TheDunkis

Not one of the best, just one of the oldest. But thanks. Keep it up!

That's pretty cool actually! So it's like an RBG but with a linear system instead of the typical cog action. It's admirable you're trying to stir activity as well.

I still find it amusing all the effort you went through to make that striker. Like, how did you even think to do all the things you did? At that rate, I feel like implementing a NAR-esque or rail system would be better. Not that the pin is over-the-top, but it's a little more involved than most people are willing to do, especially for children. But anyway, glad to see you're still posting updates here as well. I'm currently developing a site in my freetime to hopefully consolidate what remains of the K'nex community across 'ibles, YT, and perhaps elsewhere. I'd like to create guides and other more blog-like posts there to help encourage activity beyond posting instructions. It'll be great if you can help out if I finally ever get around to publishing it. Otherwise, just keep staying act...

I still find it amusing all the effort you went through to make that striker. Like, how did you even think to do all the things you did? At that rate, I feel like implementing a NAR-esque or rail system would be better. Not that the pin is over-the-top, but it's a little more involved than most people are willing to do, especially for children. But anyway, glad to see you're still posting updates here as well. I'm currently developing a site in my freetime to hopefully consolidate what remains of the K'nex community across 'ibles, YT, and perhaps elsewhere. I'd like to create guides and other more blog-like posts there to help encourage activity beyond posting instructions. It'll be great if you can help out if I finally ever get around to publishing it. Otherwise, just keep staying active around here and YT so we keep K'nexing alive.

Alright, so I don't have the time to do a full instructable, but I got enough pictures that I'm just going to make a new thread for it. Look out for that.

While I've made very minor improvements, I do have a few internals already posted. What kind of pictures would be most helpful?

I'm sorry, what was that?

When's your next vacation then, Christmas? If you do, hope you like it. Haha, which one was that one? I've had a few ideas but I think the one I mentioned was to attempt using fin ammo in a repeating slingshot? It's hard to get motivated to try it, but I swear I'll get to it one day...

Hey, sorry for just sorta going dead. If I can remember to, I'll try to get instructions sometime this week. There's just been so little activity I didn't figure anyone would build it anyway. It's been so long, I forget what, if any, improvements I made since the internals I took previously, but I'll try to make a full instructable regardless. Hope it'll be worth the wait.

Interesting take on the concept. I do think that shotguns are the future of war weapons since, well, K'nex just aren't accurate and all that great at range anyway, it'd make more sense to focus on spread to up hit probability (a concept that even the US military investigated in the 70s-80s I believe). To that effect, I think rate of fire and amount of pieces fired are more important than range. I imagine a pump weapon with large ammo capacity and easy reloading would serve better than a turret-based shotgun, but eh wouldn't be the first time Killerk and I differed on opinions.Anywho, at least keep your K'nex around. I don't think anyone will truly give up on the hobby entirely. I went through college still building every now and then and even now, though I do it so sparingly, I still ch...

Interesting take on the concept. I do think that shotguns are the future of war weapons since, well, K'nex just aren't accurate and all that great at range anyway, it'd make more sense to focus on spread to up hit probability (a concept that even the US military investigated in the 70s-80s I believe). To that effect, I think rate of fire and amount of pieces fired are more important than range. I imagine a pump weapon with large ammo capacity and easy reloading would serve better than a turret-based shotgun, but eh wouldn't be the first time Killerk and I differed on opinions.Anywho, at least keep your K'nex around. I don't think anyone will truly give up on the hobby entirely. I went through college still building every now and then and even now, though I do it so sparingly, I still check in from time to time and get a little motivation to try a concept out.

Thanks, been rather inactive, but I check in now and then. Long story short, I keep wanting to post instructions, but then I always find a thing or two I want to improve so I fiddle with it some more, then I hit a roadblock and take a break for a while. I could get more pictures, though.

Well, you need to get the energy from somewhere. In the form of a handheld gun, there isn't much space to build up potential energy aside from springs and rubber bands. K'nex themselves have little to offer in potential energy, but there is some. This is a really simple design, but it's about the best you can do without rubber bands. It'll get maybe a few feet.

Sorry, just been really preoccupied with other things so I haven't done much lately. Been looking for a house actually, and I figured once I have one I'd be spending more time building and start producing a video guide series. I still intend to post my Barackuda but I made some more tweaks because I just can't leave it alone.

Thanks. And I think it's plenty long as is. Part of making sure people actually post is by having a strict enough deadline that they can't keep putting stuff off. I didn't quite get around to posting the Barackuda this weekend but I'm hoping to sit down and do it tonight. I took another video just to tell myself "OK, this is the version being posted and this video is going up with the instructions." I want to get at least one other weapon submitted.

By far the worst combination: perfectionism and procrastination. I need to just post this and then make updates after the fact. I've made a couple other tweaks to the design. I'm working on making the handle more comfortable because it really wears into my thumb web after prolonged shooting. And then I opened up a gap in the magazine so that it can be topped off while loaded in the gun.

That looks pretty sweet, glad to see something out of you for the first time in a while.

Ah, I always wanted to see an actual working version of this concept, nice. Though perhaps add pump action to make it take care of the charging as well as the loading to greatly improve the RoF? Nice work regardless.

This is pretty cool and might have to be something I use too. I've got a Samsung wireless charger at work as well and it's always a pain in the manham getting my phone situated just right to get it to charge. The original and fast chargers probably don't have quite the same dimensions so I don't know if this will work. Still, as simple as it is, I'd say post it.

I dislike that the TR8 and ZKAR are thought of as the pinnacle of pin weaponry because basically it stems from complacency. Like, the only prerequisite is that the gun fires a single projectile as far as it can and it repeats, and under those two criteria alone, yes, the ZKAR and TR8 are fine designs. But what about ammo capacity? What about the rate of fire? What about multiple projectiles increasing hit probability? The ergonomics? The piece efficiency? Suddenly there's so much more to work on, but basically we said "nah, too difficult, would become too complex." But I know that if you start with novelty for the sake of it and then work on optimizing it after the fact, eventually you get something that's practical as well. Slingshots are definitely not explored to their full...

I dislike that the TR8 and ZKAR are thought of as the pinnacle of pin weaponry because basically it stems from complacency. Like, the only prerequisite is that the gun fires a single projectile as far as it can and it repeats, and under those two criteria alone, yes, the ZKAR and TR8 are fine designs. But what about ammo capacity? What about the rate of fire? What about multiple projectiles increasing hit probability? The ergonomics? The piece efficiency? Suddenly there's so much more to work on, but basically we said "nah, too difficult, would become too complex." But I know that if you start with novelty for the sake of it and then work on optimizing it after the fact, eventually you get something that's practical as well. Slingshots are definitely not explored to their fullest. Heck, other methods of pin gun range optimization that don't involve a bolt handle and second pin, that'd be great. But yeah, we could definitely use some things to drive innovation.

I think it's mostly inaccessibility and not enough exposure. I don't know how we grew to be as popular as we were, perhaps it was just easier to bump into the idea of K'nex weapons on Instructables previously? I'm not sure. I happened upon them by chance when searching up office launchers on YouTube. But whatever it was that made people learn about K'nex gunning, they were able to contribute because there was a lot to add yet. Like, really I wasn't all that good myself, but I was nonetheless able to come up with some novel concepts at the time. And we were able to keep this up for a time as the veterans kept getting better and better. But the veterans keep getting older and quitting. And we're not getting new members to replace them. I'm thinking there just aren't enough people hearing ...

I think it's mostly inaccessibility and not enough exposure. I don't know how we grew to be as popular as we were, perhaps it was just easier to bump into the idea of K'nex weapons on Instructables previously? I'm not sure. I happened upon them by chance when searching up office launchers on YouTube. But whatever it was that made people learn about K'nex gunning, they were able to contribute because there was a lot to add yet. Like, really I wasn't all that good myself, but I was nonetheless able to come up with some novel concepts at the time. And we were able to keep this up for a time as the veterans kept getting better and better. But the veterans keep getting older and quitting. And we're not getting new members to replace them. I'm thinking there just aren't enough people hearing about K'ex gunning and the ones that do find it too difficult to make anything worthwhile. I otherwise believe there's a lot more we can accomplish, some novel, some practical, but we just haven't been being creative enough yet. To that end, I've been thinking up a video guide series for introducing newbs to K'nex gunning by teaching them the basics quick and easy. I just haven't had the patience to actually start recording them. I'd like to make it a regular thing where I can pump out an episode a day or at least a week and I currently can't dedicate much time to that. After that, it's just a matter of throwing those videos out there and getting people interested.

Yeah, kinda what I figured. I'll aim to create something new as well, not sure if multiple entries are allowed or if I can swap out an entry before the deadline. I've had ideas but nothing really has turned out. I'd end up submitting the Barackuda as a better than nothing sort of deal.

Oh golly, you're quitting too. I'm convinced K'nex gun building will be a lost art by 2018.

Hope people actually end up participating. Curious, I haven't actually posted the Barackuda yet. If I get around to posting it finally, would it be a valid entry or were you wanting entirely new creations?

Man the audacity I have to claim I'll post something soon, ha. I got some pictures at least. I mean, it pretty much is ready, now I just gotta be patient enough to get all the the pictures some day. Last night I tinkered around and I ended up making a simple trigger safety mechanism. However, it only blocks the trigger, not the actual pin-catching part so there's still the chance the weapon can accidentally discharge if like dropped or snagged. Currently toying around with increasing the magazine capacity still with no such luck yet.

Sorry, didn't end up replying to this sooner. Appreciate the effort, but I was figuring something a little more in depth and broad. Like, I recall as a newb, I didn't know things like how to come up with a decent true trigger on my own, what kind of barrels existed or how I could build a gun body, what kind of magazines existed, etc. Like, basically what happened is I'd copy the parts off of one gun and then end up reusing those over and over such that I had a sort of build style developed even when I was more familiar with K'nex. So what I want to do is basically make a guide specifically for each concept, like one day I'd have a video on just the different kinds of barrels you can make for both rods and connectors and how those can then fit into a K'nex body.

I'm also saddened by the lack of activity, dunno if it can be helped. We'd basically need to go recruit new members. To that end I mean to get around to make a guide series to get newbs up to snuff but I just keep putting it off.I haven't been working on anything else except my Barackuda which I intend to post one of these days. I've had other ideas that I toy with but nothing solid ever comes out of it. I should try something though.

Very superficially because of the long, small drum magazine.

Nah, it wasn't designed to look like anything, just to be a bolt action that used a small drum magazine. It's moreso designed to shoot as far as it can and be fairly compact.

Appreciate that you're trying to contribute but just a warning, there isn't much activity lately. Sadly, there just aren't that many people K'nexing. Anyway, here's one gun I've made before that definitely fits the bill. Definitely not the greatest, so I'll see what else I have or perhaps make something new.

Hey, sorry for the wait. I've updated the thread with internals, though I rushed them so let me know if there's anything you can't figure out. I suppose I should probably rip open the stock too.

Yeah, do so. It'd be nice to have a flux of new instructions.I keep thinking to myself I want to start a guide series (video or otherwise) on getting started in K'nex gun building so we could hopefully attract some new builders. Just never really take the time to do so. I should really just start one of these days given how easy the first few would be.

Cool, thanks! I can get internals first then, but I figure for potential newbs I should post full instructions later. Would like to somehow boost activity by getting more people interested in K'nex gunning.

Fair enough. I think I'm pretty much ready to post full on instructions. Made a few minor changes but otherwise there's nothing big I want to change at this point. I just want to testfire it and make sure it's reliable. Once I do, would you be able to do a review?

Latest version:1. Cleaned up the stock connection a little, changed the design a little bit, keeps same basic bolt trough.2. Improved trigger to block pin a little further back.3. Added rear peep sight with front post sight, about as effective as K'nex sight are going to get.4. Changed front of gun to be more compact, have simple ramp, to be flat on the bottom (in case I add more to the front of the magazine), and to be easily muzzle loaded. While I don't like the looks of this one as much, I figure the practicality overrides the aesthetics in this case.5. Finally, I removed the gears from the magazine, used another piece which lets the ammo flow freely. It's not really a rotary magazine anymore, more a small drum magazine. Anyway, filling the magazine should be much easier now, just dr...

Latest version:1. Cleaned up the stock connection a little, changed the design a little bit, keeps same basic bolt trough.2. Improved trigger to block pin a little further back.3. Added rear peep sight with front post sight, about as effective as K'nex sight are going to get.4. Changed front of gun to be more compact, have simple ramp, to be flat on the bottom (in case I add more to the front of the magazine), and to be easily muzzle loaded. While I don't like the looks of this one as much, I figure the practicality overrides the aesthetics in this case.5. Finally, I removed the gears from the magazine, used another piece which lets the ammo flow freely. It's not really a rotary magazine anymore, more a small drum magazine. Anyway, filling the magazine should be much easier now, just drop ammo in, no need to push.

Yeah, I suppose it's not readily obvious. K'nex guns can have all sorts of weird and goofy triggers because there really aren't any pieces that really emulate a real trigger well. Also, just FYI, I don't mind at all because I'm still active and enjoy helping people with my things, but in general you should probably pay attention to when things were posted and when the last comment was (like 4 years ago in this topic's case). Otherwise you'll tend to revive dead topics and likely no one else is going to respond to you since they've long since moved on, sadly. But otherwise it's cool to see someone else getting into K'nex weapons. Good luck and enjoy!

Dunno why I keep posting here but I'm happy to say the Barackuda is coming along nicely. Changed the stock, trigger, front + ramp, and magazine since the version in the picture, so I'm gonna finish it up, get a new picture, and then maybe get another video. Then I want to be done with it... I've been meaning to post it but haven't quite been satisfied enough with it at any point.

Noice. Yours is probably my favorite. I ended up getting an airsoft version of the PDR-C because I liked it so much, so someday I might use yours as a basis for my own.

Thank ye. Yeah, I'm surprised the idea existed but was never really used in a gun until now. I'm pleased with it. Trying to make it more war worthy though.

Alright, don't have a picture, but I mostly finished up the redesign last night. Will make small tweak or two to the stock and then probably tweak the magazine, then I'll be ready to show it off as the third version. Maybe one of these days I'll even post... But golly the activity is nonexistent.

Got a picture of the attempted redesign. Also showing the new front. Again, I liked where the stock was going but the bolt handle doesn't work out quite as nicely, so I think I'll go back to using my old bolt handle but I'll be reworking the trigger for better range and I'll try to make the stock design a little cleaner, somehow.

Been working on this off and on over the week. I came up with a new stock and bolt design, and while I like the new stock, I don't like the new bolt. It's not as smooth of a pull and I'd have to mount the bands above the bolt handle. I'll get a picture because I think it looks neat but I'll probably end up changing things again.

Better range and accuracy really. You could test for yourself if you have a TR available. Load yellow rods or whatever ammo you like best (other than finned ammo which obviously would be superior anyway) and some Oodammo, then do some fairly long distance shooting. Rods tend to spin out quite wildly, often flying way off the mark at far enough distances. Oodammo usually continues a fairly straight trajectory, even if it begins to tumble.And actually, no, I developed the latest Oodassault pistols to have a really quick reload process, basically an en bloc clip, faster than even most removable mag setups and definitely faster than manually reloading a turret one by one. In theory, you could scale this up into a stocked weapon, perhaps with a railpin for more range. I just like the compact...

Better range and accuracy really. You could test for yourself if you have a TR available. Load yellow rods or whatever ammo you like best (other than finned ammo which obviously would be superior anyway) and some Oodammo, then do some fairly long distance shooting. Rods tend to spin out quite wildly, often flying way off the mark at far enough distances. Oodammo usually continues a fairly straight trajectory, even if it begins to tumble.And actually, no, I developed the latest Oodassault pistols to have a really quick reload process, basically an en bloc clip, faster than even most removable mag setups and definitely faster than manually reloading a turret one by one. In theory, you could scale this up into a stocked weapon, perhaps with a railpin for more range. I just like the compactness of a pistol.

It's basically the best ammo (more in the sense that it's the least bad) to fire other than finned ammo. And I dunno, at first it started as a novelty for me, just be the first person to come up with a practical, magazine-fed repeater for Oodammo. Then it turned more into a challenge to make a practical war weapon. I'm still decided that if I go to a war, I'm going to use my Oodassault.

My main competitor was the Mezak. Eh, the names of others escape me. I think Killersafecracker (something to that effect) made a couple promising designs that I also competed with. Those would be a start.

It is a bit disappointing, activity is down and it's more difficult to come up with an original idea. But just keep at it. Something you could try is building other people's Oodammo pistols and figure out what it is you like about each one and what could be improved. Then use what you learned to make your own.

As always, interested but not set on driving for a day for just another day or two of interaction. Perhaps if I can convince more people to join me.

Ha, man so much time flies between when I actually do stuff. Trying to get back around to fixing up the Barackuda. I'm tweaking the front still with the goal of perhaps improving the magazine design, perhaps not. Otherwise definitely want to improve the trigger for more range, think I figured out something to keep the same design, just block further back and hopefully not compromise the strength of the back section too much. Also, I in all my madness have been looking into a large, twin drum magazine design. I've the general design down but not the pieces to make it, so I'll order them at some point. I've no idea if it's feasible at all but if it did work, it'd be able to hold 40-50 rounds rounds or so.

Yeah, I got one here. I wasn't able to come up with a better one at the time, though I'm sure it's possible. At the time this was created for a gun intended to fire so I couldn't compromise with the magazine design, but you could make something a little nicer if you change the internals of the magazine to suit a mag release of your choice.

Sure, man, that's fine.

Well, I can't accurately say because the idea for the barrel came a bit before and then I figured out I could give it a slide but didn't really have a gun in mind to use it for. Then one day I happened upon another user's slide action Oodammo pistol and I was less than impressed, figured I could do better remembering the slide and barrel I came up with. I got right to building it and from what I can remember I built it pretty fast, I think on the same day or the next day after seeing the user's post.

The very first version of my Oodassault 3 was actually slide action, but I decided that the slide wasn't all that necessary. Just keep at it. Honestly, you missed the Oodammo pistol craze by a good while but it's always interesting to see people's different designs. Something I was trying to sort out was a way to separate the rounds in the magazine to reduce friction, perhaps you could figure out something?

Bleh, so I went back and forth with the bolt action idea and the gist of it is the body construction where the magazine mounted + bolt pin wouldn't be as smooth as I thought. Also, just didn't think I'd be able meet all of my goals, so I instead turned focus back on to making the Barackuda better. Currently I changed the front of the gun to be a little more compact and have a simpler, solid ramp so that muzzle loading is easier. I'm planning some other changes, then I'll get pictures.

So I gave up on my last idea and said I may revist the design but in the form of a compact bolt action. Decided to start on it tonight. It'll utilize a rotary magazine similar to the Barackuda but I'm aiming to eliminate all of the shortcomings of the Barackuda. It won't be the prettiest of my weapons, the first one made completely for the sake of performance + some quality of life features. Maybe this will be one of the few ideas I see through to completion...