Notes From a Maker

  I will be going over the design process of a Nerf magazine stock. It's a pretty quirky adapter which allows the user to use a spare Talon magazine as a stock.  The part can be downloaded on Thingiverse . Inspiration I saw a video of the Russian PP-2000, which was one of my favorite weapons to use in the game Ghost Recon Online, and I noticed a feature that I had never seen before. In addition to the familiar folding stock, there was a cutout that apparently was designed to hold a spare magazine to use as a makeshift stock. That was pretty fascinating, and seemed like an interesting way to hold more ammunition on the gun itself, which I am a fan of. Thus, I wanted to do a similar thing with my Nerf blasters.  PP-2000, with the spare magazine inserted in the stock Initial Concept The first step was to determine whether I wanted to make it out of a full size Nerf magazine, or a half length Talon magazine. Ultimately, I chose to use a Talon magazine because the full length ...

There's a few ways to transmit mechanical power from one place to another, but arguably the three most common methods are using a chain, a belt, or gears. In my research for a drive system for my electric mountainboard, I found quite a bit of information on what's good for what. I want to summarize my findings here. Drives 101 Chain Drive Image Credit: Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), Public Domain Chain drives transmit power using the tensile force of a chain. There's many different kinds of chains, all designed for certain tasks. At its core, a chain is made up of many links with rollers, which interface with the teeth in a sprocket. When a sprocket turns, the teeth pulls one end of the chain, which turns the other sprocket. Chain sizes are generally standardized based on the dimensions of the chain. This dictates what sprockets can be used. They can also be stacked together to form wider chains, which can handle greater loads. Some sizes also have ...

For the previous part, click here ! I have officially started the build process, and even in a few short weeks, quite a few design changes have been entertained and made as I take a deep dive into the actual building part. The part images below are taken from the respective manufacturer's product pages.  The ESC has been finalized and ordered. I went with the Spintend UBox for a few reasons. It comes with a remote and switch, so it actually saves me some parts by removing the need to buy a separate switch and remote. Antispark duties are now handled by an XT90S connector, so I will not need the Flipsky Antispark switch as originally intended. All in all, it saves me nearly $100 in parts I would have needed to buy separately, while still being a very good value in its own right as a standalone ESC. Plus, being a 75V/300A ESC, it has plenty of headroom for upgrades to up to a 16S system in the future. Hats off to Jeff for making a great value proposition! Spintend UBox with remote Th...