Chanclas

That was me.  I am happy and surprised to see how much success you had with this--you seemed like you were quite far over your head.  I'm glad I was wrong.

I'm pretty sure we never said we'd print any design, as we don't have the sort of printer that does that  (SLS printers can do most anything, we have FDM printers because we are poor).  And looking at your parts, I'm pretty sure we couldn't have printed them without a redesign even if we did have 3d model files for them.

I'd mostly forgotten about this, and I am sort of working on something a bit similar (Not ultiple-more, but using a pulley or a gear like the 2nd style you showed) but right now I'm re-inventing magazines to that end.  I'm glad you posted this before I put out anything as I wouldn't want to steal your thunder.  Making something like this with the help of a 3d printer would be impressive, but out of machined PVC pipes and fittings like this shows incredible skill, craftmanship and careful planning.

One question about functionality--You seem to be the only person on earth other than me that makes nerf breeches that push darts past the air source into the barrel.  In the blasters I've made like that, I've been able to repeat the loading/priming motion to put multiple darts in the barrel and fire shotgun style.  Does anything prevent you from doing that with your blaster?

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I didn't mean literally "any design". I just thought you might be able to help but I do understand the limitations with printing.

Thank you for liking my design. It took a ton of time, reworking and refitting and crying.

I'm excited to see what you have in the works.

Yes, you can repeatedly cock the pistol to load multiple darts, at least with the current design. Or you could hold the trigger while cocking and it would fire immediately as the slide returns forward.

This is pretty interesting. I could futz with this design a bit once I get an artifact magazine. I've been wanting to trim one of those down to fit inside a grip for a while. JET is "working" on a "Katana" skinny mag but I don't trust them to deliver those anytime soon.

You might be able to overcome this with more diameter, though there is a plateau where the added area leads to more resistance due to both friction and air restriction. You also have the complication of having your output traveling through a 180 degree bend to get out the barrel. That little passageway could easily be improved as a printed part with a smoother elbow transition.

 

And you are correct in that this design/construction could be made much more rigid and simplified a bit by linking the slide to the plunger rod using a cable and a pulley. The downside would be added length on the blaster (pulley diameter and clearance for the plunger end), but you gain having a static catch location. A very short plunger with a PCSR-style sear instead of a through-hole catch would probably help you save some space.

 

I would also recommend reading the Caliburn thread. You could make your slide return spring much much weaker if the darts are being pushed into a much looser fitting "chamber" that the ramrod seals inside of, and the barrel is nested inside ahead of where the dart is pushed to. This will make a big difference in the amount of effort required to feed darts and it uses the plunger output to load the darts into the barrel.

Softening PVC will produce Chlorine and byproduct fumes. Very few respirators are rated to filter chlorine out so you should setup your workspace so you are standing upwind from a fan blowing over yourself and your work area.

I did consider designing a better transition between the plunger tube and the barrel. Like a bit of vinyl tubing or something similar to what is used in stock Nerf pump blasters between their pumps and barrels.

I've been trying to find a pulley system that shortens the pull but lengthens the stroke. Apparently it is possible but would multiply the force needed to cock the slide back. I do like your pulley system and would try it if I had time to do so.

The loose chamber thing is already in use. That happened after I found my breach setup was too tight to allow the spring to return the slide all the way forward. And that is when I created the bad seal and abandoned the project until now. I like the idea, I just haven't been able to make it better.

 

Ah, I see.

 

 

I probably would have gone with something like the top two designs in your animation. I guess I just always think of rigid pieces when I think of moving parts.

I prefer not having to make a tiny axle for those cams to pivot on. I find my design to be more sturdy than those.

Well shoot, that's pretty clever. I was going to suggest looking through Boltsniper's old builds - his NTS specifically since it's a clip-fed slide-action pistol, but they seem to have lost all their pictures (Slug, is there anything we can do about that?).

Trust me, I've memorized Boltsniper's write-ups. And many others here on NerfHaven. I've read all the ones that seemed to be related to my project. I needed the inspiration but I also didn't want to make something that has been done before.

This is ridiculously awesome. It's very much like something I was once planning but never had the chance to build. Great job bringing it to life, it did nearly bring me to tears of joy as per the thread title. Yours looks at least 9000 times sexier than anything I could have ever built anyways...and it even has a slidelock!

 

Question: Did you wind your own spring for the magazine?

 

https://web.archive....des/armory2.htm(Too much sexiness for one thread? The mag wasn't in the handle, though, so it loses some style points I guess)

Thank you for the link to his old website. What was with the ponies? Did he lose his site?

Thank you for liking it, now go make it awesome-er-er.

Yes, I made the spring, like Boltsniper used to do.

Use a heat gun, get it nice and soft. Shove two 1/2" CPVC pipes inside, side by side. Let it cool that way while you press on the sides to flatten them. To form the lips that hold the darts down, again, warm it up. Then stick a 1/2" CPVC pipe across the top, as if it were the breach, and curve the lips around it until it cools. My new pictures will show before and after this step.

I bent music wire with needle nose pliers. Requires patience and trial and error. The angle is comfortable and affects nothing. The magazine follower is made to negate the angle and the magazine lips force the darts horizontal even if the follower fails to do it's job.

NEW PICTURES:

Assembly screws. Receiver is attached to Plunger Tube with 2 screws, in pink.

Plunger/Spring/Catch Assembly is held in by "cap", which is kept in place by the forward Receiver screw (green). Another two screws (pink) attach the Slide to the Catch Assembly, removing these allows you to remove the Catch Assembly and Plunger. Also visible, the Nub Flexor, in blue. And in white, a pair of wheel chocks.

Catch Assembly. In pink, the Catch Ring, made of 1/2" PVC.

The Catch Ring is screwed to the Catch Flexor, in blue. The body, pink, is a 1/2" PVC Coupler. In green, the Plunger Guide, made of 1/2" PVC.

Inside the Plunger Guide is a bit of 1/2" CPVC, circled in pink, for the Plunger Spring to rest against.

The Catch Flexor, in pink, is cut into the 1/2" CPVC, it is not a separate piece.

Here's how it works.

Trigger Assembly. In pink, a strip cut into the Plunger Tube--this is the Nub Flexor, same thing as the Catch Flexor. Green shows the Nub, which is glued on. There is also a screw, shown in blue.

Here's how it works.

The Trigger Linkage is a 1/2" CPVC tube screwed to the Trigger which is made of 1/4" cutting board. The Nub Flexor fits in the long slot at the far end, when the trigger is pulled, the Nub goes up, releasing the Catch. The short slot is just to allow one of the Receiver assembly screws to pass through. The red rubber band, which returns the Trigger forward and is broken in the picture, should be wrapped around the Receiver assembly screw at the end of the Receiver. The slots and screws help keep the trigger aligned.

You can see the ends of the Trigger (pink) and Catch (green) in the image below. Also visible is the spring, shown in blue, which returns the Slide forward.

Handles and Magazines. Receiver is 1" PVC, Handles are 1-1/4" PVC, Magazines are 1" Thin-Wall PVC, Magazine Followers and Bases are Balsa Wood, Magazine Springs are Music Wire.

Plunger. Long bolt through threaded 1/2" OD nylon spacers that have been beveled. Standard washer sandwich. Adjustable plunger length due to the threads.

Hello, everyone! I have been dead for a long time on here. I'm back for today because I couldn't keep this a secret any longer. THIS PROJECT IS ALMOST COMPLETE, this is not a full write-up. It loads and fires but has a bad seal. I can fix that but I don't have time--I haven't touched the project or even the tools in many months. That's why I'm just gonna show you my thing and let you do what you want with it.

No official name but let's call it the Sex Pistol for now. First person to perfect it gets to rename it. But do you really want to?

The Sex Pistol is just a like a real pistol. You can load a magazine in the handle, cock the slide back, slide returns forward, you pull the trigger, dart leaves the barrel. It's got some weight to it, feels good in the hand, and is 12" long.

ANIMATION of sexy 1st design

Of course, nothing stays the same. I've changed some moving parts when I found out that the real world isn't the same as the 3D model world.

VIDEO of sexy man cocking and dry-firing the Sex Pistol

The best change I made was the way I made the handle and the magazines. For the handle, I used a heat gun to soften the 1-1/4" PVC and then shoved two lengths of 1/2" PVC inside, side by side, to "spread" it from the inside. While it cooled, I pressed it between two wooden boards to flatten the sides a bit. The result is so comfy and strong. For the magazines, you can do the same with 1" thin-wall PVC, with two lengths of 1/2" CPVC inside--OR you can shove the softened 1" pipe inside the handle you already made. As it cools, wiggle it around and slide it in and out--this will keep it from hardening and getting stuck. You can cool the pipe faster by spraying water on it. ALL OF THIS SHOULD BE DONE IN A VENTILATED AREA--some, like Captain Slug, would suggest that you also wear some kind of respiratory protection.

The coolest change is the way the slide can be locked in the cocked position to allow for easy magazine swap. This came about from a design change where the magazine would be "closed" at the top which wouldn't allow the dart-retainer-lips-things to spread around the bolt. I like this feature, even if the magazine lips are open and allow the bolt to pass through. You wouldn't need this slide-lock if you decide not to add the slide return spring, which is on the barrel and pushes the slide forward after being cocked. But why wouldn't you want that?! It's so cool!

VIDEO of sexy man poppin' and lockin'

The most difficult change was the damn "mobile" catch and trigger assembly. The first reason for this change was that the plunger and catch would slide back in the plunger tube, instead of firing, when the trigger was pulled. Only way to stop that was to hold the slide forward with your free hand, which is dumb. The solution was to come up with a trigger that pushed up or forward or both. I went with the one in the middle on the left side of the animated image linked below. The trigger is a length of 1/2" CPVC, with a hole cut out to allow for the gray flexible trigger-catch-pusher-thing. The gray strip is just thin metal with a rounded nub of plastic glued on it.

ANIMATION of trigger designs

The second reason was that the simple 3-layer catch shown in the animation was not easily fabricated with my sexy Dremel and wasn't strong enough. The result is a big ugly thing but I believe it is an original concept. Imagine the plunger entering from the right, catching on the ring in the middle. The trigger pushes up on the ring, which is bonded to, and flexes up on, a strip of CPVC extending from the CPVC section that is the left end of the catch.

There are a few things I designed that I'm pretty sure are new ideas. Dammit, I give up, I'll just have to get better pictures tomorrow. I haven't updated the model so you won't like it if you see it. Even if I wanted to, my computer is too old to be sexy and can't even install AutoCAD properly.

A few little notes:

-Magazines can be made any length but mine is currently long enough for 14 darts

-Magazines can fit darts up to 1-1/4" in length

-Ranges aren't expected to be impressive, even with a perfect seal. Current stroke is 2-3/4", I believe, which is pathetic, I know. That's just how it is, unless you make the pistol longer.

-I know it's big but it's also smaller than you think.

-Here's a Google Drive folder with all the pictures and videos and maybe the .dwg model file thing.

-Another fitting name for this pistol is Pillow Talk. I was gonna say something gross that rhymes with "eremature pjaculation" but I didn't. Also, it's full unofficial name is Sex Pistol: Experimental Reloading Mechanism.

One more thing. When I was about halfway done building the first crappy prototype that barely held together for a few days, I emailed the guys that print and sell ESLTs and PullSCRTs. They said they'd print any design if you were willing to pay for it. The price they gave me wasn't sexy and they said my model wasn't printable. That's fine, no hard feelings. I had laughs and tears working on this. Thank you guys for not stealing my concept and making it better and printable.

Okay, I'm spent.