Electric Nerf Blaster Modification Project

Nov. 2019 - Jan. 2022

Project Description

Full Upgrade List

This high school project was my final contribution to the Nerf modification hobby, which I joined at a very young age. It is a culmination of every upgrade from a stock blaster I could dream of, from performance upgrades with hobby-grade parts to fully-automatic firing to a black-ice-inspired paint job.

The modification started with a stock Nerf Stryfe, which is an electric semi-automatic pistol that fires darts by manually feeding them through two flywheels like a tennis ball launcher. I opened up the stock blaster and scrapped all of the internals, keeping only the plasic shell to house the new parts. Inside, I installed new motors, flywheels, flywheel housing, and a gearbox kit that automatically pushes darts into the flywheels with a third motor. I upgraded the power from four AA's to an 8.4 V 750 mA lithium polymer battery, which also required lower-gauge wires and switches. I also installed a secondary circuit with a UV LED to charge tracer darts inside the magazine well and a voltmeter to track the battery level. All circuitry was soldered and routed through the blaster's small internal channels.

I also configured a 3D-printed aesthetic kit that converted the pistol into a rifle and spray-painted all parts before final reassembly.

Performance Upgrades
  • Semi-automatic to fully automatic conversion
  • Compatibility with full-length and half-length darts
  • Internal digital voltmeter
  • Embedded tracer ammo UV charging
  • Significantly higher muzzle velocity
Aesthetic Upgrades
  • Third-party Scorpion-Evo replica kit
  • Viewing windows into flywheel system
  • White LEDs in flywheel system
  • Black ice color theme

Skills

Electronics

Soldering

Design Process