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.
