Meaker VI

Why can't I see any photo you posted here via photobucket? I'd really like to see your job, but on photobucket it says "forbidden"

Click this link:

 

http://images.nerfha...m/images/23713/

... especially in combination with a magazine that you can load on the fly (RSCB, Hopper or turret). The special sauce is: you never have down time loading mags or pumping your blaster, you're just always shooting. You can't just think about the pace of play when shooting - it also matters how much time you're spending futzing around loading mags. With ... an RSCB and a flap valve, I'm rocking and rolling 100% of the time. It's great.

 

This is so understated in the hobby today. A frontloader or RSCB/hopper (or the new Commandfire Hopper) can be loaded with a handful of darts whenever you've got it and a few seconds to spare. Mags take time to unpack from your rig and load, then need to be loaded into the blaster. Sure, you get a burst of up to 20 DPS as quickly as you can load your mags; but once they're out? You'll be out-of-action loading somewhere for several minutes at best. I found that a single shot blaster was my best bet last PvP respawn game because of this.

 

I'd also like to make a few light turret-style reload flywheel blasters, to bump them up into the #scavenger master race.

 

Mags work great for HvZ, from what I understand; as it's PvE elimination and you can safely spend an hour or more reloading between engagements in exchange for really high burst actions. In PvP wars, mags just bog everybody down (unless they bring enough to be able to dump the spent ones and pick up fresh loaded ones between rounds, which is unusual, but also something that the mk13 was good at).

For those of you who missed what is, IMO, possibly the best stock blaster ever released, the Adventure Force Commandfire is a full-auto flywheel blaster with 40-round a hopper. That's right, you just dump handfuls of darts into the top and fire away; no more messing with mags! Sort of, I'll get to that. Also as a primer, I'd recommend fixing the hopper so it works more reliably with all darts, checking out the internals if you're into that kind of thing, and removing the front parts that are totally just fluff.
 
So back to no mags: I'm here to change that right back. In a way. Sort of.
 
You see, the commandfire's whole premise of "high-cap no mags" is true, but dumping 40 darts into a hopper in any meaningful way while also playing isn't easy. This has led insightful youtube-nerfers to relegate it to a secondary role - keep it on you (it's not overly large) and use it as suppression, a room-broom, or CIWS when needed, switch back to your more traditional primary when not.
 
Now, I'm going to do this two ways, one is experimental-but-exciting so we'll start with that:
 

 
I'll call it the "Crudely tape a box to the top" method. I didn't keep it this way, because I want a primarily mobile blaster, but even this jankenstien was effective:
 

 
That's about 97 darts that it fired if I counted right.
 
The Commandfire needs a follower to keep the darts oriented the right way, for this, I used a chunk of 2x4 (apologies for sideways; apparently NH's auto-uploader prefers landscape which I did not shoot these in):
 

 
I then tested the blaster to see whether my labors had born fruit.
 

 
As you've already seen, yeah, it fired about 97 shots - an increase in capacity of about 57.
 
But it also jammed horribly, a result of my hasty modification and no real measuring to speak of:
 

 
So that option is on the table for those who want a super-high capacity and also giant blaster. That doesn't describe me, so I ripped the box off and moved to option 2: Bringing mags back.
 
To do this, you'll need a few things: At least one standard tape roll (duct tape, masking tape, packing tape, etc size), a flat surface (table, chair, floor, etc.), a box (smaller for fewer darts, larger for more), #64 rubber bands (got mine at walmart for $1.25 or so; #33, 34, 63, and 80-something would probably also work. #64 is a 1/4" wide size, so it holds a little more securely. Really any size would probably also work), and of course, darts.
 

 
After getting the stuff you need, dump a bunch of darts into your box and shake it:
 



 
If you didn't notice, what happens is that, once you have a certain critical mass of darts in the box relative to the box size, shaking the box will cause the majority of the darts to align head-down (my box has inside corners, I think those are tripping up the rest of my darts). This makes them easy to grab and dump by the handful into your tape roll:
 

 
Keep doing this until full (~25+ darts), then slap a rubber band around the whole thing:
 

 
This bundle will now easily slide free of the tape roll, yielding a pack of darts I am hereby naming a "Meaker Mag". You may wish to pack a few extra darts in to make a tighter pack, but most of mine were fine.
 

 
To load, simply open your Commandfire and drop the Meaker Mag in:
 


 
Then grasp the rubber band and rip it off the back of the darts:
 

 
With practice (and maybe both hands) this should result in a freshly loaded Commandfire:
 

 
It's also worth noting that bascially any tape roll works, it'll just mean putting the rubber band in a different spot and/or adjusting it later:
 

 
The more the merrier.
 
Now, once you've made yourself a pile of Meaker Mags, you may think to yourself "these fit great in my hand and seem like they'd throw really well". Go ahead, try it. It's not like you're throwing a hard-shelled plastic mag at someone, you're throwing a soft springy Meaker Mag at them. I recommend lobbing it as hard as you can at a solid surface near the unsuspecting target:
 

 
It'll get a decent spread, and the higher up/harder it hits the better the spread will be.
 
In conclusion, not only have I enabled you to completely replace your entire supply of expensive magazines for mere pocket change, and not only in a way that is easy to load, but I have also given you a get-out-of-trouble card by providing a magazine that can, itself (pending your rules allowing thrown darts/rubber band grenades), be used as a formidable anti-crowd foam-thrower.
 
Testing the load in my unusually rigged load-bearing-gear, I fit 6 such MM's in a dump pouch (~150 darts) and another 4 in the large pocket of my utility pouches (~100 darts). I've also got a large drop-leg pouch that I didn't get out to test, but will probably hold 3-6 more such packs, bringing my total ready-to-load dart capacity up to an easy-to-carry 390 darts (with 40 in the blaster starting out). I'll investigate even easier loading options (backpack, dispenser, bandolier-like setup) in the future, but for now, this'll do. I really only have a little over 1,000 darts anyway, carrying most of that on my person feels sufficient for the kinds of backyard wars I engage in.

None of those.

 

"The Best" depends on your goals:

 

For stock wars (~100 FPS), anything Rival cannot be beat. High accuracy, good power from every blaster in the line; some are the highest capacity blasters Nerf has ever released and even the highest anyone (but me) can match in any foam format. Full/semi auto are available.

 

For superstock (~100-130 FPS), Rival can compete but starts being beat out by darts. A spring-swapped Boomco M6 (or other farshoot-derivitive) is the highest accuracy blaster you can get without substantial mods, but is a single-shot sidearm. The Zuru Turbo Advance and Buzzbee Magnum Superdrum are great scavenger springers that use massive turrets instead of mags. A Retaliator or Recon mkII is a solid mag-fed springer that can be made pump action and hits superstock numbers with just a spring swap. A Stryfe (or similar) will provide reliable mag-fed semi-auto and a Rapidstrike reliable full auto; other flywheel blasters perform the same or worse but all will require a full rewire and new battery system to work in that range. Hammershots make decent sidearms if you need one.

 

For ultrastock (~130-180 FPS), Rival is no longer as competitive excepting the very high capacity and accuracy it brings. The M6 is still good, a Retaliator or Recon II can be upgraded into this range with more work, drop-in kits still exist to bring the blaster to this range but to be competitive will probably be just as expensive as the Caliburn, listed later. The stryfe and rapidstrike (and derivitives) have a harder time getting this kind of power, but it can be done with advancements in motor, cage, and wheel technology. Expect to spend $50 or more just in those parts to get a competitive blaster. The Caliburn by our very own Captain Slug is the premier pump-action springer in this range, getting ~200 FPS for $~140 assembled (or less as a kit, or much less if you can print your own parts). It replaces the Longshot which used to fill the same role, but to build a longshot that performs as well as a caliburn will probably cost more.

 

Beyond that, Flywheels are no longer effective or are experimental. The M6 is still capable of shooting lasers, but other blasters can hit harder and further so it looses it's clear advantage (fortuneately, it's a sidearm so having one around isn't a big deal). The Caliburn is capable of being pressed further, though sealed springers and pneumatics start to make more sense. Nothing here is stock, you'd need to entirely DIY it.

 

Now, for your pictured blasters:

• Vulcan is interesting as a chain-fed AEG, but that's really it. It can't be made to perform that well easily.
• Centurion is a pile of garbage except that it has a nice looking shell.
• Recon is terrible, the Recon Mk II or Retaliator (derivitives of the shell of the recon) are great. Some people have put modern Retaliator internals into rare Recon shells, but that's all they're good for.
• Slingfire (I think?) - I've heard they're ok as a curiosity, but not as good as a Sentinel if you need lever action.
• Roughcut - an ok blaster stock, can't really be modded because it uses gears.
• Triad - A fine sidearm/holdout blaster
• Elite Alpha Trooper - Used to be preferred until the Retaliator and pump action kits came out.
• Barrel Break - Don't know enough to say, probably ok as a gimmick but not special.
• Rampage - Ok unless it's the Raider which looks basically the same looking but terrible. Retaliator is easier to upgrade.
• Mastadon - A great big MEGA blaster. That is all.
• Jolt - A fine sidearm/holdout blaster, great for New York Reloading.
• Longshot - Already went over it. A great platform, expensive to upgrade.
• Zombie shot IDK - there are a few blasters with multiple turrets. Mostly gimmicky, sometimes the turret rotation mechs break.
• Stockade - An oddball flywheel blaster. It'll take significant mods to make very useful, it doesn't use modern standard mod parts.
• Longstrike - Basically a recon in a nice shell. Not high performance unless you basically just replace everything inside.
• Sharpfire - A large jolt
• Cycloneshock - Ok as a mega blaster, great if you rebarrel it for elite-sized darts

And a note on darts:

• Elites are terrible, but elite-sized darts are fine. Order them online; you can get knock-off accustrike darts for like $0.04 each. These darts can hit the highest FPS of any type we use.
• Mega as a dart is pretty useless IMO, it packs a bit more punch but that's it.
• HIRs are fine, but expensive. Knock-off rounds exist but are rumored to not work in all blasters well. Pretty much top out at stock rival blaster velocities; much beyond that they become unstable.
• Boomco Straws are the best in terms of accuracy, and get good range/velocity. They just only work in Boomco blasters, and because of their design, aren't easy to build homemades for.

Okay, it's sort of working. I printed the U-Channel instead of buying it just as a test, but it works.

3. The rubber bands I bought are surprisingly too long by about 2 inches in circumference. I had to trim and tie this one for testing.

 

Longer U-channel, more darts!

 

Also, for your catch design: If you do end up using aluminum or other channel, as you well know round holes and notches are easier to cut than the square hole it looks like you've got.

due to im using it on a Rapid Red, i choose a smaller battery: https://hobbyking.co...?___store=en_us . Not sure if it will works well. may i know is that 37 amps is refer to constant or burst?
 
Specs:
Capacity: 950mAh
Voltage: 2S1P / 2 Cell / 7.4V
Discharge: 25C Constant / 50C Burst

Its *probably* fine, that's stall amperage so it should be short. And you usually don't hold the rev trigger down for longer than "burst" anyway.

I haven't had any issues, surprisingly. But good to know~

You're committing two battery sins- using different kinds AND using *fires. They are designed for flashlights and can't handle the draw of our motors.

I would probably limit it to around 3 easy to memorize classes. That's all I can remember when I am playing TF2 XP but really, if you have a whole bunch of limitations and things on people abilities and guns, it's hard to keep it straight. Think of Amtgard classes. Everyone ha different weapon abilities and spells and levels and all this shit and it's hard to memorize.

 

That's the idea though - the only people that need to know their class are the people using that class so they know how long they take to respawn and what they can use. They do the deciding and equipping at the start of the round, once that's figured they *should* just be able to play as they would regularly and not think about it too much - darts still tag and after some number of tags you're still going to respawn.

 

I'd prefer to also set it up so that people basically show up with whatever they usually use and fit into a class or a class and take a perk to fit most of their normal gear - they shouldn't be limited to using certain gear or prevented from using something (As I've seen in many class-based setup ideas - e.g. the notorious "loser" class that can only use bolt action blasters, which is really just a handicap when someone with a full-auto modded rapidstrike can fire just about as far/accurately and at full auto). They get balanced into the game by taking longer to spawn; the only thing they might need to do is drop extra mags to limit the total ammo carried by any given player.

 

I don't disagree that limiting the class count might be better; if I were thinking more clearly I'd probably have called it light/medium/heavy/tank, they spawn in that order, and they can somehow flexibly pick equipment to make any of the 'subclasses'. Maybe regular equipment is one point, special equipment is three, and extra HP and bandages are an equipment type; each class gets some number of extra points over the class prior.

 

Edit: Hur dur, equipment being points is basically what Kane did. Alright, so Kane I still don't like the point system you used, but because you're trying to assign points to individual blasters and not broadly to all blasters. There are only so many real blaster types, so let's take those in approximate worst-best order (High-end Springers get more power than flywheels, but the FPS really levels things out when it takes several shots to tag someone out) :

 

Stringer/direct, HAMP, Springer, Pneumatic/on-field refilling (LPA), Flywheel, Pneumatic/off-field refilling ("HPA" or large-tank LPA)

 

Then add subclasses of blaster types, sameish order:

 

Manual prime/fire/triggerless, Bolt-action (A bad action IMO, YMMV), Bow-action triggerless, Slide-action, pullback (rated highly for reliability and ease of use for all comers), double-action (Snapfire 8), lever or hammer-action, whip-action, pump-action, semi-auto, full auto

 

Then the magazine types, still my opinion in rough order:

 

Single, speedloader, RSCB, small turret (no more than 12), Y-Hopper, swappable or rear-loading turret (no more than 12), small mags (up to 12 again), large turret, large mags, big hoppers (HIRicane, Proton Pack, Nemisis, maybe my coil thing if it works out and people other than just me use it)

 

I'd probably provide a chart to figure out the point values of each blaster any person wanted to carry, have a modifier for FPS, add some number for carried capacity (spare turrets, shells, mags, etc.; not bulk darts), and then let them pick whichever class was available to them from there or opt to drop equipment for a faster-spawning class.

I like what you're doing with the respawn timers for the classes; as a player I can see them thinking "I'm X class, I get Y respawn" and it mostly working. You'd need non-cheaters or clear badging; but I'm used to indoor play where I can't see the opponent's spawn.

 

For now, I'd ignore actual values for everything. Light gets a faster respawn than Medium/Grenadier than medic/scientist/ than Heavy/knight than tank. That's what matters. The exact numbers don't until you've got your ruleset fleshed out a bit more.

 

Special equipment is ok for a few (very few!) players, as you'll provide it - even if starting out you're providing everything the goal is growth and you can't provide everybody everything forever. Big Shields, VLRLs (Very Large Rocket Launchers), Big/any swords (depending on sword use; I'd just use pool noodles cut in half since it's NERF and - at least my group - is not expecting/prepared for melee), objective stuff, bandages, etc.

 

I do not like the point system as written. A better system I saw that I liked had very vague limits that allowed people showing up with whatever to play, mostly without compromising their gear. Here, let me write how I'd adapt your system for you. I'm tired, so it may be weird and could be expanded upon, but the goal is to give players special-sounding abilities that actually don't require any/much outside moderation to enable:

 

Classes:

Players must declare the class they are playing at the start of a game round. They may switch over the course of several game rounds. When asked they must identify, and (ideally) they should wear the class insignia.

• Light (AKA Ninja): Gets the fastest respawn, can only carry one of pistols, secondary, blowgun or thrown objects. Scavenger-only.
• Medium (AKA Scavenger, Skirmisher, Designated Marksman, etc.): Gets the next fastest respawn, up to three standard equipment slots, except for pistols, each must be of a different type.
• Grenadier: Same as medium, can carry infinite ammo but only one standard-equipment-type.
• Specialist: Same as medium, can carry one special equipment and pistols, secondary, blowgun or thrown-objects.
• Heavy: 3rd respawn, Can carry up to three standard and one special equipment.
• Mule: 3rd respawn, Can carry infinite ammo and a stock of extra standard-equipment in a backpack for teammates to use. Same as medium otherwise.
• Medic: 3rd respawn, Same as medium but can heal teammates by using their supply of bandages.
• Support: 4th respawn, can carry up to two special and one standard equipment
• Tank/Juggernaut: 4th respawn, gets bonus hitpoints, same as heavy

Standard Equipment:

• Pistols: Any single-action blaster you can holster that is roughly the size of a standard drill (TTG, Nightfinder, Hammershot, Strongarm, Maverick, Whipblast, Etc. etc.) Stock, carry as many as you want (baring in mind; rebarreling counts as a mods if it causes the blaster to break 100 FPS). Performance mod exceeding 100 but less than 150 FPS, carry up to two, exceeding 150 FPS only one
• Blowgun: A blowgun. Totally separate category.
• Secondaries: Any single or semi-auto blaster that you can reasonably holster, or any blaster with less than 12 rounds capacity. Carry two stock or one modded and up to 36 rounds capacity.
• Primaries: Any single or semi-auto blaster that would need a sling or exceeds 12 rounds capacity but is less than 71 rounds capacity. Any user with a blaster in this category can carry up to 71 rounds capacity for the blaster. Carry two stock or one modded.
• Thrown Objects: Socks, foam balls, whatever your game allows that can be thrown. One slot of these allows up to 12 objects.
• Shields: 18" square, protect from hits by standard projectiles, swords, and thrown objects.
• Swords: 24" long, one hit = one tag.
• Extra Mags: Can carry an additional 71 rounds capacity
• Bigger Mags: Can use mags larger than 12 rounds, but within other capacity limits.

Special Equipment:

• SAW/Heavies: Any full-auto blaster. Stock: Unlimited capacity, mags can be any size. Modded: up to 150 rounds capacity, mags can be any size.
• Big Sheilds: X'xX', protects from hits as shield.
• Launchers: Any blaster that fires a special (pending gametype) projectile. Blasters in this category score bonus points, break shields, insta-out players and Juggernauts, etc. Users can carry up to 12 rounds, no distinction stock/modded.

Perks:

Every player gets one to start, and can be awarded additional perks by the moderators. Perks must remain the same throughout a game round, but may change over the course of several rounds. They come in two flavors: Permanent (you always have it during the round) and Usable (remove and tear up when used). Perks should (ideally) be displayed prominently on the player using them.

 

Permanent:

• Extra mags - carry 3 more mags
• Extra capacity - carry any size mag, up to limits permitted by class/equipment
• Extra hitpoint - add 1 hitpoint to your total
• First aid - carry X bandaids to heal teamates with
• Grenades! - carry up to 3 thrown objects
• Parting shots - empty the current blaster on any target after being tagged out before moving toward spawn/starting to count spawn times
• I'm taking you with me - one opposing player who can be touched within two steps of your position is eliminated when you are tagged out
• Holdout - carry an extra single-shot pistol

Useable:

• We're all going with me! - all opposing players within two steps of your position are eliminated when you are tagged out
• You only live twice - respawn immediately without dropping objectives, counting, or returning to base. You may wait until darts stop flying at you to use this.
• Teleported - on respawn, use to position yourself wherever you want on the battlefield - tear up on arrival at your destination
• (You get 2 cards) Shot through the heart - Use this card on hitting an opponent once with any projectile to eliminate them.

Errata:

• Ammo: Bulk carry as many standard darts (& Boomco, HIRs, Mega; gametype pending) as you care to. Limits apply to mag-reloads of any kind and mags, drums, clips, RSCB's, Hoppers, or cylinders/turrets exceeding 12 rounds.
• FPS: Fuzzy math applied; if you're the only guy skirting the rules with a pile of 145 FPS pistols, count them as 150. Average of XX shots with X dart type.
• Mods: Don't refer to cosmetic changes. Performance only will be measured.
• Bandages: Index cards the medic tears to remove a hit from a tagged player adjacent to them of their choosing.
• Scavenger: Cannot carry additional ammo in magazines/etc. Just in pockets.
• Hitpoints: Assuming normal 3:15/30 or whatever gameplay, how many times you can be hit to be tagged out. The bonus for the tank would probably be double hits.
• 12 Rounds Capacity: Stock nerf mid-cap mag. In the case of players without such mags available, limit the total mags carried such that the total capacity is less than 71 darts.
• "X": Some of these numbers are intentionally fuzzy and will depend enormously on the number of players and gametype. In one of my 3:30 games, with 25 people on a team and 3 teams on the field, carrying 10 bandages as a perk wouldn't be unreasonable. A 5'x3' sheild would also probably be possible because of the terrain I use and because so many people are available with rockets. YMMV.

I think the best way is to encourage creative scratch-building.

 

Or drive the market rate for these shells up through the roof. Silly's option is probably actually more expensive than just cornering the markets for the blasters you're looking at.

Generally NERF is about long range tag with ineffective taggers and not a simulation of real war. If you want that, you're better off playing Airsoft or laser tag.

 

If you are not providing all the equipment, you're telling people that they can/can't use certain of their blasters depending on some arbitrary game mechanic. Basically, you're telling people that if they have the wrong blaster, they can't play your game. Which is a terrible thing to tell them if you want them to play.

 

Unless you're going really far out of your way to supply everything, you likewise can't overcome the basic NERF instincts: Scaving darts is a thing. Players pick them up off the ground and put them in their pockets. You can't possibly enforce an ammo-limit restriction.

 

All blasters can have basically equal performance given equal darts and equal FPS restrictions. A fully-automatic Rapid Strike can fire just about as far and as accurately as a bolt-action blaster as a pistol. The only difference is that the former can do it at ~12 DPS, then ~2, then ~.25. You could maybe cause some players to be more accurate by giving them significantly better darts and/or blasters than everyone else; if you supply everything give high-accuracy players Boomco, Rival, or Mega blasters while everyone else uses regular 0.5" foam darts.

 

My group usually plays 3 hits (to any part of the body, clothing, or blaster - hits are called by the shooter with an audible "Did that hit?" and acknowledged by the target with "Hit X", where X is the number of hits they've taken) and 30 second respawn at base (count out loud to 30 at the designated respawn area). Rockets are instant-eliminators, every other dart is just 1 hit. This works pretty well and is easy to keep track of. Making it any more complicated (We tried Mega darts count for 2 hits) doesn't work - in the heat of the competition, you can't reliably tell what kind of dart hit you. Fiddling with the numbers (3:15 is common on the East coast I hear) should be fine, but lower hits means you're out more often.

 

Melee needs to be handled carefully - lots of players hit harder than is appropriate and your main draw (NERF battling) isn't about melee so many players won't be ready for it. Don't use stock NERF melee weapons, they're not soft enough. Look up boffers and see which types -if any- you'd want to allow.

Well, there is a 3d printer lab at school. But, the printers don't print at actual size, and I can't remember the deviation. I think it is +0.02" for outside diameters and -0.02" for inside diameters. They're Printrbots, if that helps any.

On the Mk8-esque SNAP I'm building, the plunger head has a bunch of friction, enough to hold a [[k26]] back at full compression. Am I doing things correctly?

That sounds similar to my experience, here's a file you can try that seems to work so far that *should* have those tolerances built in:

 v3 Catch w Guide.stl   3.03MB   361 downloads

 

Then if you need I have this for a handle - scale up by 25.4 as apparently I messed up the export (I did something like 1.6mmx20% and the first one failed; this one is beefed up so maybe it'll be fine but upping the shells to be safe might be a good idea. This is the biggest file by far):

 DGrip V2.stl   3.14MB   373 downloads

 

And this trigger:

 v3 trigger.stl   1.04MB   356 downloads

 

And this plunger head, which I feel like I've shared before:

 MK10_PH.stl   1.08MB   323 downloads

 

These files are preliminary - I've gotten them all to work but have made modifications since my first handle sheared off. For all these files try 4 shells (1.6mm) and 20% infill at .25mm layer height with 1.75 top/bottom (if you can, if not 0.2 mm and 1.6) If that breaks step it up to 100% or do more shells. Altogether you're talking 110 grams of filament and ~8 hours print time.

 

You'll need some #6x3/4" machine screws, a small spring (pen spring, I used one out of a $5 harbor freight set), a #6 washer, #8x1.5" machine screws and nuts, a two-way bolt like this one, a dash 216 oring (1/8" by 1-3/8" OD), a 1-2" wood screw, a 1-1/4" fender washer, a 1/2" rod, and a couple of barrel nuts and screws. I've found all that stuff at ACE, probably at HD/Lowes as well though the two way might be trickier. You can replace it with any method of joining two 1/2" rods with a small gap between them.

 

The large circle part is a template that goes over 1-1/4" PVC and allows you to accurately drill out the PVC for the catch. The part with legs is the frame, the one with the sloping hole and a small hole through it is the catch, the other one keeps the catch in place and may fit tight. You may need to sand that down a bit for it to fit easily and not break the frame.

 

To attach the handle, draw a straight line through the small hole from the circle template (Ideally use an architectural ruler, but I have used a corner between two smooth surfaces). This will be your bottom center line. Then position the handle along that line so that the large cutout is roughly centered on the small hole. Use the notches on the side of the handle by the holes to mark where to drill along the centerline. Drill these out for your barrel-nut screws (mine were 1/4"). Drill opposite those holes and do what you can to countersink them from the inside of the PVC. Your PT machining will be done once the screws fit, they don't need to be flush but it'll help.

 

You'll need to cut your 1/2" rod to fit your spring, then use the two way bolt to fix it together with a gap. Put the PH file with the oring on it on the appropriate end, run a wood screw into the rod with the fender washer. PH done.

 

To install the catch, put the catch pieces together (legs, catch, catch holder plate), run the #8 screws through the side holes on the PT, drop the catch in and orient it so it fits, and run the #6x3/4" with the washer and spring into the catch plate (Catch, PT wall, washer, spring, #6 head).

 

To install the handle, run a #6x3/4 through the side of the handle into and through the trigger, then put the barrel nuts in the holes in the handle. Run the 1/4" barrel nut screws into the handle.

 

Drop the PT into the blaster and through the catch assembly, add a 1"x1/2" bushing on the front (as with any pistol-type homemade) and you're done.

 

Let me know how it goes, I've needed a guinea pig for more extensive testing on this for a while.

What is the best program for creating nerf parts through 3D printers?
 
I've looked at several but I cannot figure out which would be the cheapest/ still able to make reliable homemade parts for nerf.

 
Autodesk Fusion 360, Sketchup (with this plugin),  probably Blender. All three are free, all make STL files which is all you need for printing. Reliability comes from your engineering/modeling skill/knowledge and printer's capabilities, the file is just a file. Any program can make bad files if you're a bad modeler with it.
 
Once you've got the STL, you need a slicer. I use Cura now, you might try othersthough. These are, likewise, pretty much equal and depend more on you than the program. I hear good things about the one that costs money.
 

Is there anywhere that I can pick up premade stl files that I can just use in a 3D printer?

Absolutely yes. More yes.

 

I'll be honest here though: I'm a little terrified for you if you need to ask these questions about 3d printing and somehow also have access to a printer. The things are finicky beasts at best, unless there is someone around you who can use google and then parse the results into actionable processes, you'll wind up with a hot plastic nest and a busted $hundreds-thousands machine. They aren't like regular printers where you can just send a page over and it'll work every time and then warn you if it's out of ink/paper.

Oh trust me. Plenty of people in HvZ communities hate our guts.

The next part of that quote is that there's some animosity between them and us. I don't think it impacts modding though; someone makes something cool they acknowledge it (See your work posted on Reddit). It's possible I'm working with only the friendly ones and there is a hidden group out there that really hates us and refuses to collaborate on anything (Facebook maybe?).

Why?

In the bad old days when NH was the only thing going consistently, Nerf blasters didn't have clips, and we were getting trolled by paintballers and airsofters like crazy because Nerf wasn't cool, some of them may have been stomped on by the aggressive moderation style adopted to counter the onslaught and keep our information 'pure' and more adult. Some were turned off by our difficult-to-enter forum. Those people talked to other people and we're reaping what we've sown. I don't think there is any real reason behind it other than hurt feelings and misinformation though.

Silicone is the lowest investment cost for any casting process. If you wanted to move up to the next level you would be looking at hobbyist injection molding. And the step beyond that would be spin casting. Which requires an oven or vulcanizing press to cure rubber molds, and a spinning table that you can use when pouring resin into your mold. That process allows you to pour multiple sets of parts with no bubbles or voids.
 
https://en.wikipedia...ki/Spin_casting

I'd be worried any casting method about the complexity of the molds needed. If he's got the demand for it, spin casting is a better choice for part cost per-unit. A 3d printed part might be about the same cost as a complex silicone cast.
 

CNC, may be a good choice, in Japan, there are similar commercial works can refer to
http://kazkin2120.cart.fc2.com/
The product is very delicate, but the price is high.
(This is the rubber band gun. My observation, the rubber band gun In Japan more popular)

Actually, CNC may be an even better choice when I stop to remember it can do much more 3d shapes than just flat-cut parts. Owning one that can do your parts might not be unreasonable, they've come down in price.

I've long been a fan of the rubberband guns this group is turning out, some have really interesting mechanisms!


Edit: Also, the small parts for this are on my printer right now. Looks like ~4 hours for them to cook @ 0.20 mm layer height and 1.6mm shell. The core will be ~11 hours with a trial 0.25mm layer height.

Edit 2: Printed the small parts. It's unclear from the image, but either 1/2" Sch. 40 PVC does not fit in the breech block or I downloaded the wrong file. Looking at 3dBBQ's files in sketchup and having downloaded a file I didn't notice before (breech ring), the single-breech file's output is 0.7299" diameter, the breech-ring file's is 0.8445" diameter, and 1/2" PVC (typical US RSCB output pipe and barrel sheath) is 0.8400" Diameter. I find I need 0.04" of tolerance, so a 0.8800" hole should fit 1/2" PVC well. Looks like the main hole through the core should be fine, but the imput is also 0.8450". That may work, but I'll need to test it with the new breech file.

 

Otherwise they went great.