July 28, 2019
Description
This is Cowabunga! A Foam blaster designed for short dart (Talon) systems. The key feature of this design is the fact that it uses a smaller solenoid than most other solenoid builds. The Solenoid I designed this around is about half the size of the 35mm ones that are currently popular, but it functions exactly as needed (at only 15mm stroke). You can get the hardware directly from my etsy:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/RadBlasters/
Other than that feature, this is basically a primary blaster crammed into the smallest form factor I could create. Fully built, this can get 130-140 FPS on 4x Honeybadger motors...and it can be select fire too!
So if you are reading this, I bet you are anxious to start printing. Here is a guide for every part and how I currently print them:
Top Receiver - This is the main piece of the blaster. I print it upside down so that the Top of the receiver is on the build plate. I add enough support to ensure the area that slopes behind the stock attachment is supported. The less support the better as this is a very visible piece. Print at your desired resolution with 4 perimeters and at least 40% infill. I wouldn't print this faster than 50mm/s
Grips - I print these flipped and upright. You can print them on their sides with the triangles pointing up, but you risk losing some details on the switch mounts. Print with 4 perimeters and 20% infill.
Battery Compartment - print just as it sits on the blaster. You can get away with no supports, but you should ensure your printer can bridge the divider that is on top. 4 perimeters and 20% infill
Brace -this a critical component as most of the blaster bolts to it. Print as it sits on the blaster with supports touching buildplate. You want to make sure the supports remove clean in the motor section so the motors sit flush. 4 perimeters and at least 50% infill
Magwell- This most likely will print fine for you with no supports. 4 perimeters and 20% infill
Dart Guide- this is the triangle piece. The intention is to epoxy on the solenoid, centered just below the plunger rod. This is there to guide the next dart in line forward so that it clears the rod on its way up. You may need to trim the top edge back to get the right angle for your darts. If you don't use this part, you may have issues with darts dragging on the rod, so I highly suggest adding it.
Pusher cap- May print with a seam, but that is OK it needs to snap on the end of the plunger rod to give it more surface area.
Small parts that need support are: Board tray. Yep that's it. Everything else you can print without support.
Now for the Wheels- These need to be PETG or a Nylon Alloy like Taulman. You want them thick as possible. Cram in as many perimeters as you can to help with balance. Use 100% infill. The ID of the hole is 1.9mm in the model, so they press on nicely. You can add a small spray of hairspray on the shaft to help press on (if you work quickly) and give you some adhesion to the shaft. It will work with PLA, but they WILL strip out in a few mags time.
As far as assembly, its all pretty self explanatory when you see the models, but here are a few tricks:
Use as little wire as possible - but make sure you use GOOD wire. The wires run from the grip and back, across the side of the solenoid. Don't pinch them with the top receiver. Make sure they pass through the magwell on the outside of the flare. You'll see what I mean when you get there.
When soldering the motor wires, make sure you have slack in the wire between each. The motors may torque a bit under rev, so you don't want tight wires. Don't be scared to hot glue around the motors and solder joints to help them from moving.
If you are going to install the Suild select fire board, you will want to make sure your wiring is very tidy. There isn't much room behind the pusher. But don't worry, it does all fit. One thing I do is install the Top cover by sliding it from the back while holding the pusher rod in the reset position with my finger. That helps from the pusher going forward when you put it all together. You will then run the POT to the dedicated slot in the grip so that the knob is just below the base of the grip. You wont have to do any of this if you are going to run it as semi auto.
The Rev switch is designed to slide over the tab of a 15/21a microswitch. You can either glue it in place, or put a slight bend in the Tab so the rev switch stays on.
Trigger- Basically floats between the 2 sides of the grip, so you can run one long screw from one side, or a short screw from both sides to give it a pivot. Obviously use a screw with a smaller OD than the trigger's ID.
FINAL NOTES;
I have put a ton of time into trying to make this blaster as rad as possible. I am very happy with the results. However, I am not a designer by trade. There may be small issues with the models that I couldn't get quite right. So hopefully if you folks with more talent than me are going to build this, you will help me out with some sweet remixes!
OK, that's all for now. I will come back to add more as soon as possible. Thanks for checking out Cowabunga!
Keep track of everything rad on my instagram and @ me with your builds!:
License:
Creative Commons - Attribution - Non-Commercial
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