10 Questions: Modifying and/or Building a Soaker - ^

[isoaker]

While thinking about useful types of articles that would be beneficial to those newer to water warfare, I came up with this idea of the "10 Questions" article series. Instead of writing about tips or tactics or such, the idea behind this article is simply to present different member's ideas on what sort of questions people should ask themselves.

For this thread, the theme is modifying and/or building your own soaker. What are the top ten things you think a water warrior should consider before modifying and/or building their own water blaster?

Side note: For the purpose of this thread and article, we are assuming a person has already considered, but opted against buying a stock soaker. If you cannot come up with 10 questions, list as many as you can. However, lists longer than 10 will be cut off after the 10th entry when posted on iSoaker.com.

I'll post my own thoughts on this topic in due time.

[Silence]

1. What is the purpose of the soaker? Sidearm, backpack tanker, water cannon, water balloon launcher, etc.

2. Where are you buying the parts? Online (think McMaster-Carr), Lowes, The Home Depot, Ace Hardware, etc.

3. What propulsion system are you using? Spherical or cylindrical rubber bladder, air pressure, something with a piston, a spring, etc.

4. What are you using for the nozzle system?

5. Which size of tubing will you select? Larger is better for more flow on larger nozzles, but it's more expensive and valves can become harder to actuate due to the presence of more friction.

6. Which type of trigger will you build? Pull valves, ball valves, hose handles, etc. (Or will you buy a pre-fabricated but complex valve?)

7. What is the target size and weight?

8. What material will you use? (PVC for most people.)

9...

Hmm, maybe 10 is too many.

[Dacca]

one of the most important questions that you missed imo, is:

How easy is it to use the soaker? / How battle practicle is it? / ergodynamic?

[forestfighter7]

For Modding:

1.Does it need modding?

2.Am I patient enough to try a modification?

3.What kind of mod/mods should I do?

4.What do I want the range to be?

5.What do I want the capacity and shot time to be?

6.Where will I get the proper equipment?

7.How much money am i confident to spend?

8.Where will I mod it?

9.How much do I want to change the gun?

10.How do I want to use this gun?

[Silence]

Right, thanks Dacca. Totally slipped my mind.

Funny how all my tips were homemades, and all of forestfighter7's were mods.

9. What should the ergonomics be like, and how will I meet those goals? Ie, what will the design be like on the ergonomics side?

10. What pressures do I need?