PC Replacement Mod - AP to CPS

[marauder]

I mentioned this in some previous topics, and Poseidon2000 and I have talked about doing this via PM.

I want to first try this on my 275, if successful I may also perform it on my Pool Pumper Blaster.


picture via iSoaker


picture via Duke Soak 'Em

I'm going to replace the PCs, most likely with those found in either the Arctic Blast or Flash Flood. I have 2 of each, with the FFs being broken, and the ABs/Iron Man 2 being common enough to replace. The alternative to this is using 2 1000/1200/2100 PCs (it's not too difficult to find those broken), or just using 1 of those and sealing up the other PC aperture. However, I'm afraid that the wider 1000/1200/2100 PCs will prevent me from being able to pull down the firing lever all the way, so again, I'm most likely going with the slimmer FF/AB.

This is the best photo of the AB PC I can find at the moment:


There are 2 real issues that need to be addressed when figuring out how to perform this mod. The first is how to connect the AB or FF PCs to the 275. I am pretty sure that the AB or FF PC is not compatible with the 275's piping. Sidenote for anyone interested - the 1200 PC is compatible with the AB gun, I tested this out, unfortunately I lost the stats on it. As far as connecting the AB/FF PCs to the 275 I am thinking I can do this via PVC pipe. Once I get them to connect I will epoxy the PVC pipe to the plastic aperture at the end of the FF/AB rubber bladder.

The next issue is how to keep the PC from shooting off when it's pressurized. The easiest solution would be to epoxy it to the gun's internals, but I only want to do this if I can't come up with a different method. I want to be able to go back to AP in the event that this mod creates serious problems. The way the AP PCs stay on is by having a plastic ring around the base of the PC. You can see it best on the PPB internals pic. This ring lies underneath the blaster's external shell. Perhaps I can replicate this by epoxying a large washer to the PVC pipe that will be epoxied to the PC. I am not sure.

What do you guys think? I am sure there are some other good ways, hopefully easier ways, of doing this.

[Poseidon2000]

well, if this is successful, it WILL be fantastic, as it is CPS. However, i do think spherical cps chambers will be much easier.

Plus AB and FF's pc's are somewhat smaller than cps ones.

[marauder]

You have a 250 and also a 1000. Can you check to see if you would have enough space to use 1 or 2 1000 PCs on the 250? Also, if possible, take pics!

I am not concerned about the size of the FF/AB PCs. Stock, I would get 19 oz of CPS PC capacity with the Arctic Blast and 23 with using dual Flash Flood PCs. By CPS I mean CPS technology. 19 to 23 oz of constant pressure = more high powered shot time than 25 oz of air pressure.

[Poseidon2000]

wow, quick edits.

anyways, i see no problem in that, just taking apart the 1000. I personally think this could be the better option, as it could hold more liquid and would be generally better than AB.

[soakinader]

Wait, I thought you only had 1 CPS 1000. So are you going to have a hybrid, half air pressure, half CPS? Sounds interesting..
I have actually thought of making something that has two pumps- one pumps water into a big CPS chamber, one pumps air into an air chamber. The air chamber sits behind the CPS chamber, and the added pressure increases the stream performance... somehow. Still just under R&D.
I would love to take an XP250, or and XP150 that doesn't have a reservoir, and give it dual CPS chambers.
Actually, that sounds awesome. That could possibly be my next mod- take my leaky, squeaky XP 150, give it two Flash Flood chambers, and a backpack/ larger "permanent" reservoir (with a threaded cap). The XP 150 has a huge pump, and with the CPS, it won't be difficult to pump anymore.... Muahahaha!

[marauder]

Ideally I would prefer to have dual CPS PCs, but I would try out 1 CPS and 1 AP for the sake of SCIENCE Of course, I can't do this until November

Poseidon are you going to try it with 1 CPS PC and 1 AP PC or are you going to get another CPS PC to use?

[GJIV]

What about using 4 spherical CPS chambers instead of all four air-balls ??? This will produce a high end CPS Soaker with great performance and fine CPS-firing volume! The balls will be bigger then but the gun may even look original haha

What a great idea...just need a CPS XP Pool Pumper Canon and four spherical CPS chambers Let's go! Interested to see its performance

[mr. dude]

It would be a terrific mod if you pull it off, but there are a number of hurdles you'd need to overcome.
First, as you say, is the permanent nature of this kind of mod. Of course, you can build it in a reversible way, but that risks compromising the seal between each PC and the connectors. If you have a few air PCs to spare, you could cut off the bit with the O-ring and attach that to the CPS bladders.

Second is, with the PCs coming from different blasters, you run the risk of some filling up more than others due to different resistances on each PC. I usually tend to avoid PC replacements when I'd have to do it on more than one PC, so I don't fully know whether this is an actual problem or not, but it is something I'd be wary of.

Beyond that, keep us updated please!

[Andrew]

mr. dude does have a point with the different pressure chambers. Even two pressure chambers from two of the same blaster type (AB or FF) may have aged differently with different levels of use and so expand at different pressures. As long as the pressure chambers are not allowed to expand past a certain point (with a casing of some type to restrict their expansion) then it shouldn't be a problem as one will simply fill before the other(s).

The SC Power Pak sometimes did this:



And Dusty's homemade did something similar (one of the tanks was set to a higher pressure [to lengthen shot time], and so it began to fill only once the other was full).

[Poseidon2000]

wow. 'lot happened while i was at school.

anyway, i'll be getting a second 1000 for this. with 1240 mL. for pressure vol., it will shoot remarkably long at 1x. a 6L backpack will be placed, allowing roughly 5 full chamber fills per resevoir. If pressure is damaged from age, i will just perform a slight k-mod to decrease pc vol. from 1240mL. to 1200mL, naking EXACTLY 5 full pc fills. My father and Grandfather were experienced in mechanics and are eager to help, so attaching the pc's won't be a problem. Plus the fan nozzle will be drilled to 5x, and the lever will be extended to the pump for easier firing. since a pump is 2 oz., it will only take 17.1428571, or 17 pumps to fill the pc's. A Ghillie camo will be put on to finish the makeover on my XP 250-now the XCPS 500.

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MMMMMWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MMMMWAHA*cough* *cough* *cough* *cough*


whaddya think?

[marauder]

I'm really looking forward to your mod Poseidon. Take stats before you mod and after, that way we can get a good understanding of how this ended up working. Please take lots of pictures! The pump on the 250 is a beast.

Very interesting pic there Andrew. That is one reason that I am probably not doing this on my Pool Pumper Blaster... it has 4 PCs! Also, it already shoots 39 feet as air pressure with such a little nozzle. If I can get 43 feet out of it with a larger nozzle then I won't bother to do a CPS conversion. At that range I can easily keep up with 2700, 4100, and light k modded 10/12/21s. Hopefully I can get 45 feet with the proper nozzle size, I mean... it already holds 40 oz in the PCs.

My main complaint about using the spherical CPS PCs is that they are soo big. Everyone is different in terms of how they like their guns to feel. If Poseidon doesn't mind the big spherical PCs and he can fight well with them then that's awesome, but I personally prefer to keep things as streamlined as I can. Obviously there will be some compromises made between design and performance.

I'm also now thinking that my Gorgon would benefit from a CPS conversion. There is a lot of empty space in the body of the gun. I am pretty sure I could move the internals around a little bit so that the cylindrical PCs don't stick up too far out of the body. I'm definitely going to have some kind of casing on the end, like Andrew pointed out.

[Poseidon2000]

ahem, i think a 620mL pc could be slightly larger than a ~400mL air pc. but not so much to be as big as the three pc's of a 300.
anyways, i'll try it out with the elastic. If anything, they'll be smaller than humongous 2 2L bottles, and lighter, plus the lever would be extended. if Bulky Pvc covering it would be a prob, then the ghillie would take care of of colors. ye olde size. Size would be the prob. nothin's perfect, and it shouldnt be that big.

[mr. dude]

In terms of volume, cylindrical takes up more space, but spherical will take up more space horizontally. Cylindrical can expand lengthwise a lot more, so the PCs won't necessarily interfere.

Anyway, I don't have much to say, this did remind me that I can fix my Lightning since I've found my strip of LRT, but I've moved back out so won't be able to until next summer.

Back on topic, I look forward to the innovations.

[Poseidon2000]

Update:

I will either be using 2 cps 1000 pc's or a 3200 pc and an AB, but it might get weird that way.
There are pros and cons to both:
The spherical option will take up too much space.
The cylinder pc option might fill up abnormally.
What's your choice?

[Andrew]

2 1000 PC's may still fill abnormally if the blasters have aged differently, with different levels of use.

Really it's a combination of personal preference and what you think would fit best on the blaster in question. You could always use some LRT to get around dismantling two perfectly good blasters?

[Poseidon2000]

From what i've heard, LRT isn't permanent as much as regular cps bladders. Would it last as long as a new cps if i layered it? Are there any methods to check how much water the LRT could hold? Captain Xerxes has to have a long and powerful life.

[Andrew]

LRT should happily expand to around x3 original length (less if you want it to last longer). I don't know exactly how wide it expands so for capacity I'm not sure. There might be something on SSCentral about LRT volume. LRT is basically the same material as a CPS PC, so it should last just as long (if not longer considering the PC's of an old blaster are, well, old! ) as a 'real' CPS PC providing you don't stretch it too far (you shouldn't need to, after all it provides constant pressure).

[Poseidon2000]

Do yo think i should use the amount of LRT on the Super CPS, which each pc would generate 50 psi, or should i go less since the cps2000 only has 45 psi??

[mr. dude]

I would go for the same amount as on SuperCPS. Just one tube of LRT tends not to get great results, doubling up is, from my experience, necessary if you want good performance.

If you do intend on layering strips of LRT on top of one another, I'd recommend reading this, starting at JLSpaceMarine's first comment on that page, until Ben's explanation of what he thinks happened. Nice information to keep in mind for when you need it.

[Poseidon2000]

GURGLE...

this could be the better and more affordable option, so i'll most likely get many sizes to see how it performs. There's one on McMaster-Carr that could hold 85psi! That could be very powerful, risky, and little to no shot time depending on the nozzle. The nozzle possibly could pop off!

When the time comes, i'll put up a post on my progress.