Basics: Flywheel Blasters
Electric blasters are practical and efficient! We’ll explain the technical basics and possibilities.
Flywheel blasters are electrically operated blaster that fire either semi-automatically or fully automatically. That means either a shot is released by pulling the trigger once (semi-automatic) or you pull the trigger once and the Blaster shoots until you release the trigger again or the magazine is empty.
Flywheels are the driving force that gives these blasters their name. Usually there are two flywheels, which rotate fast and the dart is pushed between them from behind. The rotation of the flywheels throws the dart out of the front of the blaster.
For these blaster there are two classic tuning methods:
- More volt on the engines, which increases the engine speed.
- Improvement of the entire system with new parts
However, there are many ways to get more volts on the motors. Either you can increase the number of batteries used by soldering another battery compartment or you can use more powerful batteries.
More powerful batteries have the advantage of saving some space, but also need special chargers. Another battery compartment, on the other hand, is usually cheaper, but can often not be installed inside a blaster and requires the ability to solder.
Rechargeable batteries with higher voltage are sold in sets and can be inserted like regular AA batteries. Another alternative are battery packs, but this is a topic for another blog entry. If you are interested in using battery packs you can learn more about them here. Most easy to use are probably the Blasterpart’s Tuning Kits.
Apart from increasing the voltage, many blaster kits require the removal or bridging of single or multiple locks. On one hand, thermistors are often used, which switch off the Blaster when too much current flows, on the other hand, you’ll find various switches, put in place to interrupt the circuit if no magazine is inserted, the magazine is empty or the jam door is open. How useful it is to remove these locks depends heavily on the blaster and the intended use.
If children will use them, it is advisable to leave most of the blaster as it is. If you’re building a blaster for sports, you may want to get rid of most of them. Advanced modders often only keep a blaster’s shell and a few individual parts.
Batteries are not the only thing to upgrade on a blaster, many other parts can improve or change the performance, when replaced.
I will give you a very short and simplified overview, but I would like to point out that the following upgrades require some skill and in many cases the ability to solder. But even a beginner could use the forum to easly acquire all the necessary skills step by step!
Inside a Flywheel Unit
The driving force of a flywheelblaster is a casing, the so called cage, in which two electric motors each drive one flywheel. Flywheels, motors as well as Cage can be upgraded.
Better Flywheels
Most flywheels in blasters, out of the box, have simple straight sides which push against darts. Better flywheels usually have a better grip on darts and can therefore transfer more force onto the dart. This is crucial for your blaster’s performance. The Blasterparts Flywheels, for example, are concave and thus enclose much more of the dart’s surface area. This means that more area of the flywheels can make contact with the dart. This leads to better energy transfer and ultimately more acceleration. In addition, the Blasterparts flywheels are manufactured more precisely, which results in smoother running and less vibration and noise.
Better motors
Tuning motors often have higher rotational speeds and more torque than stock motors and are more resistant to higher voltages for longer periods, meaning they can take greater energy output from high voltage tuning battery packs.
The Blasterparts BP-MAX 1 tuning engine, for example, has a rated output of 35,000 rpm at 12V.
Better Cage
An improved cage can also help to reduce vibrations and thus lower the volume. It can also help making the installation of tuning motors easier and change the so called crush, the distance between the flywheels. This can increase contact pressure between flywheels and darts.
This kind of tuning is used something for high end projects can be pretty expensive
There is much, much more information about all the upgrades mentioned here. Our community forum Blasted.de is one of the best ways to continue learning more about the topic. We’d be delighted to welcome you there.
Author: SirScorp
You can find Flyhweels and Voltage Mods on Blasterparts.com
