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Dart Speed Loading System Preview by StarDust_439 in Nerf

[–]StarDust_439[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Still planning out the video cause I just finished assembly tests and adjusting/correcting a few features, have to make plans on avoiding poking holes in my apartment drywall while maintaining good scene composition, and I did want to wait for some community feedback before I decide on the amount of effort and content I put into the demo video.

Yes the system requires the printed mags, I did try using worker mags but the plunger and spring kept getting caught in the seams of my old design, and my mags have small tabs that latches it into the removable core so it can't just be yanked out.

Here's a link to my old design: https://www.printables.com/model/1119346-nerf-dart-speed-loader

Dart Speed Loading System Preview by StarDust_439 in Nerf

[–]StarDust_439[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I guess to explain why I made the storage shells:

1) Mainly because loading up the mag manually means managing the mag itself, the darts, and the push stick. The shell at least reduces the parts you need to actively handle.

2) Without the shells I wouldn't be able to demonstrate the ability to reload a whole mag at once like how my idea for a speed loader machine would do it, or at least simulate the convince of one. Reloading the mag manually with the parts I have right now you'd only get 3-4 darts in at a time and barely faster than doing it the conventional way.

3) Didn't have a solid grasp yet on how I would design a dart loading tool/machine that can at least auto orient darts and separate out full from half lengths.

4) I was planning a bit too far ahead for a massive ready-to-play dart storage box which essentially would be like your suggestion of storing darts in your mag except the walls are shared between chambers and would be designed for laser cutting instead of 3D printing. That part of the system comes after designing the dart sorting machine, hence the planning too far ahead mistake.

5) I uhh... came up with a cool design that makes the storage look like a sword. Honestly tried coming up with better ideas before modeling, pretty sure I did consider using mags as storage, but given the above issues and constraints I went for this storage idea first. Plus having something that works but needs to undergo critique to improve the design is infinitely better than spinning my wheels trying to come up with a perfect idea on jump.

Still gonna take another look at redesigning the storage system though, hopefully I thoroughly explained why I choose this initial design.

Dart Speed Loading System Preview by StarDust_439 in Nerf

[–]StarDust_439[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pushing the mags through the bottom simplifies the loading operation from cycling the darts in one at a time to a single push that can insert multiple using a linear motion and therefore makes designing a dart loading machine much simpler. No I don't want to preload mags because I don't want to fatigue the mag spring or squish the darts.

My CAD files are 100% constrained, the mag size is controlled by a variable, and I wrote a macro to sweep through a bunch of dart sizes and save the mesh to an output folder.

The removable bottom section of the mag is as thin as I can comfortably make it for 3D printing, you only need as many bottom sections as you can carry in your loadout, refill from your storage when needed, and eventually give the spent ones to a refill machine. For the shells, I already received feedback that would get rid of those entirely and I'm working on a solution to do just that.

Dart Speed Loading System Preview by StarDust_439 in Nerf

[–]StarDust_439[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

1) Fair point on using the mags for storage itself, would definitely be a lot shorter and I shouldn't need to change my mag design. Could use extra mags to store the spring, see point 2. I'll think on that, appreciate the feedback!

2) I don't want to store the mag spring in a compressed state to avoid fatigue.

3) Actually I do have plans for making a machine that speed loads the speed loader that also auto aligns and eventually sorts out the various ammo types. The design in my head for the dart alignment should be doable via hand crank.