Tomorrow's blaster technology.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Epic New Blasters and Breaking the Flywheel Barrier

So, all along, my mission has ben to make blasters that outperform all current stock Nerf blasters. I have succeeded in that quite effectively, and my Firestrike (which I'll probably end up calling "Île de France") is the start of a new mission for me. Now, I am working to get every ounce of performance possible out of dart blasters. One rule: they can't be capable of injury.

So, I have decided to make an arsenal of blasters with muzzle velocities upward of 85 ft/second.
So far, it's just the Firestrike, Pinpoint, and, surprisingly, the Blowsword.

Firestrike
Pinpoint
Blowsword

Also, one project that has been waiting for a long time, since its a bit pricey, is the Earthglider. I built a remote control car that has the agility of a human. it doesn't even get to 22 mph, but it can get up to 15 mph in under 2 seconds. So I put a shortened nerf sword on it, and thats pretty much it. One problem: I need a new battery, since my current one didn't last all that long doing those repeated power surges that are required during acceleration. It's a 500 watt system, and that battery just didn't quite hold out. Some ozone formed inside its cells, and that raised its internal resistance, which lowers its performance even further. I'll probably jack it up to an 800 watt system when I get a new battery for it. This is not a cheep thing to do, the right battery is around $60.

Also, I got myself a Retaliator and a Rapidstrike. The Retaliator has the AR removed and a heavier spring, as well as a different barrel extension. I really got it for the stock barrel, which I put on the Pinpoint. That really pays off.
My rapidstrike.

The Rapidstrike has a 9V upgrade already, and that really didn't do all that much. Eventually, I'm thinking of adding a secondary flywheel set that re-accelerates the darts. I'm not 100% sure if it would work, but I'd say it's worth a shot, at least 90% sure. This would probably just involve getting another Stryfe and extracting the flywheels. Since I want to double the kinetic energy of the dart, that requires some physics calculations.
Let:
S = Speed
Ke =  Kinetic Energy
V = Voltage to Motor
I = Current
P = Power
R = Resistance

First, the two statements that are always true in an electric circuit:
P=VI
V=IR
From these,
P=VV/R
And Newton's Second Law:
Ke=0.5SS
An approximation about the motor:
S is proportional to R

So, we can say:
P is proportional to VV/S

Wait... oh yeah, this one makes it all really quick:
The square of the speed is proportional to the voltage.

(That one I came up with while working on the Earthglider.)

So, adding Newton's second law of motion back in, we can say that:
The voltage is proportional to the square of the speed, which is proportional to the kinetic energy present.
So, since V is proportional to Ke, if I want to double Ke, I should double V.

For those who skipped all that, the second flywheels run on 18 volts.

I just published my response to the technical problems (namely, friction heat melting dart foam) that are the reason that flywheel blasters are so limited in performance.
This is a pretty big breakthrough. The NIC needs to start developing this technology of multiple flywheel sets. It really is going to pay off... seriously, people, get on this. Flywheel blasters and their semi-auto/automatic abilities just need a performance boost. So who's with me?




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