Building a better Nerf gun

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By John Baichtal
Posted 2011/01/17 @ 6:49 am
Category Fun & Games

Simon, our favorite New Zealand maker, decided to build a better Nerf gun.

The pistol is made from 32mm ID PVC pipe, some aluminium extrusion and aluminium pipe, wood for the grip and various pieces of metal and plastic. The main spring is one I got from Bunnings warehouse. This gun should be able to take a cut down AR-15 spring as used in the Boltsniper weapons but these aren’t that easy to come by in New Zealand. I believe I am legally allowed to buy one but by the time I found that out I already had the Bunnings spring. I may still get one to play with. The idea of a toy gun using a part from a real one appeals to me for some odd reason…

Also check out Simon’s steam-powered record player and weather satellite receiving station.

In the Maker Shed

Cube 3D Printer

Getting Started with Raspberry Pi

BeagleBoard BeagleBone Black

Raspberry Pi Starter Kit - Includes 512MB Raspberry Pi

4 Responses to Building a better Nerf gun

Simon on January 17th, 2011 at 3:15 pm said:

Sorry, my blog is temporarily kaput! Something went wrong, there was too much traffic (I think to my Gallery2 page – lots of pictures on this project) and my web host temporarily disabled my site after it crashed one of their servers. There is still a film on YouTube where I describe the pistol and compare it to a ‘real’ NERF gun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epVBHeEqXY4

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carpespasm on January 17th, 2011 at 10:33 pm said:

As an alternate source for springs you might want to check into paintball and maybe airsoft gun parts. Not sure if they’d be easier to find or cheaper to buy, but they might be. Nice simple design through. Any chance of getting a little more detail on the telescoping pull-bolt? If you could get another pull spring attached to it it could retract on it’s own as well.

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- Simon on January 18th, 2011 at 11:23 am said:
  
  I didn’t take pictures of making the telescoping part unfortunately but it’s just a rod with a stop hard soldered on each end. In the middle is a sliding piece. That gets soldered to the brass tube attached to the piston. I should draw a diagram and put that on the site to explain it a bit better.
  
  I did actually consider a spring inside the telescoping part but then you need to make it longer to allow space for the spring. The telescoping rod is really a piston inside a piston! In fact I made the stop that is inside the brass tube too good a fit so it was acting as a piston buffer inside the brass tube by compressing the air as it moved. That’s why I needed to drill holes in the brass to allow the air inside the tube to escape.
  
  Reply ↓
Mylvin Omisol on June 21st, 2011 at 10:44 am said:

The process looks complicated but the idea is exceptional. Is their a glue gun in there? Please correct me.how to draw a gun

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