Happiness is 1200 rounds per minute

I just finished my latest project. I've had it in my head for a while to make some... upgrades... to my Nerf gun. Tonight I made them.

Here is the starting gun. Semi-automatic. Magazine capacity is a measly three. You have to yank that handle in the back several times to get the wheel up to speed, and then the trigger drops the balls onto the wheel which fires them out the front.

First order of business was some trigger work. I cut off the portion of the trigger that holds the second round back while the first is fired. So now you pull the trigger, and the rounds just keep firing off.

Next was to eliminate that pesky crank handle. Luckily, we just cleaned out some old project hardware at work, and I was able to snag an old Maxon motor. It's a brushed DC motor, exactly what I need. And due to the crank handle, the gun already has a little gearbox that engages and disengages the power source from the main wheel.

By an amazing coincidence, one of the gears was exactly the right size to press onto the motor shaft, with no machining required!

Mounting the motor to the side of the gear box was a piece of cake.

I also rigged up a switch built into the trigger. Depress the trigger slightly, and the motor comes on, but no ball is released, giving the wheel time to spool up. Additional pull on the trigger then releases the balls. Somehow I didn't take a picture of this.

Next up was addressing magazine capacity. Three rounds is just not sufficient. Luckily, and old caulk tube was the perfect size to hold additional rounds.

What modification would be complete without using duct tape? New magazine, now with a capacity of 7.

And finally, because an assault rifle really should be a scarier color than blue and orange, it got a fresh coat of paint.

Put it all back together...

And then test it out...

Run the math on that burst, and it is firing roughly 1200 rounds per minute. That's twice as fast as an M60 machine gun. Of course, with only 7 rounds, that 1200 rounds per minute only lasts .35 seconds.

My only remaining task is to figure out a way to strap on the two 6 V dry cells needed to power it.

Our next nerf gun war, my kids won't know what hit them... :)