Today on Voidstar Lab: 3D-printed blasters! ...and tactical gear.
[PEW]
When it comes to the rise of 3D printing, no field has been disrupted as thoroughly as
the Nerf battlefield. Homemade blasters were once post-apocalyptic-ass contraptions made of PVC pipe
and clothespins. Nowadays, 3D-printed blasters don't just hold their own against the name brand -
homemades throw modded toys off Hell in a Cell, plummeting 16 feet through an announcer's table.
Shilling time! I sell Nerf tactical gear under the name Voidstar Combat Sports,
and if you use the discount code 'ZACKISASELLOUT', you'll get $5 off the best mag holders in a hobby!
You don't need a Nerf arms dealer to gear up.
All you need is a well-maintained 3D printer and a can-do attitude! Personally,
I am too busy printing stuff for next week's episode to run off a mind-blowing Nerf arsenal,
so let's get in my self-driving car and visit someone who already has one.
Welcome to my futuristic self-driving car! Okay car?
Car: Like, whoa, were you here the whole time?
Zack: Lay in a course to BaamNYC's mind-blowing Nerf arsenal.
Car: Far out, man. Navigating to... like... what was I doing?
Zack: What the... gah... [USB unplugging noise] Cyber-doobie. Car: NO!
Goddamn Elon Musk, setting a bad example...
Car: My USB sticky-icky...
Zack: As I was saying, uh, take me to Baam... Car: I heard you the first time,
party pooper. ETA: whenever I feel like it.
Zack: For the uninitiated, here's a quick primer on the most common Nerf-blaster operating systems:
springers and flywheels. Springers store energy in,
you guessed it, some form of elastic contrivance. First,
you prime the blaster to compress the spring, then, when you... [NYC pothole noises]
Then, when you pull the trigger, you release the plunger, which
is sent hurtling down the plunger tube under spring tension. Pressure builds
up behind the dart until it's sent down the barrel and flung onto your opponent's face.
Priming a springer can take some muscle - after all, it's your own compressed
elbow grease that sends the dart flying. Upside: reliable, consistent power. Downside:
you need to prime a springer after every shot, so you can only fire as fast as you can pump. Also,
mechanical stress will eventually break them. It's a good thing we can print spare parts!
Flywheelers are electric blasters. These usually have two triggers - you
hold the rev trigger to send power to two counter-rotating flywheels,
and the firing trigger will push a dart into the danger zone. Sometimes these two
triggers are combined into one, like within this Viper. Flywheelers can fire as fast as
you can get a dart into the flywheels, so they can be full-auto, burst-fire,
or semi-auto. Also, you can wield them one-handed! All the power comes from a LiPo battery pack,
so flywheels won't tire your widdle baby arms. Downsides: flywheels are loud as hell,
they're not as consistent as springers, and when they fail, they blow the [REDACTED] up.
Car: Brooke's driving the car. This is all phony.
Zack: No... uhh... that's not Brooke's arm! This is a self-driving car! Uhh... Time skip!
3D-printed blasters have become incredibly sophisticated. You can download plans for
high-powered snipers, break-action revolvers, advanced select-fire pistols and even
foam-flinging P90's, all using free files and accessible parts. It all starts with the models.
You can download printable STL files for [Editor's note: nearly] everything you
see in today's episode and make them at your leisure. Caveat:
you gotta pay for some of the models, and you will need to buy some non-printable parts.
We can't talk about 3D-printed Nerf blasters without talking about Captain Slug. Slug is
this super-genius mechanical engineer whose purpose on Earth is to turn food and water into
the highest-quality springer designs. His Caliburn and Talon Claw are some of the most well-regarded
3D-printed blasters in the hobby. In fact, the Caliburn basically brought magazines to
high-performance Nerfing and sort of popularized the entire field of 3D-printed blasters.
Slug has also built some pretty wild lower-powered blasters, including a slick lever-action rifle,
some hand cannons, and, uh, whatever whatever the hell this thing is. Slug's models are
well-designed, they're battle-tested, and they're all free, so if you're thinking of
doing a little snipey-snipey, you really need a reason not to use a Talon Claw or Caliburn.
First-person Zack: Time to shoot some darts!
First-person Zack: Time to shoot darts somewhere else!!
But not all springers are Slugs. The Argus 2 is a fork of the Caliburn with
a futuristic styling. This Chimera is kind of esoteric and sketchy,
but if you want some bullpup action, look into the Lynx. Then there's the Spring Thunder,
which is a pump-action shotgun with reusable shells that are also 3D-printed.
Shells are strictly worse than magazines, but come on. You're not using a shell-ejecting
pump shotgun because it's optimal. You're using it because [Shotgun SFX from old-skool Doom].
There are also some spicy sspringer sssidearm STL'ssss like this SPAMF.
This is a conversion kit for the Nerf FalconFire that turns it into a mag-fed tactical pistol.
Speaking of tactics, I'm curious how many of you are Nerfers who found yourselves watching
a 3D-printing video, and how many of you are 3D-printing nerds who found yourself
watching a Nerf video. Leave me a comment and let me know the cut of your jib.
The JSPB Urban Ops was one of the first printable sidearms around,
and it continues to distinguish itself by integrating a bottle opener AND a fidget spinner.
Then there's CarnyRex's flintlock blaster, which isn't that strong,
but YARRR!!! No matter how appropriate it is, please don't pirate this blaster.
When it comes to electronic flywheels, Project FDL is the one to beat.
Their eponymous flagship blaster, the Foam Dart Launcher 3, is an advanced
modular flywheeler that they release under an open-source hardware license. The FDL has
a versatile select-fire system, powerful brushless motors, great design, and is a
smooooth operator. Project FDL also likes hydro-dipping their blasters for some reason.
Um, here's an FDL with baked-bean camo. I dunno.
The FDL's reliability and performance mean that you're gonna see a lot of them,
and you'll hear their distinctive boot-up sound often between rounds.
FDL: Bleepity bleepity bleepity bleepity bip bip bip. BEEP BEEP!!
The Gryphon is another free and open brushless blaster, similar to the FDL,
that's got a lot of history and refinement behind it. Rad Blasters is blowing minds
with their Pretty Fly blasters, which add a second set of flywheels for MORE POWER!!
If you want the cutting edge, it doesn't get any edgier than the Bulwark,
a P90-style bullpup blaster with an innovative horizontal magazine.
Another interesting project is the Narfduino board,
which combines an Arduino with all of the electronics you need to drive the
high-powered motors and solenoids of a competitive Nerf blaster.
Flywheel pistols have smaller flywheels and get lower performance,
but they can pack the same batteries and firing mechanisms as their big brothers.
This is the Viper, a slick break-action revolver with handy speedloader cylinders.
This is the Dessert Pigeon, which is not a Desert Eagle,
but it is a semi-auto mag-fed blaster that looks like one.
Nerf darts and the Deagle's Action Express rounds are both 50-cal, so it's kind of authentic!
Then there's the Woozi, which packs a full-auto blaster into a snack-sized
package, and just like the real deal, it'll empty a magazine uncomfortably quickly.
Speaking of mags, we can 3D-print those too!
Competitive Nerfers almost all use half-length darts, and there are a ton of high quality mag
models that accommodate them. There are two types of half-length mags:
the Katana, used in Dart Zone Pro blasters and some older homemades, and the Talon,
which is a more modern design that's compatible with pretty much every other enthusiast blaster.
You can print high-quality versions of both. Kathanhas
and Katobus are printable Katana mags, and if your blaster takes Talons,
you can print Thanhlons, Vorpal mags, and Tal.0's by yours truly.
Remember, you can only print mags as big as your bed, so if you have a small printer,
you might be better off just buying them. You're going to need a lot of
mags. Some Nerf ninjas can get away with carrying just like 50 darts into battle,
but I like to fire non-stop to remind the enemies I'm not... [REDACTED]ing around! One advantage to
printing your own mags is that you don't need to save them in a dump bag when you reload.
Just yeet them into oblivion, and if someone steps on it, salvage the spring and print another copy!
But printing blasters isn't the end. You can print stuff to put ON your blasters. Tactical stuff.
All 3D-printed blasters use the same Picatinny rail system as airsoft guns and real-steel
firearms, which means that there are a ton of compatible tactical accessories.
Tacticompatible. You can mount a GoPro right to your blaster to capture your terrible aim on film!
Most blasters lack iron sights, so may I recommend this set? It features a
pair of notorious hand gestures to put some maymays into every shot.
Put some rails on your rails to add some tactics... to your tactics!
Add a second scope on an angled rail so you can aim with both eyes! [Brooke laughing out of frame]
Here's a cover plate for your side rails that show the world how small
your pp is, [holding back laughter] and a tactical can of dip... stop laughing!!
Brooke, holding back laughter: Sorry! Cut!!
This is a serious show, Brooke.
Finally, the ultimate rail accessory... [Shotgun pump SFX from Doom II] a tactical banana holder.
Special mention to the Mistresskey, a single-shot Mega blaster that attaches to a Picatinny rail.
I've seen a few blasters for your blasters, but this is the only blaster-blaster I
would put on my blaster. That Mega dart is perfect for those games with special
classes that can only be killed by Megas, and for surprising idiots who think it's a scope.
Finally, you'll need some tactical gear to tactically schlep your crap. My Warp Saya
and the free version, the Blitz Saya, are mag holders that securely carry your ammo reserves.
But you could also print Fastmags, which aren't as rugged but they are easier to print.
You can find holsters for many common sidearms, like the Triad and the BigShock,
along with one-size-fits-all blaster retaining systems like the Holdster.
All these come in belt versions so you don't need to buy anything else,
but if you're a bad-ass mother [REDACTED] with 35 entire dollars, you can get yourself a MOLLE vest
to open up a tactical treasure trove. Not only are there tons of Nerfing-specific MOLLE accessories,
but you can also use gear designed by real amateur operators for cosplaying at protests!
On the Nerf side, I designed this collapsible ramrod for clearing jams,
and this cyber-style knife that you absolutely must print in soft floppy TPU
or you will kill a baby. Because... because I love you,
I have open-sourced my tactical sawblade holder, so you too can be a zombie-slaying ninja weirdo.
But wait, there's more! Attach some SWAT-style dart holders for the intimidation factor!
Stick another GoPro to your shoulder! Man, people hear 'modular' and they just think 'stick
a GoPro to it', huh? Spice up your combat with a tactical spice rack! Here's a grenade holder.
You'll never be allowed to Nerf with that group again,
and you'll probably go to federal prison, but it'll be one hell of a story.
Finally, serious talk: never ever print blasters or blaster accessories in black, olive, or tan.
Don't even mess around with realistic blasters in your own backyard. Some
Chatty Cathy's gonna see you, then panic, cops, bang, EURGGH!
To learn more about colorful 3D-printable blasters, drop and give me 20, recruit! Then
hit the description. There's links there to some awesome 3D-printed Nerf groups,
and of course, yours truly's Etsy store. Remember,
use discount code 'ZACKISASELLOUT' for five bucks off the best mag holders around! Buy
multiple copies of literally everything. Please. I'm on my last bag of precious toilet paper.
Did this video set your sights on a new blaster project? Do you already use any
of these models in your own Nerf battles? Let me know! Snipe that subscribe button and
dump a mag on that notification bell. Dump wherever you want - it's a free country!
Anyways, thanks a lot for watching, and I'll see you... on the battlefield.