Semi Auto Nerf Gun

PVC Arsenal 17 · Sat Nov 15, 2008 11:37 am

I got a new QEV and a three way valve with a thumb paddle which will make a good trigger. I threw some parts together just to see if the gun will work- It does. Now that I know that, I'll start putting it together correctly. What you see below is NOT the final product. It will look less like a crazy contraption and more like a gun when I'm finished.

http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/ff15 ... IM0767.flv

Take a good look at my garage. There's just about everything you can imagine in there.

POLAND_SPUD · Sat Nov 15, 2008 11:57 am

looks pretty cool... would you tell us something more about the bolt or the valve ?
at what pressure you use it??

keep_it_real · Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:03 pm

Very nice...

I always like the clean look of your guns (even though this isn't the final product).

Are you pleased with the performance?

Where did you get that three way valve?

PVC Arsenal 17 · Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:05 pm

The bolt is made from a short length of .40 cal blowgun barrel. It fits well inside 1/2" sch80 PVC. I have a small rod sticking out the front of the bolt to push the dart past the air hole in the barrel. (Air is introduced into the side of the barrel) That way when air comes through, the dart is not blocking the hole and is in front of it instead.

There are two valves. First is the QEV. It's a mini 1/8" QEV from a company called Pneumadyne. It is controlled using an 1/8" 3-way, normally open, push button valve which is also from Pneumadyne. The valve has a thumb paddle on it to make firing easier.

Basically, when you press the trigger, the current dart fires and the bolt moves back so a new dart can enter. When you let go, the bolt returns and pushes the new dart into position past the air hole in the barrel.

Pneumadyne is a great company. I ordered a few things from them and the quality of their products is unbeatable. Their customer service is excellent. Most of all, they have parts you just can't get anywhere else.
If you're looking for a specialized pneumatic valve, check them out.

The range and power exceeded my expectations. Better than any nerf gun I've used. So far the most I've run it at was 110 psi. I would estimate that it shot 100 feet. It seems to load consistenly provided their is constant pressure on the dart stack. We'll see how it works when I finish building the magazines.

Thanks for the comments! I should have this finished 100% within a week.

Lentamentalisk · Sat Nov 15, 2008 1:19 pm

Freaking sweet! That is looking really good, and you haven't even put it together yet, so I am impressed. I worry that there may not be enough flow through that hose, but I guess its just nerf, so it doesn't matter that much.
Great job! I can't wait for the final build!

VH_man · Sat Nov 15, 2008 3:00 pm

Post that on Nerfhaven... People will go Apeshit.....

Lentamentalisk · Sat Nov 15, 2008 3:20 pm

Not only will they go apeshit, they will start worshiping you as the new god. If you have seen some of their pneumatic work, you would be absolutely appalled. It is terrible. They would consider this a semi-auto sniper rifle. There stuff is so badly made, they might not even allow this at an event, because it is actually good.

PVC Arsenal 17 · Sat Nov 15, 2008 4:52 pm

Still waiting for my account to be approved at NerfHaven. Apparently they have a big wait list. I do have a thread going (barely) on NerfHQ.

Here's a pic of it loosely pieced together in the configuration I settled on. It'll still look much cleaner when it's all done.

The big ugly rectangle is the frame for the mag. I might have to tweak that design a bit... it seems too bulky.

POLAND_SPUD · Sat Nov 15, 2008 5:02 pm

lol I would kill to have that valve....
most of the stuff I can buy are 'industrial' type spool valves with bigass levers for acctuation

I suspect that other people will build similar guns soon.... damn I wanted to be the first

good job

Lentamentalisk · Sat Nov 15, 2008 5:22 pm

Definitely if you can make a slimmer mag system that would be nice, because that rectangle is rather huge.

I suggest that as soon as you have this looking respectable enough, and functioning, you send it to the mods at nerf haven, in an email, or any way you can get in touch with them, so that they will see you are seriously better than them, and let you in.

It just occurred to me that I don't really have a sense of scale of your cannon. Could you take a picture of it with something to put it to scale, like a foot, or soda can, or something fairly standard size?

PVC Arsenal 17 · Sat Nov 15, 2008 5:57 pm

Lentamentalisk · Sat Nov 15, 2008 6:24 pm

Wow, I though it was so much bigger, though I guess I should have realized it wasn't cuz your barrel is only 1/2"... The mag slot isn't nearly as bad. I would suggest actually trying to make some sort of box mag or something, that could hold a ton of ammo though, as the last thing you want is to run out of ammo at a crucial moment during one of your missions when the zombies are attacking.

Sticky_Tape · Sat Nov 15, 2008 6:39 pm

Wow great work I thought that it was much bigger than that too how would you make a box mag work?

Lentamentalisk · Sat Nov 15, 2008 6:45 pm

I have no idea what so ever how to make the box mag idea work (I don't even know how normal box mags work.) It seems like some high cap mag would be nice here though.

VH_man · Sat Nov 15, 2008 7:59 pm

Making a Box Mag is Easy As hell, Especially for nerf guns.

Just bend some REALLY THIN music wire and make a HUGE magazine box spring. Just make sure you have a method to load the darts in and KEEP them in.

For inspriation on your Magazine, i Reccomend:

http://www.boltsniper.com/submitted/Omp ... /Ompa.html

I have made this, it works great, and will get rid of that "Bulkiness". The method of using a Tee Cut in Halph, and then tacking halph-pipe peices on the side of the magazine works wonders. If you do it right, you dont even need a catch, as the Friction holds it in.