball of solder to the positive (+) terminal of the battery holder.


Insert the 4x LR44 batteries, and tape the whole thing.


This is where it will be placed inside the LBU. Notice that you will have to sand the two plastic pieces that are touching the battery pack in order to get it to fit properly.


Now the switches:

Since I'm a righty and will be using this LBU for my Stryfe's bottom rail, I placed the switches on the left side of the unit.
Notice in the photo that the right switch will be for the Laser (Red Dot) and the left switch will be for the LED (Tactical Light).
Also note that I mounted both switches on the OFF position. if you are using 3-pin switches (DPST) make sure you know which 2 terminals are OPEN or not connected when the switch is in this OFF position.
If you are using 2-pin (SPST) switches it doesn't matter.



This is how the complete circuits looks. Feel free to use any other configuration, but this is the one I used.


Now mount all the pieces together. Once you are confident on how to properly accomodate and fit all the parts, proceed to solder the wires and complete the wiring. It's easier if you start mounting the parts in the top side of the shell (see photo).


Insert the LLM into the gray plastic piece that used to house the sliding plastic piece with the old red LED we removed. Notice that is almost a perfect fit. This will be very useful when you are calibrating/aligning the Laser.


Mount the switches in place. Glue the battery pack in place and proceed to complete the wiring. When done, test the switches and make sure you wired them correctly.


Now put the LLM back inside the grey plastic piece and organize the wires in place.


Finally mount the lens holder (AFTER REMOVING THE CLEAR PLATIC LENS), grey plastic piece a.k.a. LMM holder, and finally secure it in place by screwing back on the little orange plastic piece.


Close the shell making sure you don't pinch any cables and you're done!!!



Proceed to carefully rotate the LMM until you align/calibrate it properly. I used a small screwdriver. Once satisfied you can glue it in place.


Pretty sweet huh?


This is how it looks mounted on my Stryfe and some possible configurations.



And the finished piece! I just painted it black and covered the openings with custom cut pieces of orange foamie.



Hope this helps! Happy nerfing!

Hi guys!

I finally got the RM2 motors and UltraFire batteries I ordered. The RM2 motors sure are awesome and deliver plenty of torque and speed. Using either 2,3 or 4 UltraFires you can see the improvement vs. the stock motors and 4 regular AA batteries. However, I was a bit disappointed due to the fact that there was no way of controlling the speed of the motors and that I would have to choose between using 2,3 or 4 batteries at any given time.

Initially I thought about using a good ol' potentiometer to vary the amount of power to be delivered to the motors, however after some research and consulting I discarded this idea since this application would require a quite big potentiometer (with high power rating) and even if I got one, you would lose a lot of power in the form of heat when operating at lower speeds. After some more research I learned about PWM (pulse width modulation). If you're not familiar with this, please visit this site, as I found it very helpful to understand this concept. In a nutshell a PWM modulator is a control device made up of capacitors, resistors, diodes, a potentiometer and a transistor that controls a signal by varying it's frequency. This video helped me understand the concept. Bottom line, you'll be able to control the speed of the Stryfe's motors as you turn a dial.

After some more research I was able to find a PWM controller that was small enough to fit inside the Stryfe and big enough to handle the voltage/current delivered by 3 or 4 UltraFires. I got it on ebay and you can find the link to it on the materials section. All this said, this writeup will briefly cover how I installed the PWM controller in my Stryfe.

MATERIALS

• Dremel (with cutoff wheel, small sanding bit, and small drill bit)
• Pliers
• Soldering iron
• Solder + flux
• Electrical tape
• Wire stripper
• X-acto knife
• Caliper (or ruler or measuring tape)
• PWM 12V-24C DC Motor Speed Controller (this is the one I bought on ebay)

This is the PWM controller (PWMC) I got. Go ahead and pull out the dial, unscrew the locking nut, remove the washer, and proceed to carefully break the white plastic enclosing. You can start by ripping off the the two mounting points with some pliers. When you do so, cut the yellow wire just before the fuse holder and proceed to remove the PWM out of the plastic housing.


I mounted the PWMC just below the Stryfe's jam door. In order to do so, you will need to cut a bigger opening so that the PWMC fits. You'll also need to cut the wires (and probably add more wire) just below the jam door as in the pic below.


Now proceed to cut a bigger opening just as I did.



Look at the difference when compared to the other side of the shell. Now proceed to cut the other side of the shell as well.


When done, the PWMC should fit in the opening without problem.


Note that you will need to drill a hole on the side so that you can get the wires into the Stryfe and make the connections.



IMPORTANT: Once the PWMC is in position (just like in the pic above), you'll need to cut a hole in the center of the jam door such that it matches the position of the shaft. This is not an exact science, so go ahead and using the jam door as reference, roughly find the position where the shaft should go through the jam door. Once you're satisfied, mark the spot and drill a small hole using the dremel drill bit. After that proceed to make a bigger hole using a 1/4" drill bit. Then using the x-acto knife proceed to enlarge the hole one cut at a time unti the shaft goes through and has enough space to wiggle around a bit. Remember that you will need to lock the PWMC in place using the washer and locking nut you removed in the first step. Be careful not to cut the hole too big such that the nut can't lock the PWMC in place. I apologize for not taking pictures of this step.

Once you have done so, lock the PWMC in place. It should look like this. Note that if properly done, there should be no clearance issues between the PWMC and the magazine.


You're done except for the wiring.


You should have two wires coming from the motor (pos and neg), two wires going to the motor (pos and neg), and the three wires from the PWMC. In the following diagram my positive cables coming from and going to the motors are red, and the negatives are black. However, this might not be your case.


WIRING

• Motor (-) Black ---> PWMC Yellow
• Motor (+) Red ---> PWMC Red
• Batteries (-) Black ---> PWMC Black
• Batteries (+) Red ---> PWMC Red

This is how it should look if wired properly. Notice that the PWMC Black wire I soldered directly to the negative terminal of the battery box. Also try to keep the wires as short as possible such that they do not interfere with the trigger/dart pusher mechanism.


And you're done! This is how it looks once you close the shell.


This is how the PWMC looks from the magazine port.


I apologize in advance for skipping some steps and for not having more pics. I assume most of you can get this done without much more detail. If you have any doubts or questions feel free to PM me. Since I'm still a FNG my post count is limited and might not be able to reply directly on the thread. I do not have ranges yet since I don't have a 100'+ tape measurer, but I can tell you the improvement is significant. Also being able to select your speed/power is pretty sweet and convenient. I also noted that during rapid fire the motors barely lose power. I'm not 100% sure, but I attribute this to the huge capacitor in the PWMC.

Video coming soon.

Hope this helps! Happy nerfing!

EDIT: Fixed image links.

Hey guys! Just wanted to share my method of making dummy AA batteries. I recently ordered some UltraFire 14500 batteries so while they arrive, I decided to make these dummies using only materials I already had.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

• Used Duracel (or similar) AA batteries (2 per dummy)
• Tradewinds 3-Function Light and Laser Pen (or similar metal/plastic tube)
• Dremel (with cutoff wheel and sanding wheel)
• Soldering iron
• Solder + Flux
• Electrical tape
• 12 gauge (or similar) stranded copper wire
• Caliper (or ruler, or measuring tape)
• Hammer
• Pliers
• X-acto knife
• Sandpaper (220 or rougher)
• Nitrile gloves (highly recommended)

Very carefully peel the bottom plastic from the used AA battery and using the X-acto knife remove the bottom plate. You will need 2 bottom plates per each dummy AA you want to make.


Find a tube (metal or plastic) of similar battery diameter, to be used as the dummy's body. I used the bottom part of this Laser and LED pen just because I had a few of these laying around.
NOTE: If you have never used these, i would advise you to buy a few either online or at Walgreens (2x$5). They are very cheap, the circuitry is very straightforward and compact and include 3 batteries. This is what I add to my guns. Write up coming soon.


Only use the metal bottom part. Save the top part.


Straighten the AA plates using a hammer and whatever you have available.


Measure the thickness of the plates so that you know how long the body of the dummy needs to be.


Measure a real AA battery and write the dimensions. A quick calculation and now you know that the pen shell needs to be cut to ~49.96 mm.


Cut the shell of the pen slightly longer.


Carefully grind to correct length.


Remove the insulation from the tip of the pice of wire you will be using.


With the tip of the X-acto knife scratch the surface of the AA plates.


Add some solder to the plate.


Add solder to the tip of the stripped wire and proceed to solder both pieces together. Note that you should spread the copper wires in order to increase contact area.


Sand around the ends of the pen shell and proceed to solder it to the plate. Try not to leave any empty spaces.


Cut the exces wire (at the other side) to appropriate length and repeat previous steps.



Once done it should look like this.


Now grind the excess material until a "smooth" surface is obtained. Do this on both ends.


Once done, add a ball of solder to the top of one side. This will act as the tip on the positive side of the dummy.


Sand the excess solder from the positive tip, until the desired overall length is obtained.


Wrap with ET, and you're done!


I measured the resistance of the dummy and found it to be very small as expected. (This other guy at this other forum using other other materials obtained similar resistance values).


This is how it looks compared to a regular AA battery.


It fits perfectly.


Yes, you could probably buy the dummy batteries off the internet but it wouldn't be as fun. I have not been able to find the resistance value of a real AA dummy battery. If someone has measured it, please share the result as I would like to compare values.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: Fixed image links.