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Incredible Paper Dart

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:03 pm
by Insomniac
Hi everybody, I've been browsing theses forums for some time but my Dad wouldn't let me sign up. He changed his mind yesterday though, so I am writing this simple How-To on my favourite type of ammo. This dart is good as its so lightweight it's safe for suburban areas, it's cheap and most important of all it flys exeptionally well. With my simple ball valve pnumatic, I can send one of these out of sight straight up. If built well they fly perfectly straight, if built badly you may as well shoot cotton wool.
These are NOT my design, I found them on this site http://tomshiro.org/pdart/ but his method of making them is fairly complicated compared to mine.

1. Get a sheet of MAGAZINE paper.

2. With the paper in portrait orientation, start to roll an EXTREMELY NARROW cone from the corner.

3. Keep rolling, doing your best to keep it tight, narrow and sharp.

4. When there is only a small triangle left to roll, stop rolling and lick the triangle. (Glue could also be used )

5. Finish rolling the dart, and lick the spiral seam from the point to the tail. You really need to get it wet or it wont stick.

6. lick the tip of the dart and roll it between you fingers to seal the small hole on the tip.

7. Slide it into your barrel, and get some scisssors to cut the excess off.

8. BEFORE YOU CUT slide the dart out of the barrel slightly, otherwise the tail will be crushed when you cut.

9. Have fun :D

Please give feedback, this is my first how to and I want to know what you think.

I just had an idea. Seeing as my gun is a ball valve gun, the darts can usually make it out the barrel in one piece. For more powerful guns, you may need to either lower the pressure, glue the dart or cover it in electrical tape.

The pictures are in reverse order, Whoops!

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:11 pm
by Bluetooth
That is amazingly cool, simple aaaaaaaaand most of all CHEAP!!!! Thnx for posting it :D .

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:24 pm
by Insomniac
Your welcome. If you build one, post you results here. I'm interested to see what happens when they are fired from more powerful guns.

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:35 pm
by Bluetooth
I made one but its 9:00 here and pitch black out. Ill post the results tomarrow.

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:40 pm
by pyromanic13
i've made em before and they're really fun. try putting needles on the tip. also try shooting them out of a paintball gun.

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:42 pm
by ProfessorAmadeus
Put a large roofing nail in it so that it has a heavy tip. Thats my main damage ammo.

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:44 pm
by Insomniac
If you built the dart well you may as well shoot it at night. They go so damn fast you'll be lucky to see it at all.
I shot the one in the pics. It didn't go too well, it was a bit unstable, and turned sideways a few times. I still lost sight of it though.
Also, if you put somthing like a twig on the tip, you can put one of those red caps from cap guns on them. That way it goes POP! when it hits the ground, making it easier to measure the amout of time between launch and impact with the ground. I suppose that you could use some mathmatical formula to work out how high it went if you knew the hang time, but I'll leave that to somone who knows more math than me. I'm 13 and we haven't covered advanced projectile motion in maths. lol :lol:

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:50 pm
by pyromanic13
some kid from holland once told me me used to go hunting with these :?

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:51 pm
by Insomniac
Yeah, but i doubt a paper dart could do much unless it was tipped with a nail or somthing.....unless it got you in the eye :shock:

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:55 pm
by MrCrowley
You can aslo make darts using the tips from caulking tubes, and you can put drill bits or nails in the tips and they're my number one damage ammo.(check my sig for pics under paintball rifle)

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:57 pm
by Bluetooth
Its like " I made mine out of microscopicly think titainium sheet."

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 10:00 pm
by Insomniac
Yeah, the caulking tube ones would be better, but the whole point of these darts isn't damage, it's the fact that they fit any small bore guns, shoot real far and are CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP
If we had more room I would tip them with nails, but I live in the middle of a city, and I can shoot these straight up without worrying about what it hits on the way down.
@Mr Crowley, I saw the pictures and all i can say is WOW! I would try with my gun but it uses a ball valve, making it damn near impossible to aim.

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 2:44 am
by MrCrowley
Use a spring activated ball valve to whip it open really fast.
I used one on my Golf Ball gun to acuate the piston.
Here's a video of it opening the valve: http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i290/ ... lValve.flv

and here's a picture:
Image

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:35 am
by Insomniac
Heheheheh great idea. I had already heard of using a spring, I will have to try it. Does it need to be a big spring or will most tension springs work?

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:55 am
by MrCrowley
well just ask for a high-compression spring at your local hardware store. It needs to be-able to expand without too mcuh strength or disfiguring the spring and making it longer.