Micro Mini Nerf Gun

Nerf sells a model known as N-Strike. They call it a "micro blaster for sneak attacks."   But it is twice as big as it needs to be.  Picture 2 shows before + after.  After removing the handle (4 phillips screws)  you can then cut off the rest of the excess with a hacksaw.  I have separated the pump plunger so it can be stashed after pumping up the air chamber.  The 3rd pic shows everything you want to keep within the circle, and excess outside of it.

The dart is also twice as big as it needs to be.  It can be cut with a knife or scissors.

In this configuration, the projectile actually goes further than in the original factory configuration.  There seem to be 2 reasons for this: 1) the factories' excess barrel length actually slows down the projectile.  2) We've eliminated excess mass from the projectile.

Step 1:

This, the second step is a record of mistakes.  I thought it would be possible to cut it down even further, making it about as big as a lipstick, and then fill it from a compressed air blower.   Unfortunately, sawing off the pump also removes the check valve.   Any air you put in leaks back out.  

It should be noted that Nerf says not to modify blaster or darts. I wore eye and ear protection, and gloves while hooking up compressed air.  Further, I only used about 10 psi.  Any work with compressed air should be done with caution. For the record, I say DO NOT USE COMPRESSED AIR.  I did so at my own risk, trusting my own judgement. 

I discovered that pvc glue works nicely on nerfguns.   My scrap parts glued very strongly to pvc.  This knowledge suggests other projects.   I was also able to glue the nerfgun  back together in the configuration that works.

Comments

[DaleG33]

How much does it weigh? I wanna arm a small RC aircraft with this and every .1 gram counts!

[Toga_Dan]

Sounds like shooting a rubber band is more in your weight budget.

[Toga_Dan]

Ha. I look forward to seeing that! Ill havta dig it up to weigh it. 98 percent plastic tho. Thinwalls, too. Servo to trigger it likely weighs more.

[DaleG33]

Doubt it, I'll be using a 1.7 gram servo! It's going on a balloon blimp w/ FPV camera to fly around the cubical farm that is my office. I only have a ~25-30 gram weight budget for everything, and the battery and camera are going to eat almost half of that. Gotta keep the blimp small and stealthy to sneak among the cubicals ;)

[DaleG33]

Just FYI, an unmodified SS weighs 60 grams. Just got one :)

Needs to lose at least 50 grams for my application.

[Toga_Dan]

I weighed the modified gun. 1/2 oz. (14 grams?) Thats without a dart.

You may save some mass by removing the pump cylinder. See the pic in step 1, before I glued parts back on.

[DaleG33]

How would I charge it without the pump cylinder? (At my desk in a cubical farm, unnoticed)

[Toga_Dan]

use a syringe for a pump

[Madmartigan95]

Interesting concept.
Really though, if you're looking to improve your guns range at all, cutting off half of your dart does nothing good for its accuracy.

[Toga_Dan]

Removing mass from the dart allows greater velocity. To tell the truth, I haven't really tested accuracy much. My main objective was to make it as small as possible. Discovering that I got more altitude (therefore greater velocity) in a vertical shot was a happy byproduct.

Nerf only makes about 1/2" of the barrel snug. After that distance, it's a loose fit with no additional acceleration. Indeed, after cutting off ~1.5 inches of barrel, I got better altitude. Seems that a partial vacuum is formed behind the dart in the last 1.5" of travel.

[Toga_Dan]

The air chamber isn't big enough for the 3 inch barrel.