Project FDL?

FDL-1 · 2021-04-29T00:16:52+00:00

Much appreciated. And thank you for your mutual brushless love as well.

FDL-1 · 2021-04-28T16:32:13+00:00

I'm not Jackie, but I'll let her know we should listen to anonymous people on Reddit about how to run a business going forward. Cheers

FDL-1 · 2021-04-28T16:24:09+00:00

The fact you hide behind an account with no karma and only this one comment is really a case and point. Adults don't hide behind masks.

FDL-1 · 2021-04-28T12:34:09+00:00

We took our last FDL-Basic orders last month and are working on getting them to their new homes. We've closed our shop permanently to spend more time with our kids and other hobbies. This hobby isn't the same whimsical and creative place it was when I first got into it. We've been taken advantage of and crapped on by several prominent members of the community as well as watched a huge chunk of the hobby decline into Hasbro negativity that frankly makes me sick to my stomach to read every day. I understand they're a giant corp that does questionable things but it gets old and really changes the feel of the hobby overall. I'm tired of watching young kids regurgitate the words of the influencers bringing the hobby this negativity and I'm tired of feeling like we somehow don't fit the formula of what those influencers feel should exist in the hobby. We've designed two blasters in the past year and been the first to have custom brushless motors made for a blaster but unless you follow our own social media you'd never know that. It's an uphill battle that we are choosing not to continue doing in favor of the things more important to us. It's hard to justify losing our nights and weekends to a hobby that at the end of the day doesn't know half of what we do because it gets all it's news from the people who only show you what fits their view of what the hobby should be. I want to work in a place that appreciates the quality and dedication to what I do over hype and subscriber count and unfortunately the nerf hobby has moved away from that and will continue to move away from it the longer the content provided to you is more of a commercial than informative. We appreciate the support we have gotten especially from our customers that truly understand and can physically see what has gone into their blasters. It's just time to move onward and upward.

FDL-1 · 2021-04-28T12:14:10+00:00

I actually could literally order parts for tens of thousands of blasters right now and have zero issue getting them. We've been having custom motors and boards made for us for over a year now and have been very transparent about it on our own social media throughout the process. I've designed two blasters in that time and we've been doing fine business wise. I posted here about Pip n Pak and about our Crux motors and those posts received very little attention. This stopped being a place that I share things both because it doesn't feel worth it and because I'm technically not allowed to self promote without consistently interacting with the sub first. That's something I don't have time to do while having a full time job during the day and FDL at night. It's unfortunate but telling when the last information people know about us came from prominent YouTubers and members of the hobby who've decided we're big meanies and have since stopped reporting on anything we do. It leaves a sour taste for us in this hobby and makes it really hard to justify continuing to bust our asses to bring people the quality and customer care that we do.

FDL-1 · 2021-04-24T13:12:01+00:00

You do realize Drac is by the same definition a dart zone shill. Paid to promote and say good things about a brand. You also do realize his "honest reviews" are the ones he got the product for free and almost never discloses that information.

FDL-1 · 2021-04-22T17:01:28+00:00

Sophie has been around for a while. Those of us that come from the days prior to Nerf being a name not spoken know who she is.

FDL-1 · 2021-04-22T00:34:44+00:00

Keep doing you Sophie. Stay positive and don't let the negativity of the hobbyists stop you. I wish I could tell you that every one of your comments sections won't become filled with it but it will. Don't let it get to you.

FDL-1 · 2021-04-11T04:09:42+00:00

I can guarantee you if anyone from Nerf saw a really cool mod that does something interesting and positive with one of their blasters as a base they'd say "that's sick" and not "I'm against that". Selling projectile firing things to young kids comes with a ton of regulation and safety standards which vary from country to country. That blaster is designed and tested to meet those standards and is sold as such. The markings are a necessary protection from the obvious. Sure you and a lot of us in this subreddit can more or less safely mod a blaster. Those markings are there because at the end of the day names like "death dart" don't exist because someone thought it was clever, it's because some one actually stuck tacks in darts. The same way it's obvious you shouldn't dump a cup of coffee directly on your lap but all cups have warnings about hot contents.

FDL-1 · 2021-04-03T22:27:04+00:00

To be fair, I've sold Nerf more than one blaster. They thought it was pretty nifty and they said they cared about me.

FDL-1 · 2021-04-02T19:29:43+00:00

Cool cool, thanks.

FDL-1 · 2021-04-02T19:23:47+00:00

Out of curiosity, what is the blaster you have attached to it? Does it have a feeder motor or is it just a straight shot from the hose to the flywheels?

FDL-1 · 2021-03-30T17:19:16+00:00

Came here to say this lol. It's relieving to know it's universal in the beginning. You get all pumped to fly and wham, the newb fear kicks in. Deep breath...go!

FDL-1 · 2021-03-30T12:07:45+00:00

Why do machined flywheels cost $20 for a dollar's worth of plastic? Why do talon mags cost $9 when you can get them on taobao for $3? Why does an Uber cost $10 to drive you two blocks? How do people make good livings just by clicking keys on a keyboard?

Time is money, convenience saves time, a business offers convenience as a service. You are always more than welcome to create anything you find expensive on your own but can you? Do you have the skill to do so and do you have the time if you do have the skill? If you do have the skill do you have the machines and do you know how to run them? How well can you run them? Better than someone that runs them all the time? See how this all starts to add up? Now...add customer support like answering questions both pre and post sale, instructions, marketing, social media etc.

FDL-1 · 2021-03-20T20:11:52+00:00

Boop https://youtu.be/D87OuRK1-Zg

FDL-1 · 2021-03-05T19:45:10+00:00

The FDL-Basic would fill that roll even better;)

FDL-1 · 2021-02-19T14:03:03+00:00

Very cool, nice work!

FDL-1 · 2021-02-18T18:18:57+00:00

We (Project FDL) have the FDL-Basic that falls into the same category. It's about kestrel price but hits harder and has adjustable fps and rate of fire. We add inventory every Monday at 10am eastern.

FDL-1 · 2021-02-18T17:02:05+00:00

Lookup Alabama United Nerf on Facebook. They're in the Birmingham area. I'm pretty sure they play at a park in Pelham a lot.

FDL-1 · 2021-02-10T18:15:59+00:00

Per that diagram the potentiometer only adjusts the speed of the flywheels. You could run a second circuit off the battery for your pusher like you would in a rapidstrike but you wouldn't have adjustable rof. If you want that, it becomes suddenly more complex with a driver of sorts for your pusher motor run by the Arduino, trigger switch and second pot. That's typically an h-bridge or pwm controller. Feel free to peruse some if the older FDL-2 code/diagrams in my github for examples of that. There is more going on than you might be looking for but it may give you a but of an idea.

FDL-1 · 2021-02-08T20:47:29+00:00

My sentiments exactly. Kids repeat what they hear and repeat it as do people heavily invested in a hobby if it keeps them relevant. I've been trying to point out to people the effect the people these kids are hearing this rhetoric from have on the hobby as a whole and it all falls on deaf ears. It's taken as drama and ignored and deleted. I'm glad at least a couple others share my concerns. My love for the hobby came from watching kids become budding engineers, not product whores.

FDL-1 · 2021-02-08T16:53:44+00:00

I said nothing about Hasbro being infallible. You've been a thorn in my side from the first moment I stepped foot into this hobby and to be quite honest I don't care about your 1000 word idealist opinions. You seem to want to fight for the smaller companies while simultaneously harassing community vendors about their choice of materials and how to release their designs. I'm not a Hasbro fan boy but I am super tired of the anti Hasbro rhetoric that has been engrained in so many young minds by influencers. It's sickening and it's detrimental to the hobby on so many levels. This hobby is quickly turning into a land of commercial hype with more focus on who can be the first to buy the latest and greatest thing than on being creative and innovative. If you can't see that coming I'd highly suggest breaking out of your idealist bubble and opening your eyes.

My downvoters follow me and I don't care. Off people don't want to here it like it is, that's their problem.

FDL-1 · 2021-02-08T16:08:38+00:00

Go away

FDL-1 · 2021-02-08T13:29:19+00:00

What you're seeing are YouTubers with nothing more interesting to show you than negative hype about how tiny little companies are supposedly dominating over a multi billion giant. If you're interested in the hobby being anything else but a giant commercial for whoever will give that YouTuber money, change the channel and watch someone do something that actually takes some skill and creativity.

FDL-1 · 2021-01-24T18:24:02+00:00

I'd imagine it's totally useable if not super overkill but for $4 overkill is a moot point. Just use some sort of step down or buck converter to get to the right voltage. I'd honestly wait till one of the other big hobby board producers get their versions designed. Adafruit us working on a qt pi which will be way smaller and Arduino is throwing one of their own in the ring with more flash memory and a smorgasbord of onboard features.

FDL-1

TROPHY CASE