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The Airtech 2000: Single-Barreled
The Airtech 2000 sucks. It just plain sucks. However,
that is fresh out of the box. Have you ever been really frustrated with the gun because the darts won't consistently
leave the barrel? These two different mods (you can only do one of them to any single AT 2000; they cannot both be done
on the same blaster) will change all of that. And then some. These mods will not only cause the dart
to exit the barrel consistently, but will also increase their range by over 1000% (the range being used here was the worst
range that I ever got whan a dart left the barrel. It was less than a foot.) So pull up a chair, get comfy, and
turn your spare parts junk heaps into ministers of foamy death. Big-time foamy death.
Materials (first mod):
- Airtech 2000
- Screwdriver (small phillips)
- Electrician's tape (black)
- 1/2" PVC pipe (two 5-6" lengths)
- Handsaw
- Hot glue gun (with hot glue sticks)
- Dremel/Handheld wood files
The first variation of this mod will cause your AT 2000 to end up with two barrels that
you can switch by hand as you did before with the four barrels. Except the darts will leave the barrels every
time you fire. And they will go over 85+ feet easily. Here's how you begin:
Unscrew the two halves, and pull them apart, with the barrel end to your right.
When you try to pull the halves apart, the plastic circling around the pump handle will keep you from separating the two halves.
You will have to cut this plastic down the center (I made a cut, and then hammered a small flathead screwdriver into the cut at multiple locations
along the plastic until I had separated the two halves.) Once you have the two halves separated, pull the pump handle completely out of its sleeve. Look at the very end of the handle shaft (opposite the handle itself)
and plug up the hole carefully with hot glue. Seal it completely, without going into the grooves on the sides.
Now, wrap some electrical tape around the shaft just below the end you just plugged to cover up the other hole on the side
of the shaft. Now, slide the pump handle and shaft back into its casing and replace it in the gun.
Remove the orange barrel assembly. do not lose the rubber o-ring that
is inside the tube connecting the barrels to the air release valve casing. It sould be inside the orange part, so set
it aside where you son't lose it.
Cut across the base of each of the four barrels. Cut in until your saw connects with the metal rod in the center of the barrel assembly. Go all the way around
the barrel assembly until all four barrels have been completely removed. Using your dremel or a hand file, smooth out
the lumps of plastic left over from the barrels until the orange disc where they once sat is decently smooth, with minimal bumps. Now, file down one small part on one side of the very end of each of your two 5-6" barrels (the
PVC pipe.) This will give them some extra room so that they can rotate easily inside the casing. Now, hot glue the two PVC barrels (glue down the end you shaved the side down on, shaved side facing out) in two locations where two of the barrels were.
Glue them in locations across from each other. Try to line the barrels up as close to directly in-line with the holes
in the orange plastic. Now, apply glue liberally in the space between the barrels, and around them at their base to
secure them so that they will not bend. Now, wrap them securely with the electrician's tape. Now, cut (with the saw) the first 1/2" or so of the casing of the gun (off both halves) to make room for the two barrels to rotate. Now, replace the barrel assembly (don't forget that rubber o-ring!) inside the casing and plug it into the
air release valve casing. Put the two halves back together and screw it all closed. When you test the gun, do
not pump the chamber up more than five pumps. You will blow a hole in a dart every time you fire with
more than five pumps. It is a good idea to trim the edge off of the suction cup on the end of some of your store-bvought
micro darts so that the suction cup won't catch on the walls of the pipe. This allows the dart to leave the barrels
much more smoothly (though they will never get stuck. The air is too powerful, and will fire it out no matter
what is stuck in the barrel.) Since the barrels point slightly up when rotated to one, and slightly down when rotated
to the other, you may wish to tape a laser pointer to the side of the both of them. That way, no matter where the
barrels are pointing, you can aim and fire without hesitation. Enjoy your massively improved AT 2000! (seen on
left of picture)
The second variation of the AT 2000 mods will make your AT 2000 a single-barreled sniping
machine, with range greater than that of the previous mod, but a little bit of a slower rate of fire.
Materials:
- Airtech 2000 Nerf Dart Gun
- One 6-8" piece of 1/2" PVC pipe
- Hot glue gun
- Handsaw
- Hand Files/Dremel
- electrical tape
- Screwdriver (small phillips)
Unscrew the two halves, and pull them apart, with the barrel end to your right.
When you try to pull the halves apart, the plastic circling around the pump handle will keep you from separating the two halves.
You will have to cut this plastic down the center (I made a cut, and then hammered a small flathead screwdriver into the cut at multiple locations along
the plastic until I had separated the two halves.) Once you have the two halves separated, pull the pump handle completely out of its sleeve. Look at the very end of the handle shaft (opposite the handle itself)
and plug up the hole carefully with hot glue. Seal it completely, without going into the grooves on the sides.
Now, wrap some electrical tape around the shaft just below the end you just plugged to cover up the other hole on the side
of the shaft. Now, slide the pump handle and shaft back into its casing and replace it in the gun.
Remove the orange barrel assembly completely. You can throw it away. You
will never need it again in this blaster. I saved mine, because you just never know... Anyway, now take your crayola barrel and glue it over the white pipe coming out from the air release valve casing with your hot glue gun, skinnier end first. The wider end of the crayola
barrel is the only end the dart fits into, so don't get it backwards. Now, wrap some electrical tape around the
glued area to hold it really secure, but only wrap around the area about two times. Otherwise, it will be too fat fot
the PVC barrel. Now, take your PVC barrel and make a decision. You can either hot glue the barrel over the crayola
barrel (what I did) which will hold the barrel very steady and securely, or you can load the gun by pushing darts into the
crayola barrel and the sliding the PVC barrel over it, for a breech loader. The breech loading way is faster for
loading, but in the middle of a fight, you're gonna jam the barrel on at a slightly imperfect angle, and it will break off.
The only downside to gluing it securely on is that you need a short dowel rod to push the dart down into the crayola barrel.
Big loss. So anyway, if you choose to glue the PVC barrel over the crayola barrel, apply glue liberally all over the
crayola barrel, and then quickly slide the PVC barrel over the crayola barrel. Now, wrap some more electrical tape over the outside to hold it extra secure (no more than three or four wraps.) Now, put the gun back together. If there is plastic inside the shell preventing
you from re-assembling the gun due to the PVC, just bend and twist it out with some pliers. When its all back together,
again, only pump it a max of five times. You will blow holes in darts otherwise. If you do blow a hole in a dart
with this, keep the dart, and use it in the gun. It will allow the air a way to escape as it is fired, so you won't
blow holes in as many other darts. This does not diminish accuracy. Enjoy your Sniper-ready AT 2000!
(on the right in picture).
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