200 Dart Per Second Nerf Blaster - Part 1 

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I have a feeling the air-hose idea would work much better if it wasn't coiled so tightly- it's literally the same concept as how Nerf Rival blasters are fed through a hose with a fan at the opposite end- investigate that idea for certain.

As you dont need sustained torque, but only a short burst, a flywheel could solve your stalling problem somewhat. It would increase the spinup time, but mabe give the drum just enough stored inertia to keep it from stalling.

I love the way you broke down the problem to a fundamental level. A lot of engineers have a bad habit of trying the same thing as others but with more resources. You noticed that the firing time was a small portion compared to the loading time and found the true limit for a single "barrel". Good job. Also, you could potentially add more mass to the drum so that once it is spun up, the kinetic energy of the flywheel does all the work of feeding the darts. You wouldn't need a big motor, just a large angular momentum for the drum.

If you increase the drum diameter you'll increase not only the surface speed but also torque. I suspect that the drum diameter was chosen by the print bed size, if you use a tube liner on your drum you can create a smooth dart track without a bunch of post processing. I really liked the angling servo for once the drum was up to spoed.

Another point on the pneumatic hose idea: a follower with a tighter fit behind the darts in the tube could help it feed. Like a sabot or shotgun wadding. With the rest of the darts loose you wouldn't need to worry about coiling it as much and you wouldn't have as much of a change in resistance when you put more and more darts in.

To deal with the thread engagement issue, why not use a permanently engaged thread with the rollers being attached to a 'ring' that surrounds and rotates with the drum. You could then use a clutch to grab the ring, causing the drum to feed. Another option could be to remove the lead-in section and just have the roller held clear of the drum until firing time. You could design it so that it drops in at a specific point in the rotation in order to capture the thread. You could even design the shape of the thread so it does half a rotation with zero pitch, helping the roller drop in cleanly.

you could place ribbon strips above and below the darts throughout the entire chain....as it goes through the hole, the ribbons can wrap around a secondary winding and out of the way, this will prevent the darts from slamming against the sides and causing a stop. Think of it similar to a railgun where they pack the slug in a breakaway to keep it aligned.

The way the darts spew out is immensely satisfying, it's such an absurd way to fire them, I love it. Also, I was pretty shocked when I went to subscribe and saw that you hadn't even hit 1k, how are your videos already this good? Edit: 20 minutes later and it seems you have already hit 1k, congratulations

Always remember to water your dogs.

I think my favorite part of all these 100+ Dart per Second concepts is they all use different ways to achieve it, the only thing they have in common is they use flywheels but thats it.

Recommendation. Push the roller. Have the exit adjust. Less mass that moves

I mean your problem with the drum is pretty much the same as getting the power of a car engine to the wheels. Some sort of clutch system would probably work well with this. And for later you still need a trigger system. Maybe a spring that pushes the drum towards the clutch? Just some food for thought. I am very impressed what you have made here and can't understand how you only have so little subscribers. Cant wait for part 2!

You might want to try replacing the path the darts take out with some brass tube, they seem to catch a lot on the print lines there so a smoother path should reduce a lot of friction

Perhaps instead of a second, shallower thread, you could just extend the groove for the darts farther, and run the roller in that. Just have it completely disengaged until you're ready to fire. You get lots of options for roller geometry that way (and pretty extreme engagement) too.

"Wanna see this thing shoot 200 darts per second?" Immediately liked and subscribed. I'm all in for this journey!

i love this video! I love watching any series that aims to get insane dps like this. once you can reach 200 dps reliably you should do an episode where you try make it into a proper blaster

Great breakdown! Love the video.

One thing I notice is that the rollers on the transition piece are not moving until the darts make contact with them. This could be contributing to higher frictional forces. What if you add a flange to the end of the dart drum on the inside to get those rollers moving before their engagement is needed? Otherwise, I think the darts are having to accelerate the rollers themselves and that's potentially a lot of force at the start.

awesome video! 1. i suggest making the outlet for darts more of a longer sweep around the exterior of the drum creating a chute for the darts to engage with for a few inches before reaching the hole dramatically reducing the angle at which the darts flee the center of rotation. (i recommend a teflon interface) 2. roller could interface with drum deeper in my opinion hopefully reducing overall wear and improving reliability. that servo actuated roller idea was genius btw. this whole project is incredibly cool and cant wait for part 2. i kinda wanna make one

There have been several times where I have started to type out a suggestion for your process but then your next iteration was a mile ahead of whatever I was going to say. Really enjoying this build. Looking forward to the next one!

Really cool project and design. Awesome video. This channel is going places.

Such a cool project! Great idea to eliminate most of the load time! Fun workshop with Laser, Cnc, 3Plasma too!

Dude this is the most underrated I've ever seen, like around 5k subs rn, but has extreme quality content, nice editing, insane engineering skills, how you not a mil subs yet? Sometimes the world isn't fair and that includes the algorithm, im sorry

I think the guise of a super fast Nerf blaster is an excuse to channel his desire for building nefarious contraptions, into something generally smiled upon

Damn, 100% worth subscribing

Guess I'll race ya to 200 ;D This design is really awesome though well done, if anyone can hit these ludicrous speeds I think it'll be you.

Nice job! I'm hoping for some more stunts from Malachi in the next one

great video! Honestly my favorite part was the overly hardcore montage of being all geared up riding around a class 2 folding ebike at like 12 mph

You would be a fantastic teacher! The way you explain The mechanisms in more simple breakdowns is really nice

When I'm prototyping things where the geometry is likely to change, but making one large, singular part over and over again is impractical, I try to design a test bench version. Instead of having one big roller with integrated grooves and features, make a drum and points for fastening new geometries (with helicoils to reduce wear and tear). Any part that needs to have low friction or a lubracious surface, using plastics like nylon, acetal resin (delrin), or PTFE (Teflon) work well. You could also try driving a pair of wheels at the exit with the overall drive chain. You could get some extra oomph on the darts, and possibly alleviate some good jamming issues at the end. Tapering both ends of the barrel will also help. The taper on the way in helps with feeding, and the taper at the end helps the darts stay straight. This was super fun to watch. I enjoyed the addition of the thought process.

Maybe just add a flywheel to the spinning barrel to help with the torque issues

second flywheel, second dart path on the drum: if you stack the flywheels one path will feel slightly after the other. B will fire while A is setting up the next shot.move the flywheels as close as possible to the drum and layer the darts, the bottom layer will act like the threads for the top layer. You wouldn't even need to add another motor. maybe just tilt the pulley shafts to line up with the second dart feed path.

Maybe spin the magazine at the finial firing velocity with darts that lock into the grove, then have a flip down ramp that strips the darts out of the grove?

Excellent engineering, great skills!

Cool project and great dedication! You deserve way more views. I saw the Open Sauce exhibitor badge at 7:56, hope to see something like this nerf gun there this year!

Pretty sure you'll want to reverse the pulley set up. The way you had it essentially increased the friction that the motor had to overcome

Definitely enjoying seeing you all pushing the limits

I'm almost imagining a hose-like structure made of repeated flywheel modules which fling the darts into the next set of flywheels to ultimately come out wherever the final 'nozzle' set is pointed. At this point all you need to develop is some sort of back mounted funnel hopper which gravity feeds a steady line of darts downwards into the module hose. Assuming you got even 9 of the 9.8 m/s of a gravity drop then that should take you through the 25 feet of darts. You might even be able to rig a compressed airflow to give the darts leaving the hopper an initial boost into the flywheel array. This would solve the problem of the spiraling angular momentum in exchange for friction losses and directional instabilities as the dart chain passed from flywheel to flywheel from the hopper.

so glad to see the legend starting up another banger project, keep up the great work.

Its a hard filament to print but delrin/POM/acetal is a self lubricating tough low friction plastic. Might be worth making the drum out of it.

All the engineering involved just for a nerf blaster. Now think about the guy who brainstormed the 'Hellfire R9X'... "Lets shoot swords at someone"

This is such an amazing Channel. Cannot wait to see more.

I would look into tighter tolerances, additional guides into the barrel, longer barrel, lubrication (graphite and ceramic coating), and maybe change the tips of the darts to a less abrasive texture.

i work at the place that nema34 motor was produced, always super cool to see people using them in the wild

Excellent video! I love watching projects like these, It's especially fun seeing everyone's approach to solving the bottlenecks and other problems. Keep it up! (Also your workshop looks like a lot of fun to be in.)

Boy, you fought a LOT of mischievous problems!

With the power and torque you should have from that bike, you likely don't need to pre-spin the drum. Just have it permanently engaged in the thread, and maybe extend the drum a bit so it gets another rev or 2 to get up to speed before the darts hit the exit. Alternatively, VESC 6 controller + an electric longboard outrunner should definitly have the power to accelerate that. Also great video!

This is really an amazing idea. My brain started thinking of other areas this technology could be deployed. I wonder if a similar drum magazine could be used in caseless amunition firearms.

The multiple lines method would work if you thought about it differently. The US military experimented with a gun nicknamed “metalstorm” which was basically a whole bunch of tubes stacked in a grid pattern with spooling ammunition. They where able to get up to *Technically* one million rounds a minute. (It was basically just a shotgun at that point.)

I don't know how much you know about the Nerf modding hobby but there's a lot of work that has been done already. You should look at what Luke at Out of Darts has done with his HIRacane and Proton Pack. They use Nerf Rival balls. Using omnidirectional ammo really helps in a lot of ways.

Your idea to decrease the loding time is just like my curtain rod magazine fed flywheller that could hold 32 1/2 length darts.

''Thats it!'' - metal storms your dart blaster

Three things: 1. Get a more appropriate motor. Gear down a big brushless or brushed motor. 2. Make the drum spin externally. You're rubbing the darts against the outside drum for lots of friction. 3. Bigger mag, more funner.

Ethan this is incredible. Love the result and how you break it down for us.

I love problem-solving like this!!!

Make a double threaded drum where one of the threads guides the drum and the other holds the darts. That way you can cover the thread holding the darts, eliminating friction.

I think what you are doing is brilliant. I like mechanical and machine engineering. Here is a concept. What about connecting all the darts? Together with a tape or a thread and once they are fired. They're disconnected At the moment they are fired that way, it pulls them through.. what yo done is great . But Do you think? This idea work too.

Great job, have a gold star yourself 🌟 Also your dog is so cute!

Alternative to the roller screw is a ram with a wheel/roller on the end pushing the drum across. Gives less timing/sync control though but insensitive to lateral loading a roller/screw thread

Brilliant! Loved the sequence where you were building up speed to over 700rpm 😄

Awesome project! I'm working on a helical mag for nerf rival balls so it's cool to see someone else's thoughts on a similar concept. 3 possible ideas; 1. Why not have a deeper thread cut into the drum? And possibly a less triangular thread groove, maybe something more like an acme thread? This should allow for more engagement, and you'll have the force spread across more surface area so there's less likelihood of the shallow thread getting worn away. 2. The tape measure could be replaced by a spring-loaded tab that rides in a thin groove inside of the dart groove. You'd still have your concave groove to hold darts, but there would be a thin groove at the lowest point which the tab could ride in, providing a smooth but sturdy feed ramp to the flywheels. 3. If you want to reduce overall friction you could wax or acetone vapor-polish your dart drum (if you reprint it from ABS/ASA)

If you somehow simultaneously guide and eject the darts from within the drum, you may be able to kill two birds with one stone. To explain further, if you are able to make a track within the cylinder, you may be able to make a guide that interferes with the back of the darts along the spiral path of the clipazine, you may be able to follow the dart path as well as nudge it free from the track. Perhaps also upgrading the drive rods to some flat bar stock can also help transfer energy into the magazine now that you have access to all that torque

Schneider electric motor, nice, I used to work for Schneider haha

Faster than my monitor evolution

I really think using some lubrication in general would help, however, I also think making the drum out of metal would solve a lot of problems too

this video is so well edited

You may add teflon tape strips on the dart holder helix, it may decrease the friction without needing to print it again.

love that goofy sound

While you might have a motor issue you I would highly recommend material and friction optimization. Brute forcing things will only make it heavier, more dangerous and more likely to self destruct

This might not be relevant, but I feel like putting the flywheels on would help since the darts would disengage with the drum as soon as possible, eliminating excess friction at the end of the run.

this is how i always imagined the Maliwan SMGs from Borderlands would function

You could try a metal overlay on your track to help with the derability and maby add a flywheel to help with momentum to keepit from stalling

I'm sure someone mentioned it but a thin layer of silicone lubricant will make a world of difference for friction. It's been a game changer on my 3d prints that have moving parts.

Cool project! A multi-start ballscrew engaged by a friction clutch attached to a flywheel-enhanced drum might be a good option. Commercial ballscrews are a bit spendy, but maybe a chonky printed multi-start thread could do the same job. Looking forward to updates!

That’s an amazing prototype

you could use a bike chain for a pulley to minimize slipping, or even super strong gears

suggestion: put the helical track on the stationary frame, and the feed roller(s) on the drum. This way you can use a train-track-switch mechanism on the feed track to keep the drum in the spinup segment until you are ready to start firing. prespin the drum, but with more reliable engagement between the roller and track. this also eliminates the issue of the track interfering with feed chute mechanisms.

GOOD NOODLES!!!! I've thought of something even funnier than 24... 25!

This is intense!

great video, as others have said a little more audio quality and a flywheel would work wonders, also loved the excel analysis but i think you missed a trick and I've not seen others mention it (i could be wrong though as its almost 1am). you're not utilising your top end speed of the motor, so you need to flip the pulley ratio like you did with the bike so you can harvest that double speed for double torque. also to reliably engage the treads could you extend the roller to 2 or 3, then lift it in and out pf position instead of tilting, like if you cut a nut into thirds and placed it onto a bolt from the side, would allow a much larger contact area to reduce wear/skipping. another longshot idea is electroplating the print to add a wear surface? not sure if it would add enough metal to be effective but worth a thought :)

cant wait to see part 2

Well showcased skill set. Impressive!

I think the air hose idea will work if you have a piston in the end of the hose with the compressed air behind it. That should push all of the following darts. Also, you could make the thread in the drum deeper so it can't jump as easily.

For the hose you *could* make a hose that has rollers on either side or at the cardinals to reduce friction. Or maybe even fluted to reduce surface area touching the dart.

The air hose, seems like a really good method for me, like in this tube post systems. You should probably try it with a vacuum, since the dart has the highest friction coefficient at the tip, or a combination of both. For the drum version I would get rid of the thread and use a spindle instead combined with a clutch. Similar like a gearbox works in a car. By engaging the clutch the spindle will move and push the drum downwards

maybe wind a mesure tape on the drum under darts, so the darts will come out from the barrel together with mesure tape, and make another small drum to wind the mesure tape outside the barrel. maybe even not mesure tape but some textile tape will work.

I think it needs to be longer and maybe even lubed up. maybe more space for the roller between the threads of darts? Maybe a flywheel for stored kinetic energy to boost torque?

Most of the ideas I had have already been suggested so instead I will be the child in the room and say 10:18 looks very, familiar...

you should try using a fly wheel on the motor to overcome the friction and give it the extra boost it needs

you are damn right your dog is so darn cute!

Another interesting idea would be multiple rotating barrels like a gattling gun

You could try to champfer the exit, could reduce friction. Additional: find the friction Surface and blow out air there. (Gyroid infill+Holes drilled where needed) This principle is also used in air bearings. Second: use a Metal roller and a bigger drum thread. Also: lower runout allows you to stiffen up the roller bearing.

I feel like the nub that causes the drum to strafe and the device that pushes the darts out of the drum could be made into the same thing. Your drum would only need one track, and one nub that both causes it to rotate and fully stops the darts.

I love how this is actual military tech. It’s called the metal storm

This is insane!

the air hose idea sounds like you messed with a gaggle of geese

im picturing 20 barrels gatling style holding 10 darts each and as it rotates it grabs a dart out of the next barrel, giving it a full revolution to reload each barrel

I clicked on this video and after watching assumed you had at least 50,000 subs.

Something which might help with stalling due to friction during feeding would be to increase the mass and moment arm of the drum. Use it as a flywheel to store energy to overcome the load spike.