There's a locked topic from a few years back about converting an Airow for Nerf darts. I've been thinking about using a longbow to fire darts since long before I even heard of the the Airow, but I could never really come up with anything that works. Not that that keeps me from daydreaming.

It always looks good on the computer, but there's a number of things that have always made me stumble in actually making one.

The first big problem I have is mounting the whole thing. This is intended to mount on a cheap little fiberglass longbow (this one, I think); it's far from the best thing for launching arrows, but then again so am I. But that means there aren't any nice mounting points like you'd have on a sporting compound bow. I'd rather not drill into the bow anywhere, either. And because I love making my life more difficult, I'd like to make something ambidextrous if possible; I have some left-handed friends, and I'd rather not cheat them out of trying one of these if I ever made it.

Second is that this thing is going to be front-heavy. I'm guessing there's about 2 pounds of plastic in all the main parts. And it's going to be long, too. At least 24 inches, but the bow itself has a draw of something like 28. I could probably fix that with some rearward stabilizers, but again I have no idea how to mount those.

And speaking of the junk in the front, I wonder how exactly to load this thing. It's way too long to just stick a barrel on the far end, so I have a small barrel near the hand grip connected by a tube at the end of the plunger assembly. That kind of thing worked for the legendary '95 Crossbow, right? And I just now realized I put the rail with the dart rack on the wrong side for a right-handed user; they'd have to reach across awkwardly. Hrm.

So, is this possible or is this daft? It really feels like it could be done, what with there being at least three kinds of bows that come to mind.

I love my Rayven. It's a bullpup and it loads from a clip and it looks like something from Ghost in the Shell and it goes PYEW PYEW PYEW! Okay, that's me making those sounds, ya got me there.

But truth be told, its range and speed are kind of anemic without some serious mods. I don't want to potentially ruin it since they seem to have dropped out of production, so the next best thing would be an Afterburner system of some kind.

Naturally, it's easy to get carried away on the computer:

Before I go and drop money on printed plastic and motors, I better have a good plan first:

-I probably should've asked before modelling, but has anyone already made an Afterburner extension? Knowing my track record, someone else has probably made something even better. I saw roboman was working on one in the Homemades thread, but I didn't see a finished product or download link.

-I'd prefer to make an extension instead of integrating it into one blaster. If I ever get a better flywheel blaster, then I'd be able to switch over.

-I'm thinking of tilting the motors to induce a spin in the dart for accuracy. I'm pretty sure they do something like that on punting machines. They're both angled 5 degrees off perpendicular, but that's just a guess at where they should go.

-I still need to figure out a switch. A toggle would probably be easiest, but I thought about using a lever attached to a plate that would turn it on just by gripping it. I haven't even begun to engineer that.

-I still need to figure out a battery solution. Four AAs should do with the motors I plan on using, but how to cover them up is another story. A sliding cover would probably work just fine, but I should probably use this as an opportunity to practice with live hinges.

So, nothing really substantive to report for now, I suppose. Just daydreaming in public.

I've recently seen Aeromech's sear carbine video and I thought to myself: "Can this be easy enough to get me in to homemades?". The PVC and cuttingboard work is doable for me. I've got a nice amount of tools, but I lack springs.

I live in Europe so I don't have acces to Mcmaster, and I don't want to spend $50 on shipping for a pack of 3 springs bought of Nerfhaven. So I wondered if I could use a normal elite/longshot upgrade spring to power my sear carbine. Any ideas?

Hi everyone, I am 3DBBQ .  

I want to show you my latest project.

This is the hopper clip design. This is a mechanism that I have never made before because there weren’t any Pipe Wyes where I lived.

When prototyping, I used 3D printing to make the Pipe Wyes models. These are the areas where I have fixed the hopper clip:

1. The darts now start to turn after it accelerates instead of turning while it accelerates. This allows the darts to really go through every step without getting stuck or shooting blanks.

2. Using a spiral airflow to allow turning while accelerating.

3. 35 degrees is a good angle.

I use a bigger check valve instead of a mini valve for larger ones have greater pump force and power.

However, there is a problem with shooting compared to the mini valve, which is why I’ve designed a lever mechanism that can make you press easily and shoot with a strong force.

The hopper clip’s aiming scope is made of four mirrors to form a reflex sight that prevents the magazine from blocking the line of sight.

Conclusion: The hopper clip is a design that allows speed and high efficiency. It also solves the problem of an obscure line of sight thanks to the sighting device.

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This is the version of the big air tank I’m fixing now.

The big air tank can be used in many places, but I recommend to use it with an air tank big enough for better results.

This is how it works: 

Using a tiny cone to prevent the air from shooting out at once. The cone allows the air to enter the spacious air tank quickly, and leave the spacious air tank slowly. During the shooting process, do not press the trigger for too long so that you don’t consume and waste the air.

This is a design that is easy to make and it can allow firing shots in rapid succession.

Hello All! This is my first topic. I'm sorry if I placed this in the wrong part of the forums. But I am working on a homemade blaster and would like to base off the plunger tube to the Jolt and Bigshock because of the particular design I am going for. I don't have a jolt or Bigshock. That's why I am posting this right now.

hi i was just wondering if anybody knows how to make a pump rainow pistol kinda like bobololos and if you could maby make a kit and i could buy it off you.

17th Century English Lock Cavalry Pistol (field test prototype).
LARP safe foam firing firelock.

Based on an existing English (or Doglock) pistol, this was a large pistol commonly used by cavalrymen.

I just finished my my first snap, and it works pretty good. There is one problem though. Every couple of shots the trigger gets dislocated out of the clothespin.

any suggestions on fixing this?

As some of you may have been aware, I've been working on a solution for a high-capacity magazine. I'm posting this to show that I have succeeded, and where my toils have led. I'm dubbing it the Mark-12 (prototype), since it's the 12th blaster I've built or worked on/mostly built (After the Mk-8, it was a JSPB-style blaster, a 3d-printed Durendal, and Caliburn).

Without further delay, here's the janky prototype of possible doom:

This is my development. For those who haven't been following along, it's a 3s lipo powered 12v blower hooked up to some Carlon 3/4" ENT Flexible Conduit (alt link for a shorter section); connected to the PVC via Sch 40 3/4" PVC, a threaded/slip coupler, and a threaded ENT adapter at both ends, hooked up to a firing tube that flows freely* into a flywheel cage (mine is from a Rayven). As-shown, it has a +/- 20' long coil used as a mag and I've successfully fired several shots off it, and fed a total of 61 full-length darts through it.

The distinction is because I found my connection from the end of the conduit to the FWC to be clogging up with darts. If I were able to spend more time building something right now, I could eliminate that issue. I'll get to it if you don't do it first, but I've been touting this thing for a while now and wanted to get a working prototype out there for others to build off of. So far, I have fed it USC's, waffle heads, and stock darts and all fed fine. I suspect I could use the blower I've sourced with a larger coil-mag, but cut my tubing down yesterday thinking it was the issue. These ENT connectors do not like coming off once attached, so I might need to pick up some more prior to continuing coil-mag length testing.

This is absolutely a bench rig. It is meant for testing, and I'll need to make a shell for if/when I actually plan to use it in a war. Or I'll cram all that into an old Longshot, I'm pretty sure it'll fit. Or maybe I'll just tape it all together into some franken-monster. For the electrical guys, yes, I know I'm not supposed to use wire nuts that way but once I'd rigged up the FWC I realized it'd be a perfect fit inside 1/2" Sch 40 PVC so I just cut it and wire-nutted it back together.

This is the bench rig with the coil mag removed to show what is going on a little bit better. On the left, the aformentioned blower. This one appears very capable of clearing the 20' coil-mag I'm using. Leading from that is a section of 3/4" PVC that I've cut slots into such that it nests over the locking nubs on the blower (probably could achieve the same result by filing/sanding down the nubs, but I wanted to keep the blower mostly intact). The 3/4" has a hole cut into it for feeding darts through - in the future I'd like this to be a Y or a loading door, but this works ok for now and I didn't have either of those handy. Then there are the connectors and coil-mag, and a section of 1/2" PVC leading to a 1/2" PVC T (because I didn't have a coupler handy) leading to the FWC. That part was clogging at the coil-mag -> PVC connection, so I may need to create a fitting or nest some pipe and chamfer it or just feed through the 3/4 or something.

Here's the wiring diagram. Negative blower and FWC go to the negative battery, positive blower goes through the trigger switch and to the battery; positive FWC goes through a rocker switch, then to the trigger switch, and then to the battery.

As for draw, this thing probably needs a much larger battery than I have available. The battery voltage has gone from 12.7 to 11.7 in several minutes of testing and loading. With careful attention, I could probably run this as-is in a war, but only for one 30-minute round and at this time I'd want to be checking it even during that.

For the astute among you, you'll have noticed an important omission - this has no trigger. It could, it'd probably be akin to a Zeus trigger or (for full-auto) a simple SNAP trigger. Currently, pull the trigger-switch and everything turns on and that's it. Flip the rocker switch and the flywheels don't turn so you can load more easily. It probably should have a real trigger at some point, since darts resting on the wheels seem to cause the the stock motors this is currently running to jam. Ideally, it'll have a trigger that mechanically forces the last several darts into the wheels so some lag in blower-pressure doesn't cause a firing lag. That's down the line though, I need to get my printer working again before I can really start to figure that stuff out.

Comments, questions, and criticisms accepted.

*^{In theory, right now it does not.}

As some of you may have been aware, I've been working on a solution for a high-capacity magazine. I'm posting this to show that I have succeeded, and where my toils have led. I'm dubbing it the Mark-13 (prototype), since it's the 12th 13th blaster I've built or worked on/mostly built (After the Mk-8, it was a JSPB-style blaster, a PSCR, a 3d-printed Durendal, and Caliburn).
 
Without further delay, here's the janky prototype of possible doom:
 

 
This is my development. For those who haven't been following along, it's a 3s lipo powered 12v blower hooked up to some Carlon 3/4" ENT Flexible Conduit (alt link for a shorter section); connected to the PVC via Sch 40 3/4" PVC, a threaded/slip coupler, and a threaded ENT adapter at both ends, hooked up to a firing tube that flows freely into a flywheel cage (mine is from a Rayven). As-shown, it has a +/- 20' long coil used as a mag and I've successfully fired several shots off it, and fed a total of 61 full-length darts through it. 65 darts in +/- 30 seconds of continuous firing.
 
The distinction is because I found my connection from the end of the conduit to the FWC to be clogging up with darts. If I were able to spend more time building something right now, I could eliminate that issue. I'll get to it if you don't do it first, but I've been touting this thing for a while now and wanted to get a working prototype out there for others to build off of. No distinction, I've fixed it and it works fine.So far, I have fed it USC's, waffle heads, and stock darts and all fed fine. I suspect I could use the blower I've sourced with a larger coil-mag, but cut my tubing down yesterday thinking it was the issue. These ENT connectors do not like coming off once attached, so I might need to pick up some more prior to continuing coil-mag length testing.
 
This is absolutely a bench rig. It is meant for testing, and I'll need to make a shell for if/when I actually plan to use it in a war. Or I'll cram all that into an old Longshot, I'm pretty sure it'll fit. Or maybe I'll just tape it all together into some franken-monster. For the electrical guys, yes, I know I'm not supposed to use wire nuts that way but once I'd rigged up the FWC I realized it'd be a perfect fit inside 1/2" Sch 40 PVC so I just cut it and wire-nutted it back together.
 

 
This is the bench rig with the coil mag removed to show what is going on a little bit better. On the left, the aformentioned blower. This one appears very capable of clearing the 20' coil-mag I'm using. Leading from that is a section of 3/4" PVC that I've cut slots into such that it nests over the locking nubs on the blower (probably could achieve the same result by filing/sanding down the nubs, but I wanted to keep the blower mostly intact). The 3/4" has a hole cut into it for feeding darts through - in the future I'd like this to be a Y or a loading door, but this works ok for now and I didn't have either of those handy. Then there are the connectors and coil-mag, and a section of 1/2" PVC leading to a 1/2" PVC T (because I didn't have a coupler handy) leading to the FWC. That part was clogging at the coil-mag -> PVC connection, so I may need to create a fitting or nest some pipe and chamfer it or just feed through the 3/4 or something.
 

Update: I've figured out a different connector setup: From the coil outlet, ENT adapter, Threaded-socket 3/4" coupler, 3/4" pipe chamfered on the end toward the coil, FWC. My setup uses another coupler and a 1/2" T because my pipe was too short and I wanted a window to see what was going on.

 
Here's the wiring diagram. Negative blower and FWC go to the negative battery, positive blower goes through the trigger switch and to the battery; positive FWC goes through a rocker switch, then to the trigger switch, and then to the battery.
 
As for draw, this thing probably needs a much larger battery than I have available. The battery voltage has gone from 12.7 to 11.7 in several minutes of testing and loading. With careful attention, I could probably run this as-is in a war, but only for one 30-minute round and at this time I'd want to be checking it even during that.
 
For the astute among you, you'll have noticed an important omission - this has no trigger. It could, it'd probably be akin to a Zeus trigger or (for full-auto) a simple SNAP trigger. Currently, pull the trigger-switch and everything turns on and that's it. Flip the rocker switch and the flywheels don't turn so you can load more easily. It probably should have a real trigger at some point, since darts resting on the wheels seem to cause the the stock motors this is currently running to jam. Ideally, it'll have a trigger that mechanically forces the last several darts into the wheels so some lag in blower-pressure doesn't cause a firing lag. That's down the line though, I need to get my printer working again before I can really start to figure that stuff out.
 
Comments, questions, and criticisms accepted.

A friend of mine has recently built a SNAP.He let me fire it a few times and as you know the SNAP has a clothespin as a trigger/catch.It felt like it would break at any moment when I was firing it.Wondering if there is anything more durable then a wood or plastic clothespin.Has anyone made a different design then the regular clothespin or is this the only way so far and no alternative

Hello everybody. I've been trying to build an airgun recently and i've gotten stuck at the trigger. 

I dislike how a ball valve feels and looks, but i don't have the money for one of those fancy mjvo-3 valves.

Any ideas/tips for what i can use as a trigger mech?

            *IF THE POLL ABOVE IS NOT SHOWING UP, PLEASE FILL OUT THE SHORT SURVEY REDIRECTED HERE. Thanks*

           As an industrial design student, I've been working on my portfolio for companies lately. I've been trying to get some extracurricular projects in there, so I've been trying to develop a homemade blaster design for the past few months to submit. I've got my design nearly thought through, and will release it to the community at some point soon. The work on this project as a whole still needs a lot of work, which includes background research to my design that was created to address the wants and needs of the community out of homemades that I have noticed over the past few years. None of my research is concrete however, so for those who use homemades, if y'all could complete the quick survey, I have attached, that would help me tremendously with the background work I have to do. 

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: If there is anything you wish to add or think homemades could grow into/need work in, feel free to reply below. Your perspective is greatly appreciated.

Caliburn that can shoot Nerf Mega and BuzzBee XL darts.

Up on Thingiverse. Enjoy.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2488816