Possible commercial venture?

Guides and discussions about building water blasters and other water warfare devices such as water balloon launchers.
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Mrincognito
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Possible commercial venture?

Post by Mrincognito » Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:38 am

Hi all,

I am new to this forum so please excuse me!

I need some help from someone with experience building homemade water blasters with a project that I am currently working on as I am stuck.

Unfortunately I can't give too much away on here as I would like to develop my idea in to a commercial venture. What I am basically looking for us someone to work with me on developing my idea in return for a share of any future profits.

Please message me if you would be interested.

Thank you

HBWW
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Re: Possible commercial venture?

Post by HBWW » Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:51 am

I will have to say, it's not easy. The market just isn't quite there right now, and I know of at least one project/idea of selling performance blasters in the past that failed over. I don't think anyone here has any know-how of business or manufacturing either, but if you just simply want to make homemades and sell them, we can definitely help with that (mostly with the design aspect).

Most current homemade designs are not the most marketable things in the world. They require maintenance and know-how to keep them running smoothly, so a consistently reliable design is needed. A trigger system (or at least firing valve that's spring loaded to return after firing) would be a good idea too.
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Mrincognito
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Re: Possible commercial venture?

Post by Mrincognito » Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:55 am

Hi CA99

Thanks for the reply.

I have done a viability study and received interest in the idea, I am just having trouble building a prototype. I have built the housing, I am having trouble with the whole compression chambers etc. The design would be more for a pistol than a blaster, but I believe the principal should be similar. I have also not seen anything similar, which is why I am pursuing the idea.

I believe that when I have made a prototype I will be able to have it manufactured by a local business. I will also be able to secure funding and build a distribution network quite quickly. The only trouble is that I will need to produce a working prototype first. Everything should fall in to place after this!

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Re: Possible commercial venture?

Post by marauder » Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:34 pm

How big exactly is a pistol? How do you want to power this pistol? I think all of us here would agree that having an air/water pump on the blaster er pistol is the best route. The battery route is usually more expensive, and produces underpowered blasters - look at most of the latest Super Soakers and their pathetic 20 ft range.
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isoaker
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Re: Possible commercial venture?

Post by isoaker » Thu Mar 22, 2012 1:11 pm

Mrincognito wrote:I believe that when I have made a prototype I will be able to have it manufactured by a local business. I will also be able to secure funding and build a distribution network quite quickly. The only trouble is that I will need to produce a working prototype first. Everything should fall in to place after this!
Welcome to WaterWar.net!

The way I look at this, if you think you would be able to get a local business manufacture your design, you are much better off contacting them, getting them to sign a non-disclosure agreement, then working with them to create the working prototype since there is ofter a lot of additional adjustments that must be made to a design from it to go from prototype to manufactured. Working with the potential producer would simplify things greatly and also allow initial cost-of-production estimates to be done. If costs are unreasonable, your likelihood of it selling becomes dramatically reduced.

Now, if you really believe that you need a working prototype first, there must be someone available more locally to you with the ability to assist you in the creation process than attempting to reach out to the online community members. It is much easier if you are able to work with someone you can meet in person regularly, especially on prototyping things.

I don't mind you asking for technical advice from the community, but I would seriously caution anyone here from getting any more deeply involved than advice on this project.

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martianshark
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Re: Possible commercial venture?

Post by martianshark » Thu Mar 22, 2012 1:42 pm

Make it good. I might buy one.

If you're having trouble finding the right parts for a prototype, look on McMaster.
CA99 wrote:It's funny because you can get 5 water bottles and a pencil for much less than $90.

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Re: Possible commercial venture?

Post by DX » Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:27 pm

If you want a pistol-sized homemade, you need tiny internals that aren't easy to find. You might have to end up making your own if you can find the right parts to begin with.
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Mrincognito
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Re: Possible commercial venture?

Post by Mrincognito » Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:40 pm

Hi everybody

Thank you for the welcome and the advice so far. Just to clarify, I wasn't looking to promote anything or garner anything other than advice! I'm sorry if I came across differently.

The one area that I am looking for help on is the compression chamber. I am trying to create one based upon a piston/syringe pump. I will attach some rough drawings of what I am working on by Monday.

Would it be best to use compressed air or springs to move the liquid?

HBWW
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Re: Possible commercial venture?

Post by HBWW » Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:52 pm

Short answer: compressed air or latex rubber elastic bladder. (The latter [regardless of shape] is patented however, and Hasbro will sue anyone on a hair's notice if they know of blasters being sold using it.)

Longer answer: Springs concentrate a ton of force into one place and require expensive structuring, while resulting in fairly small volumes. Learn from Buzz Bee Toys; they discontinued their Pulse series pretty soon after they were released due to their cost.
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martianshark
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Re: Possible commercial venture?

Post by martianshark » Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:35 pm

Air-Piston (like the Aqua Master line) might work.
CA99 wrote:It's funny because you can get 5 water bottles and a pencil for much less than $90.

Mrincognito
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Re: Possible commercial venture?

Post by Mrincognito » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:50 am

How would I find plans to build a compressed air piston?

I am looking to build a single stroke pre-charged pneumatic system.

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martianshark
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Re: Possible commercial venture?

Post by martianshark » Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:28 pm

Single stroke?
CA99 wrote:It's funny because you can get 5 water bottles and a pencil for much less than $90.

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atvan
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Re: Possible commercial venture?

Post by atvan » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:37 pm

Single stroke or precharged? If you read through some of the arcticles on http://www.sscentral.org, you might get a better understanding of how these blasters work, and also better understand the terminolyg to easy communication between you and us, the community.
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