The Den of Foam
Nite Finder - Brass Modification
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Materials:

 

   - Hot Glue (and gun)

   - Small Screwdriver (Phillips)

   - Scissors

   - Electrical Tape (optional, but recommended)

   - 9/16” Brass Tubing

   - 17/32” Brass Tubing

   - Drill & Large Bit

   - Foam Tubing (about 1.25” in diameter, with 1/2” diameter hole

   - Nite Finder (previous mod completed prior to starting)

 

The Method:

 

To begin, open up your Nite Finder.  All of the restrictors and all that Jazz should be removed, from the previous mod.  Remove the barrel from the front of the barrel assembly, and set it aside.  Remove the piece the barrel attached to that used to have the stem attached to it going through the middle of the barrel, and set it aside as well.  Now, remove the last piece that fits directly into the barrel.

 

Looking at this last piece that connects directly to the plunger casing, turn to the side that has the large slots going all of the way through the piece.  You don’t want the side that has large ditches where the holes are; you want the side where the holes are flush with the rest of the piece.  From this side, plug up those holes very neatly, but completely, with hot glue.nf6  While you’re here, make sure that the center of this piece is drilled away almost to the outer edges of the large central area, but not quite.  It should not be drilled quite all the way to the edges, because the extra plastic here will stick over the back edge of your barrel, and hold the dart in place.  You don’t want your dart getting sucked down into the plunger when you cock your Nite Finder.  Now, apply hot glue to one end of your 9/16” brass tubing, and insert this end into the piece you were just plugging and drilling.nf7  Be sure to insert the tubing into the side with the large concave hole in it (as it will not even fit in through the other side...)

 

Now set the piece you’ve been working on (with the brass still attached) aside, and pick up the next piece; the one that used to have the barrel stem attached to it.  You need to drill it clear out to just before the plastic gets smaller all the way around.  The hole needs to be just big enough for that piece of 9/16” brass to fit through.  Once you have it drilled out to this size, slide it onto the 9/16” brass sticking out of the first piece, and leave it about 2” above the other piece.  Now, squirt a good amount of hot glue into the large gaps in the first piece so that they are filled just up to the top, and then slide the second piece down the brass the rest of the way, and firmly squeeze the two pieces together.  That brass isn’t going anywhere.

 

Lastly for the barrel assembly before attaching, cut about a 1/4” long piece of 17/32” brass tubing, and clean off both ends of all rough pieces.  Now slide this piece down the barrel, and push it all the way down to just before it hits the plastic at the back of the first piece of plastic (the one that attaches to the plunger casing.)  You can slide it down the barrel with a flathead screwdriver or similar skinny tool.  Squirt some hot glue at the very back of the 9/16” barrel, all the way around, and then slide the 17/32” brass the rest of the way down, onto the hot glue.  Clear out any excess glue that squeezes out with a screwdriver.  This piece of 17/32” brass at the back of the barrel will constrict over your dart tighter than the 9/16” brass barrel, and will hold it a little longer in the barrel as the pressure builds.  That extra split second of pressurizing adds about twenty five feet to the range of the brassed Nite Finder before the 17/32” brass.

 

Now reattach the whole new barrel assembly to the plunger shaft, using hot glue where necessary.  Wrap the connection with electrical tape as well, if desired.  Now, take your hacksaw, and cut the 9/16” brass barrel you have attached to all those pieces to about 1.5-2” past the last piece of plastic.  The barrel is longer, but the visible part of the brass should only be about 1.5-2” long.  You can make it longer, but any longer and it started to seem a bit bulky, and I wasn’t sure if I was really benefiting from the extended length.

 

This next part is completely optional, but if you do it, you’ll really be glad you did.  Take out your foam tubing (used to make foam daggers and such by slipping it over 1/2” PVC) and cut a donut off of the end that is about 1/4” thick Now, cut the loop so you can slip it around something.  Take the plunger out of its shaft, and wrap the foam around the very end of the plunger, just behind the piece that compresses the air.  Pull the foam around, and cut off excess so that the foam ring fits around the plunger perfectly.  Apply some hot glue to the spot just behind the plunger’s compression end, and then re-wrap the foam ring around the plunger shaft, just below the hot glue.  Now, slide the foam ring up the plunger shaft, onto the hot glue.  This ensures that no hot glue is below the foam on the plunger shaft.  Hold it there tightly for about two minutes.  This is probably longer than it takes to cool, but if the glue is still soft at all and you let go, the ring will try to expand into its normal shape, and will not be glued directly onto the plunger.  This could cause the foam to come off at some point, inside the Nite Finder, during use, which would not be fun.  Once the foam has dried completely on the plunger, you should take your scissors and trim the foam so that it is no larger in diameter than the end of the plunger.  This will allow it to assist the compression end in pushing air, but will not slow the plunger any.  Also, it’s hard to fit the foam in the plunger unless you trim it.  Lastly, before you put the plunger back in the shaft and reassemble your Nite Finder, seat the plunger spring on the foam, and push the spring up into the foam, making sure that the spring is on the foam all the way around.  The foam is there to stop the spring’s vibrations, so the spring really should be touching the foam on all sides.

 

Insert your plunger, foam attached back into the plunger casing, and set the whole plunger/casing/barrel/catch assembly aside.  Pick up the shell, and cut two more pieces of 9/16” brass tubing.  These should each be just as long as the slots where the two AA batteries used to go in the handle.  Clean off one end of each of the pieces of tubing, and then hot glue the two pieces into the AA slots in the handle, with the cleaner end facing down.  Now, take the whole plunger/casing/barrel/catch assembly and put it in its place.  Make sure that the catch and its spring, as well as the plunger handle are in their slots, then screw the plunger casing in to hold it secure, using the designated holes.  Now, apply hot glue to the same location on the AA battery slots as you did in the first half of the shell to the second half, and then (carefully) place the shell directly onto the first half.  This glue will help hold your new ammo holder in place.  Now screw it all together.  Add rubber bands trim down the casing, do whatever else you feel like to customize your Nite Finder.  You’re done!