Portable QFD - It's a fantastic idea

Guides and discussions about building water blasters and other water warfare devices such as water balloon launchers.
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Falcon
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Post by Falcon » Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:06 am

After being inspired a couple of months ago by Doom and Shadowstrike Prime, who had been successful in making a portable QFD, I recently got around to making my own modified version. Mine has a 2.4 Litre capacity, which is just over enough to completely fill my Big Trouble, and uses a clip-on type hose connector so your QFD can be removed for use on a hose as well. It also has a bike pump so you can pump it back up to pressure. A portable QFD is ideal for when you are in the middle of the bush and still want to be able to use your Big Trouble, Splashzooka or Power Pak. I strongly recommend using a portable QFD. They don't take a great deal of effort to build, it's not really dangerous to over pressurise (I had three attempts before I perfected my design, and one of them exploded on me, but all it did was make a split down the size of the bottle I was using, which was a particularly weak bottle.), and you can also connect a jet type nozzle to it so you can use it as a long shot tome and range base defence blaster with one person pumping and one person aiming the nozzle. An all around fantastic idea in my opinion, as long as you make sure the bottle is air tight.

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Post by SSCBen » Tue Jul 13, 2004 9:33 am

I have even considered making a backpack for the tanker on your team, loads of water and a few QFD spots. My portable QFD actually is rather pathetic (and so is SSP's), could have been so much more. The system is so simple, I don't think anyone should think they really are something special. I literally thought of it when I took my nozzle off, seeing the threads there. If it was a CPS system then more of the water would go in because there would have been no drop-off. The problem would be that the system would have to be more powerful than the gun, just a few layers of bike tubes should fix that. That also solved another problem I've seen, the hose isn't powerful enough to pressurize with air pressure something substantially larger. The limit is about 3 liters for useful pressure. I believe that is caused by the actual amount of air in the chambers. If I were to make a portable QFD with all my knowledge now it would be quite different.

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Post by CPS » Tue Jul 13, 2004 9:22 pm

can we see pictures?
here, you know you've won when you hear "blub blub ahhh! i give up"

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Post by Falcon » Tue Jul 13, 2004 9:33 pm

I can post pictures of mine if you want. I can post pictures of the Portable QFD itself and pictures of it firing when I connect my jet nozzle to it if you want me to.

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Post by CPS » Tue Jul 13, 2004 9:40 pm

either way
here, you know you've won when you hear "blub blub ahhh! i give up"

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Post by phire989 » Thu Jul 15, 2004 8:45 pm

I am in desperate need of a QFD! :D
Send me an AIM message at phire989 if you are selling any CPS based soakers, I am in the market!

Arsenal- CPS 2000, CPS 2500, CPS 3200, Vaporizer etc

http://www.isoaker.com/Info/article.cfm ... ar20040714

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Post by Falcon » Thu Jul 15, 2004 9:24 pm

phire989 wrote:I am in desperate need of a QFD! :D
I think you can buy a Monster Series QFD from Hasbro.com for around 4 or 5 US dollars. Look in the Customer Service section replacement parts, under Super Soaker.

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Post by Veteran » Fri Jul 16, 2004 4:40 pm

Monster QFD's are better and don't break as easily, but they are a little more cramped in the filling area than the normal series. What I mean is that it's harder to get the nozzle in.

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Post by Soakologist » Fri Jul 16, 2004 9:46 pm

Is that so? I never noticed that, Veteran.

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Post by Falcon » Fri Jul 30, 2004 5:28 am

Doom wrote:I don't think anyone should think they really are something special. I literally thought of it when I took my nozzle off, seeing the threads there. If it was a CPS system then more of the water would go in because there would have been no drop-off. The problem would be that the system would have to be more powerful than the gun, just a few layers of bike tubes should fix that.

My air pressure portable QFD fills my new Splashzooka fine. It takes more pressure to fill the 'Zook than it takes to fill the Big Trouble, but it fills it nonetheless. It's true that it would be more efficient if the portable QFD was powered by a CPS style system. My portable QFD takes two people to operate it efficiently; a problem that could be fixed if it was a pre-charged CPS style chamber. With one person pumping, and one person filling, though, it doesn't take much longer than a hose does to fill my Splashzooka.

I can see only two problems with portable QFDs that are powered by air pressure, and they are:

Unless you want to take a very long time to fill your soaker and be constantly switching between pumping 5 or so times and filling, you need two people to sustain pressure, which can be a problem if all you have with you in the middle of the bush is a Splashzooka and there's nobody nearby to help.

I have to be careful that I don't overpressurise the portable QFD while filling unless I want a huge "BANG!" that gives away my position, not to mention a portable QFD that is now useless.

Both these problems would be fixed if the portable QFD was powered by a CPS like chamber made of bike tubes or something similar. It could be pre-charged by a single user and with no fear of overpressurisation. Does anyone want to take on this project? I could try it, but I thought since Doom is more experienced in this area, maybe he or someone else that is experienced in this area should try it first. Anyone want to try it? If someone came up with a near perfect design and posted instructions on how to make it, then we (people who own QFD dependant soakers and want to be able to use them away from a tap) could really benefit from something like this. Anyone want to experiment with this?




Edited By Falcon on 1091183438

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Post by isoaker » Fri Jul 30, 2004 9:01 am

I'm actually considering attempting to make a portable QFD that doesn't use pre-pressurization of any time. Instead, like soakers so, it'd just be a good, solid water pump with a hose-connection adapter to interface with the QFD. My main problem is that I haven't found a good, but cheap hand-held water pump that meets my requirements that I can mod as needed to create the device. Still looking, though...

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Post by isoaker » Fri Jul 30, 2004 1:56 pm

hybrid guns

Uhh.. I'm not quite sure what you mean by Hybrid. When Super Chargers were first released, it included the SC500 and SC600, both of which could either be filled using the QFD or filled'n'pumped up like a normal soaker. The CPS3200 is only a Fast-Fill, but no charge, thus I don't consider that a hybrid. The Monster Series have separate fill ports (i.e. not filling through the nozzle it shoots from), but technically so do the SC Power Pak and SC Big Trouble.
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Post by leprekan » Fri Jul 30, 2004 3:29 pm

hmmm.... why not just make a bigger pc for ur super charger gun, or carry two? the pressure in the portable qfd has to be more than that of the gun, so it's essentially carrying around another gun. I just do'nt find the idea of a portable qfd logical when it would be easier to just carry around two guns. and if you don't have two guns, make one! if you can make a portable qfd an sc gun should be easy. ???

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Post by isoaker » Fri Jul 30, 2004 3:36 pm

Not sure about others, but the portable QFD idea for me is really only so that the SC Power Pak, SC Big Trouble, and CPS Splashzooka 65oz can be used even if a hose is not available. The rest of the soakers that use QFDs can also be filled normally so a portable QFD would be nice, but not necessary.

As well, while not necessarily for SC soakers, my thought on the portable QFD would make filling other soakers away from a hose simpler as well.

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Post by Falcon » Fri Jul 30, 2004 8:22 pm

isoaker_com wrote:I'm actually considering attempting to make a portable QFD that doesn't use pre-pressurization of any time. Instead, like soakers so, it'd just be a good, solid water pump with a hose-connection adapter to interface with the QFD. My main problem is that I haven't found a good, but cheap hand-held water pump that meets my requirements that I can mod as needed to create the device. Still looking, though...

:cool:
That sounds like a decent idea, but a pre-pressurised portable QFD would be much more conveniant to use than one that is basically a piston-type setup that fills your soaker only when you pump. Also, that would require two people to operate unless you want to sit on your soaker, which doesn't sound very comfortable to me. I have no problem with portable QFDs that take two people to operate (mine does), but it would be more conveniant if your soaker was filled at roughly the same rate as the hose could pressurise it. And don't forget it's not just the Power Pak and Big Trouble, the Splashzooka is QFD dependant as well! :p
hmmm.... why not just make a bigger pc for ur super charger gun, or carry two? the pressure in the portable qfd has to be more than that of the gun, so it's essentially carrying around another gun. I just do'nt find the idea of a portable qfd logical when it would be easier to just carry around two guns. and if you don't have two guns, make one! if you can make a portable qfd an sc gun should be easy.

The whole purpose of the Portable QFD is so you can use the QFD dependant soakers (Power Pak, Big Trouble and Splashzooka) away from a house. Even if the QFD dependant soakers did have bigger PCs, and even if you carried two, they would eventually run out of water. When they ran out of water, it could be very difficult to fight your way all the way back to a house with a QFD with only a backup weapon, especially if you're in the middle of the bush.
And you won't usually be carrying it around everywhere, because you would set up some kind of base and leave your portable QFD there.

Oh, and iSoaker, if you want I can e-mail instructions to you on how to make my version of the portable QFD if you would like some more content for the _section.

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Post by isoaker » Sat Jul 31, 2004 9:11 am

^ regarding your article, it's never a matter of me wanting articles... it's just a matter of people wanting to write them and whether I consider them in line with a particular section on iSoaker.com. Most submitted articles end up posted in the appropriate section (unless, of course, someone sends me in something regarding making real weaponry or using soakers for crime,etc.)

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Post by Falcon » Sat Jul 31, 2004 9:17 pm

I'll probably start writing the article soon. You already have an article about making a portable QFD, so I'll call it "Portable QFD Type II" This time I'll use actual images instead of pictures drawn in MS Paint, though. Anyway, I'll ask again. Is there anyone here who would like to have a go at the CPS-like Portable QFD project?

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Post by SSCBen » Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:31 am

isoaker_com wrote:I'm actually considering attempting to make a portable QFD that doesn't use pre-pressurization of any time. Instead, like soakers so, it'd just be a good, solid water pump with a hose-connection adapter to interface with the QFD. My main problem is that I haven't found a good, but cheap hand-held water pump that meets my requirements that I can mod as needed to create the device. Still looking, though...

You could modify a basketball or similar pump very likely. You'd need to add 2 check valves, but it's nothing too out of the question.

Is there anyone here who would like to have a go at the CPS-like Portable QFD project?


I'll try it on my recent CPS homemade, it's so similar it doesn't matter. That's the thing about portable QFDs, even the unpressurized ones are fairly close to a homemade soaker (in fact because this homemade has a pump, it can double as both types!). I just need to rework the PC a little bit (it's really crappy right now, doesn't hold enough water either), make a piece that will change the 1/2" threaded male adaptor to a 3/4" threaded male adaptor so the normal QFD could screw into it. Nothing too advanced.

I also could use my threaded nozzle modified CPS 21K (only partial K-mod as of now) possibly because it already has a 3/4" threaded male adaptor. Or maybe some of my APHs for the same reason, I never realized I had such a large stock of portable QFDs. :oo:

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Post by isoaker » Mon Aug 02, 2004 8:12 am

You could modify a basketball or similar pump very likely.

Most air pumps that I've seen draw in air from one side (usually holes near the piston top), then push it out the tube/hose. The amount of modding require to hook up a tube to allow it to draw water in is quite substantial.

Granted, could always modify a cheap, small Power Soaker with a couple of check-valves to create a water pump. Hmmm... you've got me thinking...

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