taerKitty

To start with, this is what we'll be building:

It's a 29-round stefanized drum.

This is what two of them are capable of doing:

On a 1-10 scale of difficulty, where 10 is a RevShot (yes, it goes higher, but I don't have any more complicated blasters to compare it to), I'd rate this as a 3. Yes, I think it's that simple.

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Tools:

- Hacksaw

- File

- Needlenose pliers

- (Optional) 'normal' pliers: linesman, channel-lock, or slip-joint

- Boltcutters

- Hot glue gun

- Drill with fine ( ~1/16") and wide (~3/16") bits

- Long (8+" shaft) Philips-head screwdriver

- Knife, preferably a razor or box-cutter

- Sewing needle

- Sharpie

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Supplies:

- CS-35 drum

- Reactor spring

- (5) 4" long x 1/2" dia hot glue sticks

- Wood screw 1/2" long by 1/8" diameter

- Washer with ID hole big enough to accept the above

- Lube

- Paper towel

- Duct tape

- Thread

- (8) foam blanks, appx 1.25" long

- Small screw eye, with shaft diameter approximately that of the drum's screws

- Zip-ties small enough to pass through the screw eye, above

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To start with, take apart the drum.

Take a hacksaw to the clear piece as follows:

- There are three flanges protruding out the back. Hack them off, then file them flat.

- The part mating the straight portion of the magazine needs to go. Look closely at the picture to see how to hacksaw it off.

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Drill out the three pegs. They're glued, so they are the enemy. We won't be needing either end, so use as large a drill bit as possible to ensure the upper portion is not touching the lower portion.

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Break the tabs and notches. We won't be using them, so bust 'em if you have to.

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Saw the sprocketed wheel off the half of the drum guts WITH THE NOTCHES, NOT THE TABS.

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Using the pliers (any variety, though I used channel-locks for additional leverage and gripping strength), break off the six tabs.

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Drill a hole across the spindle using the 1/16" bit.

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Let's talk springs. We need springs with a COUNTER-CLOCKWISE twist if you look at the spring on end and follow the wire away from you. Or, looking at it front he side, the wire closest to you should be angled like this: /. The top and bottom springs are correct, the middle one is wrong.

All modern-generation Nerf Reactors I've opened have the correct spring. I'm calling this out because I do have that smaller Reactor-sized spring. It could have come from a BuzzBee knock-off, or an older-generation Reactor. Whatever the case, make sure you have the right spring. This is not optional, and using the wrong spring WILL NOT WORK.

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Using the boltcutters, cut the spring ends off.

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Thread it through the hole you just drilled in the spindle and, using the needlenose pliers, bend it back on itself.

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Using the needlenose pliers, take the other end and bend the end first inward toward the diameter of the spring, then back out so you have an "N"-ish shape.

The truncated drum guts in the picture is already hot-glued together. DON'T DO THAT. These are the images I have, but in retrospect, you'll save yourself some headache if you glue the top part on later.

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Drill a hole into the tabbed (and currently only intact) half of the drum guts.

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FIRST run the wire into the intact drum guts, THEN hot glue it on.

This picture has an error in it. The reason for working the 'N' shape is to lock the wire to the spool. It should not have the crook visible.

Ah, hindsight.

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One word about gluing the drum halves together: The notches do not have straight sides. Each is flared slightly inward. This means, if you align it so a wall is straight, the two wheels will be mis-aligned. Align it by the apexes of the notches not the walls.

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Back to this picture. Use the long Philips screwdriver to collapse the spring in place. It has to be long to thread the spring, and it has to be Philips so it sits the spindle's hole.

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Duct tape the INVERTED clear back over the whole assembly. Pay no attention to the chuck of hot glue. This picture is actually from a breakfix later on, but it works better in this part in the flow.

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Add a drop (and just a drop!) of hot glue on the top of the spindle. While it is cooling, add some lube to the center top of the washer. It's okay if some lube gets on the bottom, but use the paper towel to ensure none is in the hole.

Not shown - use the Sharpie to mark which end is 'up' on the screw head. The center screw MUST NOT come undone. If it does, that coiled spring will become a Gordanian knot.

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Thread the wood screw through the washer, ensuring no lube is on the screw, then drive it into the spindle throught the hot glue.

Rock the drum guts back and forth while the glue is drying to ensure it isn't glued down.

Again, pay no attention to the chunk of glue stick, out-of-sequence-picture, yadda, yadda.

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Now for the straight portion of the magazine. We're going to do a lot of damage here. Remove the constant-force spring housing, breaking off the two guiding bars that go with it. Cut back the plastic until it's in line with the flanges that hold the straight part in the drum.

Next, take a file and file away half the width of the FORWARD guiding bar.

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Hot glue three 4" long hot glue sticks together.

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Apply hot glue to the top and bottom 1" of one 'end' of the three glue sticks and insert it into the straight part of the magazine so it is flush with the upper notch where the bolt travels. It will protrude slightly from the bottom. This is fine.

I don't have a good photo of it, so here's a shot from the prototype showing what I mean. Note that this one was glued from top to bottom of that block of hot glue sticks, which interfered with the magazine catch, so I had to take a file to it.

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NOW we talk about that pesky rod of hot glue. Cut off a length of hot glue about 1.25" long. Wind the drum in a clockwise direction until spring is taut. Unfortunately, the amount of turns will vary with how much drag you have, which in turn is dependent on the thickness of your foam to the 1/100" of an inch.

Holding the drum wound tight, glue it so it is flush with the BACK part of the drum. DON'T glue it flush with the front part, because there are inner flanges in the front, so it will catch/drag.

Hold it until the glue is hard, then gently allow the drum to rotate until it gently comes to rest against the notch that holds the straight part of the magazine.

If you find that the tension is incorrect, you can adjust it by removing the straight part from the drum, then gently winding or unwinding the drum by working the glue stick past the protruding part.

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Using the needle and thread, make a 'belt' out of the eight foam blanks.

It's a good idea to differentiate the blanks used as the follower from ordinary darts.

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Replace one of the two screws holding the straight part of the magazine with the small screw eye.

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Assemble it. You'll need to gently wiggle the guiding bar over the outer wheel. Zip-tie the straight part of the magazine in place.

Wind the drum so the glue stick is to the left of the inner protrusion of plastic that holds the straight part of the magazine. Insert the 'belt' of foam blanks in front of it, then load the drum. You should be able to get ~20 darts in there.

Hold the drum upright (so the darts don't flip) and gently allow it to advance until a dart is in firing position. Next, wind the drum slightly and insert a dart. Repeat 9 times.

Lastly, insert the clear part, inverted. You'll note that it will catch under the glue sticks. Use a piece of duct tape to keep it from flapping open. Double back the last 1/2" of the duct tape so it's easy to remove for loading.

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To store it, wind it slightly and insert a piece of CPVC in firing position.

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That's it!

Thoughts / comments / questions / flames?

Here are some of mine:

- I'd gladly sacrifice the 6 shots for the ease of not mucking with the follower, taking the straight part apart to add rails, etc.

- This allows you to see how many shots you have.

- Loading is much easier than a stock CS-35. You can load 20 darts w/o having to feed them through the straight part of the magazine.

- No SPACERS!

- Downside - your dart length has to be 1.5" or less. My Tuff-Cap V2s are 1.75" and won't work.

- If you have hotter climes, use high-temp hot glue.

- How close the hot glue rod is to the guiding bar is how many shots you have left.

- I've found that, once I've gotten the tension dialed in, it's 'pretty' reliable. Firing two drums fully, I got about two fail-to-advance failures (resulting in dry-firing) and one feed failure, which could have been due to a 'dirty' dart.

- Because my foam is a bit thicker than stock (mine measures 0.50", while a stock Streamline measures 0.49") I get a bit of drag. I've had to fire more slowly as a result.

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BTW, huge THANK YOU to the admins for upping the picture limit!

Note: This process is not McMaster-free.

Can't make a dome to save your life? McMaster to the rescue!

#10 button head socket caps (http://www.mcmaster.com/#97697A610) are 7/16" in diameter, so they make great dart heads.

Unlike the image show, they are 1/8" tall. Even filled with hot glue, they're too light.

However, a #6 washer almost fits perfectly inside.

In fact, with the heat distorting it somewhat, it does fit.

That's sticker paper from McMaster felt pads, but any sturdy sticker backing paper will work. Push it down so the glue escapes from the edges.

When cool, peel it off the paper and use your nail to peel away the excess. From here, it's the usual grind: divot your foam, add some hot glue, center the head, and there you go!

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Pros:

- Performs as good as my bumper heads - 150' out of an SVT4B.

- Very easy to make.

- Heads are consistent and centered.

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Cons:

- Screw caps are $0.07 each, and you still have to throw in a $0.01 washer.

- If glue domes are banned, these will be as well.

To start with, this is what we'll be building:

It's the GhetTurreted Chopper. It's a Turreted Chopper as cheap as I can manage to make it. Specifically, I'm talking about the part above the DMK wye.

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Materials:

- 1 x 45-degree 1/2" PVC elbow

- 1 x 45-degree 3/4" PVC elbow

- 6 x 12" long tubes of 1/2" PVC

- 1 x 2" long tube of 1/2" PVC

- 14 x 1/2" long rings of 3/4" PVC

- 1 x 3" long tube of 3/4" PVC

- 1 x 15" long tube of 3/4" PVC

- 1 x 1" long tube of 1" PVC

- Duct tape

- 4 x 10"+ zip ties

- Electrical tape

- Hot glue

- Epoxy (I use ITW Performance Polymer's 'Plastic Welder')

- Paper towels

- Plastic jar lid 3+" in diameter

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Tools:

- Ratcheting pipe cutter

- (Optional) rotary pipe cutter

- File

- Hot glue gun

- Razor

- Manicure scissors

- Rubber bands

- Sharpie marker

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A Cutting Note

Ratcheting pipe cutters are fast, but they have a hard time making a cut that is square to the pipe.

Rotary pipe cutters are more likely to make a cut that is square to the pipe, but they're slower.

To get the best of both worlds, use the rotary pipe cutter to score a valley in the pipe, then use the ratcheing pipe cutter. However, don't use it as we normally do - instead, have the razor bite into the furrow, then rotate the pipe so the razor deepens the furrow bit by bit.

However, when we do this, the pipe ends are flared out from the rotary pipecutter, so we need to file them back, else inserting the cut ends will be difficult.

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Geometry 101 - Book of 7 Rings

Wrape some e-tape around one of the rings of 3/4" PVC.

Arrange 6 x 3/4" PVC rings around it.

Wrap with rubber bands. Rest on paper towel. Apply epoxy between each ring.

When it is cured, replace rubber bands with e-tape. Fill outer hollows with hot glue. No, they won't hold, but they do help maintain the geometry later.

When the hot glue is cooled, use ratcheting cutters to make a cut on the outside of the ring-of-rings.

Last step, not pictured: Take the file and bevel the inner edge of each ring-of-ring. This will make inserting the 15" long tube 3/4" PVC much easier.

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It's a Wrap

Take the 6 x 12" PVC tube and thread them through each of the 3/4" rings. This will cause the cuts to spread slightly. Ensure one end is even - when set down on a flat surface on that end, the turret assembly will stand straight.

Note: the epoxy may break during this time if you're too rough.

Secure each ring in place with zip ties. Cut the tails off with the razor. Wrap the whole assembly in duct tape, then with electrical tape.

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Here's the Magic

Previous Turreted Choppers had a painful time getting the 3/4" encap to be properly aligned and stay on the 45-degree 1/2" elbow. I think I have a solution.

Slip the 15" long tube of 3/4" PVC through the rings and cap it with the 45-degree 3/4" PVC elbow. Put the 3" long tube of 3/4" PVC in the other end of the 45-degree 3/4" PVC elbow.

Slide one of the magazine tubes into the 45-degree 1/2" elbow. Put the 2" long tube of 1/2" PVC in the other end of the 45-degree 1/2" elbow. In the picture above, I use the DMK in place of the 2" long tube of 1/2" PVC.

Not pictured: note where the two 45-degree elbows will contact and file that surface flat to increase the binding surface area.

Secure the two with rubber bands, then work some epoxy into the gap. Let cure.

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Front and Center

Place the 1" long tube of 1" PVC in the center of the jar lid and trace it with the Sharpie.

Use the ratcheting pipecutter to cut two parallel cuts that are as wide as the 1" PVC cross-section outline.

Use the manicure scissors to cut the curve.

Note: The lid may fracture. This is not a big deal.

Place it over the 45-degree 3/4" PVC elbow, secure with e-tape.

Place the turret assembly back in place. Depending on the size of your 45-degree 3/4" elbow, the jar lid will sit on the elbow, or in front of it.

Turn the assembly over and generously apply our favourite not-structural member structrual member, hot glue. You don't need to fill the whole jar lid, just enough to cover the bottom.

Note: For best results, glue a little, let it cool, then glue the rest. In the above picture, the upper part of the elbow is glued to the jar lid - notice how the hot glue there is already translucent.

Make some dams with the electrical tape and fill the sides with hot glue. No, this won't hold by itself, but I figure it will help.

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In the End...

Rest the turret magazine on the level end. Take a chunk of paper towel and work it into a small ball. Shove into the end of a magazine tube appx 1/2". This should be snug in the PVC.

Again, add a bit of glue to keep the plug in place. When cool, add more glue.

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A Finishing Touch

Cut a slot along the length of the 1" long tube of 1" PVC. Slide it partway over the 15" long tube of 3/4" PVC. Add a ring of hot glue and slide it the rest of the way.

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There you have it - a Turreted Chopper that takes only two PVC connectors.

- The blasted thing is heavy. Mine is solvent welded to the DMK wye.

- As with any chopper, the connecting pipe ID between the elbow and the wye is key. Here, I'm using 1/2" thinwall.

- With my 1.25" long stefans, I get 7 shots per magazine, for a total of 42 darts total.

- The turreted magazine assembly is removable, so I can (and have in the past) made spare clips. To keep the darts from spilling out, cut 6 x 1/2" long rings of 1/2" CPVC, deform each into an ellipse cross-section, thread a string through them all, and insert them into the magazine tubes as corks. To use, yank out the 'bracelet' of the CPVC rings and you're good to go.

Thoughts / questions / comments / flames?

To start with, this is what we'll be building:

A draw-extended TTG (Tech Target Gun). How much draw does it have?

3.5". In contrast, a stock TTG has 1-7/8" (1.875"). That's an 87% increase in volume!!!

For the TL;DR crowd, here's the internals:

Basically, the rear PT flange is mounted where the front PT flange used to go. There, go forth and mod, ye TL;DRs!

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Materials:

- 1-5/8" of 1" PVC

- 1/2" CPVC coupler, cut in two OR 1/2" CPVC cap drilled out

- 1/2" PVC coupler OR 1/2" of 3/4" PVC

- E-tape

- 4-1/2" of [k26]

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Tools:

- Hacksaw

- Rubber mallet

- Pliers

- File

- (Optional, but recommended) calipers, or at least a ruler

- (Optional, but recommended) boltcutters

- (Optional, but recommended) scissors

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Unfortunately, this isn't an as-you-go writeup. I built it out of desperation, and found it to be amazingly effective, so I wanted to share the steps. However, I didn't take pictures as I went, so all I can do is describe what to do and show the end results.

First a bit of background - my amped-up TTGs don't have padded plunger heads, and do break the plunger tube (PT) face off the rest of the PT. Most of the time, that can be fixed with a bit of epoxy. In this case, the PT face shattered, so I had to devise something else.

This is the something else: a universal coupler as the PT face. A "universal coupler" is one that will take either 1/2" CPVC or 1/2" PVC. Pedants among you will point out it won't take mongo and above darts. Yeah, waddeah. STFU&FOAD, already.

Here's a "business end" shot to show what I mean:

In this case, I already had a universal coupler lying around, so it seemed like a good way to use it. You can substitute a chunk of 3/4" PVC, with the requisite elbow grease and percussive persuasion, in place of the 1/2" PVC coupler.

Even using a 1/2" PVC coupler, you will need to add some sweat and mallet-work. I reamed out the inner edge of the 1" PVC so it had a slight bevel, then sanded the end of the 1/2" PVC coupler containing the 1/2" CPVC coupler down so it somewhat fit, then applied momentum in the form of the rubber mallet.

As you can see, the front end of the 1" PVC is slightly flared from the force-feeding.

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Enough about the ©PVC-y bits. Let's talk PT.

Two take-aways in this pic. First is the e-tape. That's all that's holding the 1" PVC to the PT. There's a wrap or two more of e-tape than is sufficient to meet the coupler's ID, so a rubber mallet is required to join the two.

The second is the flattened flange. Because of the way the shell is designed, the groove for the PT front flange is shallower on the sides than the one for the PT rear flange, so some adjustments are needed. File down both sides of the PT rear flange, but leave the top and bottom in place.

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Now, the shell.

The rear is cut down to the rear bulkhead for the catch. The front is chopped down to the 1" PVC needs to protrude. For me 5-5/8" from the cut-down bulkhead is a workable length, but it may be better to just lay the modified PT on with the rear flange in the front groove and eyeball it.

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Lastly, the plunger.

As you can see, I'm using 4-1/2" of [k26]. Boltcutters are highly recommended for cutting down the spring. Please note this is too short for the spring to fully push the plunger head (PH) to the PT face. In other words, when unprimed, the spring will rattle and slide along the plunger rod (PR) a bit. However, this is the maximum length for the catch to work, and it only barely does.

The spring rest (black part on the left of the PR above) has been cut down, again to give the spring maximum compressed distance.

The catch spring is stock, though the bottom has been crimped with the pliers slightly to keep it from sproinging free when the blaster is opened. I've not had a problem with it prematurely firing - my catch difficulties are just with the catch sometimes failing to engage.

The PH end of the spring is likewise crimped. This is so it doesn't try to work it's way under the O-ring.

Finally, there's a wrap or two of e-tape under the O-ring.

The screw securing the PH to the PR has been replaced with something longer and wider. (All together now, "TWSS." Okay, done.)

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Miscellany:

- Ranges. Yeah, we haz'em.

Out of 10 test shots out of a 5" long CPVC barrel, I got results ranging from 69' to 114', with an average of 105'.

114'
108'
105' * 4
96'
87' * 2
78'
69'

Mind you, the TTG seems to fire high no matter what I do (short of aiming low, which isn't really realistic when using this on the field). I'd decrease ranges by 10% if we want to talk level flight, at least in theory.

- Build time. I'd say 2 hours, going slow.

- Bungees. As much as I love fuglifying my blasters with bungees, I wouldn't advise it. In a stock TTG, the rear chunk of the shell has a channel to keep the PR straight-ish. With this mod, that's gone, so the PR will apply any torque directly to the rear catch bulkhead. Couple that with the shape of the handle, and the bungee will ride up, guaranteeing torque.

- Complexity. I'd rank this fairly low. The hardest part would be getting the [k26]. I figure any modder who has access to K26s has already done the de riguer NF/Jolts, and this will be nothing new.

- Universal coupler. No, it's not a required part of this build. I had one lying around, and I needed to mount the half-CPVC coupler in something to nest it in the 1" PVC. My next instance of this will use the drilled out 1/2" CPVC cap and a chunk of 3/4" PVC.

OTOH, just for shits-n-grins, I tossed a 6-shot Spears-wye hopper on this, and it fired. I didn't have a chance to range-test it, but it launched a dart. Out of a TTG!

Questions/comments/flames?

Can we close registration again? Even if we gate the FNGs to only one or two posts a day, that's still one or two dead brain cells. Multiply it by the number of n00bs, and... well you get the picture. Could we turn on the 'karma' feature so we can vote their dumbass threads into oblivion? Or maybe give them a kiddie pool to wade in. Something, please!