dart blasters!

Well one of our hobbies is dart frogs, and another is dart blasters! This page provides a series of links to fun modifications and data analysis projects related to Nerf Dart Blasters. We started modding stock Nerf blasters – springers and flywheels – similar to mods that are pretty common and documented in a variety of YouTube videos (psyksg, coop, mtb, gavinfuzzy) and forums (nerfhaven and to a lesser extent reddit).

After we picked up our 3D printer we got hooked on printing high performance and highly configurable custom blasters. The main platform we have been tinkering with is the Caliburn, a really fascinating homemade blaster project from Captain Slug.

Our blaster site

The focus of this site is the statistical analysis of some interesting data sets you can collect in the Nerf hobby. This includes things like population statistics, chronograph results of a variety of typical modifications, and chronograph results from a variety of ranges.

The data analysis surrounding springers has really been interesting, so the initial posts will focus on the projects involving springers. Here are the links to the posts that cover some interesting stuff! If you see a title without an active link that means I’m planning the work but have not posted any results yet.

NOTE: most of the projects listed here are active “Work In Progress”. I’m slowly chipping away at these projects, so check back often for updates.

Chronographs!

Springers

Blaster pictures!

Jim’s primary

Here’s a sampling of a variety of the Caliburns we have built. This is my main blaster in it’s current state. It’s a Caliburn V1 hardware kit with some hardware updates that I picked up from McMaster. It’s running a K26 and hits velocities of about 200 FPS with Worker short darts:

This was the original print set that used the V1 hardware kit (this platform has evolved substantially):

Rival CQB

I REALLY enjoy the Rival version of the Caliburn. It works great firing single shots, but you can prime it multiple times to load 3 rounds in the chamber, firing a shot-gun like volley of foam. It is so much fun. This is the latest version of my Rivalburn … the Stickerburn (February of 2019) with a sticker-bombed RMAX shroud and an adjustable stock:

 

Here’s my first Rival Caliburn print. This was printed in May of 2018 and is due for some updates:

The Kiddo’s primary: Carbine Caliburn

D started with a full size Caliburn which was tough to prime and pretty long for him. Captain Slug issued a new front end for the platform that was shortened, so we switched to the Carbine. I’ve also been tuning his spring setup to make it easier to prime. Finally, he liked the Stickerburn, so we sticker bombed his Carbine VMAX2 Shroud with his favorite stickers:

Jack the Pumpkin King!

Bananas!

We’re also testing out a stubby version of the fluted VF1 stabilizer:

 

Here’s his original blaster which uses a lower powered spring for 100 to 125 FPS velocities – we retired this front end, but you can see we reused most of the rear of the blaster with our most recent update:

The Mega Caliburn

There is also a Mega version of the Caliburn, and this was the first revision of the STL’s released by Captain Slug (June 2018). I am going to have to print the updated design, and likely acquire new barrel material.  These pictures just show how versatile this platform is:

The Purple People Eater

And here’s a cool purple and white blaster I printed for a co-worker. This was the first time I tried printing the railgasm barrel shroud option in alternating colors, which provided a really unique appearance for the blaster. I think I will experiment with this again:

 

Here are some original modified blasters we put together when we first got into modding. These were based on stock retaliators using a variety of after-market internal parts with external cosmetic kits.

 

 

Flywheels

  • Stryfe fps profiling
  • Worker Kris Vector kit
  • Worker chronograph progression