The Gryphon (Foam Dart Blaster)

prusaprinters

The Gryphon is a mostly 3D printable, hobby-grade, Nerf semi-automatic flywheel blaster. Its main design features are as follows:Uses 130 to 180 sized 20.4mm , brushed DC motors.Semi-auto by rack and pinion with 1:3 gear multiplication. The trigger pull is fairly short at 13mm.Accepts 33 to 38mm OD flywheels (all 2mm shaft fit, superstock upgrade flywheels).Utilizes a horizontal flywheel cage that bolts directly onto the magwell. This is a mounting pattern less prone to misalignment than a Stryfe's mounting bosses or similar.Accepts Worker Talon mags, Katana-geometry mags with a lower release cut-out, and almost all full-length magazines.Battery is located in the stock or a side battery tray.Full-length feed guide integrated in magwell for maximum feeding reliability.Bore-axis is almost as close as possible to top rail of blaster, which is theoretically more intuitive to aim with.Will fit on small build volumes (originally designed for 120x120x120 mm, but the V1.3 updates have slightly bumped up this requirement, and some alternate options such as the expanded stock and buffer tube stock are larger).Some options/variable features are:Variable motor center distances from 43.5mm to 38.5mm (Eclipse).Full-length, flat-top picatinny rail.Ambidextrous, or one-sided sling mounts, or a WORKER attachable sling mount.A mag release meant to be actuated by the operator's off-hand, and one meant for the dominant hand's middle finger.Flash hider: Helps work around cover, and can be used to house and launch a mega dart.Kill-switch mount on stock, and a kill-switch + voltmeter mount on stock, and variations for imperial PVC using 3/4'' PVC instead of 25mm PVC.An additional EXPD stock option that holds larger batteries, has the same options.14mm or 14.5mm bore flywheel cages or MAX cages, which are 15mm bore, Daybreak / Twilight only, have extra motor can support, and are intended for maximum FPS.An optional foregrip and magwell option for mounting this foregrip.An optional bottom-picatinny variant of the motor cover.2-stage flywheel cages in all the aforementioned 'crushes' and bore options.Talon, 'Kathanha/Katobu', and full-length magwell options.Required for assembly:Two 130-180 sized motors.33 to 38mm, 2mm shaft fit flywheels16-18 AWG multi-strand hobby wireConnectors of choice (XT60, Deans, bullet connectors), and heat shrink.One full-sized microswitch, 15A or 21A.M3 nutsM3 screws: 5mm length, 8mm length, 10mm length, one 14-16mm length for mag release pivot, one 20mm length for one specific screw on the motor cover.M2 screws: 4-5mm length for motor mounting.2x20mm steel dowel pin for the pinion gear.0.5mm coil thickness, 5mm diameter compression springs. 15mm in length for the mag release, 50mm in length for the trigger return spring.An adhesive for stock assembly, preferably methyl methacrylate based.Modular connectors to flywheel cage and to stock assembly (if using kill switch and/or voltmeter) highly recommended.For a battery stock: 10-20cm length of 25mm OD PVC pipe (length depends on however long you want your stock), or 3/4' Sch 40 PVC.Licensed under the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication (Creative Commons) license.Do whatever you please with this blaster, modify, distribute, sell. Preferably don't claim ownership of the original design, that'd be all I want.The most up-to-date (unstable) source files are available here: https://a360.co/2N3szi3Update Log:V1.01 (05/02/19): Updated 'Stock Cap' piece to be 5mm thick on the screw mounts to the back of the pusher mechanism from 2.5mm (this is a high stress piece if the stock smacks something, it should not have been that thin). Also altered the buttplate to have a more ergonomic depression to wrap around the operator's shoulder.V1.02 (05/11/19): Added split picatinny in the form of the 'Flat Top Picatinny Front' and 'Flat Top Picatinny Rear' (it actually doesn't matter which way you put these on as long as you print both of them). This allows the picatinny rail to fit in smaller build volumes.V1.1 (08/03/19): Includes fixes and little tidbits I forgot to include a long time ago, plus a big extra feature. This includes 3/4'' PVC compatible stocks, a trigger guard that is now fully chamfered where there were sharp edges, a Bobololo styled rev trigger. The big extra feature would be the release of two-stage flywheel cages.V1.11 (09/28/19): Added the Kathanha / Katobu magwell, actual Katanas cant fit thanks to the magwell mounting solution that was originally used, unfortunately. Up next will be full-length magwells, which might be a while, sorry.V1.12 (01/05/20): I've actually had this done for a while. Added an extra motor cover option for a single-stage cage that can accept a lower rail and has the same lower appearance as the dual-stage cage.V1.13 (01/27/20): A biggie here in terms of compatibility here back: I've redesigned the flywheel cage to allow it to be printed in the opposite of the original orientation: with the side that the motors insert into as the bottom layer. Less supports (though still recommended), and hopefully less alignment issues with warping and other print defects. This required making the cage 1.5mm thicker (and in order to minimize this extension, I reduced the bottom clearance for the flywheels by 1mm (don't worry, it was initially deliberately excessive), and the mounting points were moved up 2mm. Therefore, the magwell is also now slightly different, so are all motor cover designs, and even the flash hider. A new page has been created for the older cage design and can be found in a remix. Another update is that I now feel comfortable releasing a foregrip design: it mounts onto the magwell, you'll need a new print for it (a magwell compatible with the old cages can be found in the legacy cage page too).V1.2 (02/08/20): The next big-ish update as it includes a feature I've put off working on and testing since I completed the blaster: a full-length magwell. A new foregrip for that magwell comes with it, all picatinny options between one and two-stages are available. I kind of include the 'carbine' remix as part of this update, which is the main other feature. (02/11/20): Hot-fix for this update, I forgot to upload the wire run for the full-length magwell.V1.21 (06/11/20): This is a large update and one of the final ones (feature wise). The new 'EXPD Battery Stock' is available in metric, imperial, kill switch and voltmeter variants, and has volume for up to 110x36x31mm packs (though it should be at least a little smaller for wiring), and assembles in the same way as the original stock. There is also a new 'Stock Cap (Attach)' option: instead of a printed sling mount, a Worker or very similarly mounted sling can be attached instead. Furthermore, there are now 14.5mm bore cages: occasional reports of inconsistent FPS results, the difficulty of pinpointing why has led me to make these an option instead: velocity (consistency) is just as important as precision to tagging players. The 38.5mm Eclipse option is not available as the wider bore begins to interfere with the cage geometry, and honestly I just didn't want to bother. Finally, I extended the end of the pusher by 1mm, it still doesn't protrude into the magwell but this should account for some reliability issues that have been reported with failing to feed into Daybreaks.V1.21 Fix (07/08/20): The flywheel cover threads from the flash hider were broken somewhere while I was exporting the 14.5mm bore cages. I should have caught this earlier while developing the takedown variant (which is still being tested).V1.22 (03/07/21): Developed MAX cages for single-stage variants. These are 15mm bore (essentially eliminating barrel drag), 39.5mm center-distance cages for Daybreak / Twilight wheels. As Eclipse wheels are not anywhere near available, this is a quick variant for maximizing FPS out of a single-stage. These have not been sorted into the ZIP yet until I get access to a Mac to fix the issues with ":" in the file names for x86.V1.23 (03/27/21): An update that adds the MAX cages. These have additional ridges added in the motor well to improve rigidity and possibly durability against the forces induced by high crush, and dual-stage MAX cages have been added. These are 40mm into a second 39.5mm stage cages intended for Daybreak / Twilight wheels, possess a 15mm bore to almost eliminate barrel drag, and should hit 240 FPS give or take. On another note, also fixed the file names for all the Imperial stocks to be compatible with Windows.V1.24 (05/01/21): Added a side battery tray design to the files. This is something that's been developed over a few different remixes by different people, but I either didn't like the appearance of many of them, the implementation of the tray door, or the lack of space offered in most of those designs. The internal volume of the tray is about 110x35x24mm (you will of course, need to slightly undersize), it uses a captive M3 nut and thumbscrew + latch for tool-less opening, and has a sling mount on the side that replaces the stock cap. A tray that occupies the right-hand side is also available. On a tangential note, the rev triggers have been updated to be more ergonomic.V1.25 (05/30/21): Altered the side battery tray design file: I wasn't happy with a lot of the first iteration. Firstly, I simplified the design to not require one to remove the top mech cover to install. Then, I added an mm of extra space in the dimension of a pack's width as I've found that the wire leads from a pack often add extra width or prevent fit. Finally, I created various tray door options ranging from a low-profile to an extended variant (for packs which take up all of the tray space and it can be impossible to fit an XT60 in the remaining space), and a low-profile variant with a cut-out should you want the low profile but not mind having dangling wires.V1.3 (5/16/22): The mech covers have been merged into one piece and redesigned to print in such a way and retain space for wiring and guiding the pusher. The grip frame has been modified to be merged with a wider magwell joint, which should hopefully be more structurally sound in addition to reducing the part and hardware count. The Mech Cover to Grip attachment and Magwell to Grip Frame attachment points have been redesigned to accept M3x25 screws and an M3 hex nut to further drop hardware requirements. This cumulatively drops the part count by 3 and the screw count by 8. All of the flywheel cages (not just the MAX cages now) have been re-exported with ribs in the motor wells to hold the motors more securely and lessen flexing from higher crushes, which should increase long-term durability and possibly marginally increase velocity for high envelopment/crush systems. Also enforced a uniform 1mm fillet in the wheel cavity-to-bore geometry (some, like the 40mm cages had a 0.5mm fillet previously). Got rid of all the original picatinny options and enforced a more uniform standard: three splits of picatinny between the pusher mech, magwell, and flywheel cage. Allows for these parts of the blaster to be split up without undoing any picatinny and just reduces confusion between all the previous options of monolithic or etc. picatinny. There is also a major additional feature/option: a buffer-tube mounted battery stock. The buffer tube is intended to be bonded with a 25mm diameter PVC inside to reinforce it (3/4 PVC is too thick for the walls to have any semblance thickness, so there is no imperial option here). For printability, the stock cap and buffer tube are printed separately (the former still requires support like any other stock cap), but the stock itself prints without support. The stock's battery holding internal dimensions measure at 107x36x26.8mm, and some of the wiring can be left in the buffer tube so a battery can be more closely spec'd to these dimensions. The KS and/or VM options were disappointing to me and with the adjustable length it can be extra finicky to set up a kill switch and/or voltmeter in the stock. I would personally recommend running without for wiring simplicity / and reducing rubbing/potential pinching. Finally, tweaked the side battery tray to have a larger sling mount (it was far too small before) and adjusted the fit of the tray door's hook to be tighter.V1.31: Fixing the aspects of V1.3 I wasn't satisfied with: I wasn't happy at all with how the original buffer tube stock came together, so I redesigned it to print with the top of the tube being the bottom layer as to not leave the tube prone to breaking along length-wise layer lines. I didn't like how heavy the PVC reinforcement made the stock, or the fact that a weak point remained between the stock cap and tube joint (rather than being monolithic). The integrated pusher mechs were exceptionally difficult to route wires through (though doable), and I decided to do away with the wire feed loops altogether. Though it is possible for this to rub against the pinion gear, with lubricant and 16 AWG wire cut to appropriate lengths in assembly, this shouldn't make much of a difference. Addendum: Some people have had trouble with the mech cover piece and the revisions I made, so I made the previous piece a secondary version and the new piece has one ‘hold-down’ section within to keep wires seated and make connecting other joints or tucking away excess wire easier. There is only one, and it's larger than before,  so hopefully routing isn't as painful as before though I don't expect it to be trivial.