"Re-inventing The Wheel"
Say hello to Mr.T. He is old, simple, and there is really nothing special about him. However, Mr.T is a sneaky little feller. He likes putting on clever disguises like iron sights and stocks and even removable magazines to make people think that he is special. But he isn't. He's been around for years now, and for some reason, can't accept that his time is done. As a community, we are going to get rid of Mr.T.
I hope you found that funny, but more importantly, I hope that you took it seriously. No, I am not talking about the guy who played Clubber Lang in the third rocky. I am talking about the K'nex gun that has been built and posted thousands of times, and makes the rest of the Instructables community hate K'nex gun builders. At this point, pretty much any search done on this site will result in at least one K'nex gun. What is worse? They are all the same. The "T" format is the most simple, most redundant approach to building a K'nex aside from the now heavily discriminated block trigger guns. They involve three things:
1. A vertical magazine
2. A firing ram
3. A trigger
Any gun that requires only these three components to operate is, in my opinion, pointless. Despite cosmetic features such as stocks and iron sights, all "T" format guns are exactly the same. Yes, they do work, and some of them even work very well, but at this point, improvement will only occur with change, not with repetition.
Compared to a few years ago, this K'nex community is dwindling on the edge of a cliff. Many people have lost interest because nothing new was being made, so they just quit. I do not support this decision, but I cannot blame them either. Like many of the other "veterans" on this site, I have been on and off, but have never officially quit. Sometimes one just needs to think.
Hopefully by now, I have made it clear: not another Mr.T should be posted ever again. They are great guns for those learning the ropes. That is about it. There are so many other options out there. Horizontal magazines, pump systems, lever systems, bolt systems, and so many more. Make up your own system! Combine different systems! There are millions, maybe billions of different ways to put a thousand K'nex together, so why limit yourself. You are all builders, which means that you see things in your head before you make it. But sometimes these ideas come to us in inopportune times, so what do you do? Write it down. Even if your drawing skills are as pathetic as mine, just scribble it out so you can make sense of it, and then refine it later with a ruler. Then get to work on it.
So, here are the steps you can take to advance this community:
1. Stop posting Mr.T!!! He can be a good teacher, but that is about all.
2. Be different! My goal when I entered this community was to make guns that nobody has ever made. No two of my guns are similar, nor are my guns like any others out there. You have millions of options. Make use of them!
3. If you have an idea, write it down! Even if it seems absurd, I guarantee that it, even if it only be small parts of it, will improve your building skill.
I really hope this has made you want to make something different. Not much more I can say. Just go do it.
Oblivitus and TheDunkis have started building a database of different gun elements and different ways of approaching them. Check it out and feel free to contribute!
http://knexbuilding.wikispaces.com/
I hope you found that funny, but more importantly, I hope that you took it seriously. No, I am not talking about the guy who played Clubber Lang in the third rocky. I am talking about the K'nex gun that has been built and posted thousands of times, and makes the rest of the Instructables community hate K'nex gun builders. At this point, pretty much any search done on this site will result in at least one K'nex gun. What is worse? They are all the same. The "T" format is the most simple, most redundant approach to building a K'nex aside from the now heavily discriminated block trigger guns. They involve three things:
1. A vertical magazine
2. A firing ram
3. A trigger
Any gun that requires only these three components to operate is, in my opinion, pointless. Despite cosmetic features such as stocks and iron sights, all "T" format guns are exactly the same. Yes, they do work, and some of them even work very well, but at this point, improvement will only occur with change, not with repetition.
Compared to a few years ago, this K'nex community is dwindling on the edge of a cliff. Many people have lost interest because nothing new was being made, so they just quit. I do not support this decision, but I cannot blame them either. Like many of the other "veterans" on this site, I have been on and off, but have never officially quit. Sometimes one just needs to think.
Hopefully by now, I have made it clear: not another Mr.T should be posted ever again. They are great guns for those learning the ropes. That is about it. There are so many other options out there. Horizontal magazines, pump systems, lever systems, bolt systems, and so many more. Make up your own system! Combine different systems! There are millions, maybe billions of different ways to put a thousand K'nex together, so why limit yourself. You are all builders, which means that you see things in your head before you make it. But sometimes these ideas come to us in inopportune times, so what do you do? Write it down. Even if your drawing skills are as pathetic as mine, just scribble it out so you can make sense of it, and then refine it later with a ruler. Then get to work on it.
So, here are the steps you can take to advance this community:
1. Stop posting Mr.T!!! He can be a good teacher, but that is about all.
2. Be different! My goal when I entered this community was to make guns that nobody has ever made. No two of my guns are similar, nor are my guns like any others out there. You have millions of options. Make use of them!
3. If you have an idea, write it down! Even if it seems absurd, I guarantee that it, even if it only be small parts of it, will improve your building skill.
I really hope this has made you want to make something different. Not much more I can say. Just go do it.
Oblivitus and TheDunkis have started building a database of different gun elements and different ways of approaching them. Check it out and feel free to contribute!
http://knexbuilding.wikispaces.com/
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One thing to keep in mind is that many "veterans" who helped build this community are now working full time, in university, etc, so it should be no surprise that they aren't very active any more (myself included).
*Ahem*
But it was late so I was tired. But here you go:
In the Heavy Cannon video he looks like he's 9, so he must be 13 now? I don't think so.
*Ahem* (Sorry I had to give a witty answer, don't mind it.)
Sorry, I never give out my age online. I probably should have just said that to start with :-p
Basically, you're making a simplified bolt action chambering system with a pump. A power transfer block goes over the magazine (think of like a TR turret barrel). When you pull the pump, it directly pushes back the pin and cocks it, and it lets a round into the chamber. When you push the pump forward, it goes back over the magazine and separates the contact between the loaded and unloaded rounds. The result is a new form of bullet chambering that doesn't require any ramps, extra barrels, pins, etc. Of course it's complicated in its own ways. You could start simple and forget the pump for now. Then we could just use a charging handle. It should make for an interesting challenge that could also make for a practical weapon when finally perfected.
But every time I start building, it just miserably fails. The problem is: I can't get the idea from my head to my hands. Because everytime I start to build, I just becomes a generic and not innovative gun/mech. And I know, the pro's say: Post the idea so we can work on it, but yeah... If I can think of a new mech, the pro's can do it for sure. And I read some other comments, like the last one to didexo, but I do not believe that I can come up with something that is more innovative/better than you, Kinetic. Just because I'm less creatively oriented than you. Any help? What do you do when you want to get inspiration? Go for a walk?
H.
Thanks for the tips.
true, everybody is sick of block triggers but I think nothing is wrong with an old
pin mechanism if the gun looks and functions good.
It's true we need innovation and new builders.
I surely want to be part of the 'new innovations community' although I'm not a veteran like Mepain, Killerk ETC
What you are doing is making it harder for newbs to step into the world of knex guns.
But hey! If you want new innovations start by yourself, (in kinect's way this isn't true because he's one of the big innovators) but people, come on don't complain about others while you're a mister T too
I agree, I'm a mister T too but I'll try to change that.
But I will finish my sniper although it's a T gun
And I always try to take the initiative to improve, but 90% of all tries fails, so that actually demoralizes me, but I'm still trying.
The last two pictures are my current projects. The first is a fully automatic system which utilizes the energy in a wound band to set off the hammer three times consecutively. However not very practical, I am going to continue working on it to make it as efficient as possible. There is one ratchet in there that is giving me problems, but I think that if I can fix it, friction will be greatly reduced.
The second is merely an Idea at the moment, but as I have finished taking pictures of the K2, I will finally have the pieces to work on it. It shoots balls (made up of two of those half-cylinder pieces held together by green rod) using a sling mechanism and is slide action.
I know it has been done before but this idea isn't completed yet
The point I'm trying to make is that if we get an idea, even if it seems like nothing special, we should work with it. It may develop into something big some day.
Hopefully I get some inspiration, I'll have plenty of free time this summer. I sort of just went brain dead and lost interest even after getting more pieces.
On knexbuilding.wikispaces?
I can't wait to add more useful stuff
This is the essence of community progression.
Fun fact: a K'nex rod and a K'nex connector can be attached in an infinite number of ways. Literally.
;)