Contents

Purpose

In our product dissection, we knew that the drum clip of the gun was going to be complex. We planned on a short amount of time to dissect our entire product and take notes and another hour to put our product back together. While working on the gate, we realized how important it was for every component to be placed in a precise position, or else it would compromise the guns entire function. We found that the spring in the reloading mechanism in the drum was hard to place, in order to put the drum back together. We also noticed that the guns chamber was placed in an awkward position, which led to the necessity of close observations of the chamber placement and its restraints, which made it difficult to remove.

When dissecting our product, we measured the difficulty of each step by the time it took to take apart the object and the amount of observation needed to complete the step.

The difficulties are arranged as follows:

Easy: The components were held in by simple screws or springs that could be taken out in a short amount of time with no further observation needed.

Medium: The components were in plain view and the agents that were holding in the components were visible.

Hard: The components demanded a high amount of observation in order to understand how to take the product apart and complete the dissection step. This may be due to awkward positioning of screws and springs that held in the object.

Tools used during dissection:

Screwdriver - standard phillips head

Hands

Cause For Corrosive Action

During our dissection, we attempted to follow our work and management plans. Our plans however did not work out perfectly. The tools we anticipated using were accurate, but the time we anticipated was very inaccurate. We stated, “We assume about an hour for disassembly, an hour for analysis, and an hour to reassemble the gun.” It was correct that it took approximately only an hour for disassembly but to analysis everything took far longer. We had to really look into our product to figure out what parts preformed certain functions. Some parts sprung out and we had trouble finding where it sprung from and the direction that it went into our product. We spent a lot of time trying to put parts back in different directions until we got it back the correct way. Once we figured out how all the parts went into our product, we made conclusions on how those parts work to make our product preform the desired function. Another challenge we had was that on October 17th, a group member did not show up and follow our plans as we stated, "We will meet Wednesdays at 5pm". To over come this challenge, the other group members had to spend extra time to attempt to get our project to where we wanted to be on that day. That was to have all the pictures taken and start uploading them to our wiki. Our management plans are going as planned and helps everyone to know their role for the project. Rachel fulfills her duties to organize meetings, Peter keeps the wiki up to date, Brenden provides the group with needed information, and Ryan overlooks the group work.

Dissection of Product

Step

Description

Image

1

Take the drum clip apart from the nerf gun by pressing the orange lever, located above the trigger, and pulling the drum out of it's place in the gun.

Difficulty: Easy

Tools used: Hands

This step is intended by by manufacturer in order to provide a system to load the gun.

2

There are 5 screws (indicated by the orange boxes) in the cocking mechanism. By taking the screws out of the cocking mechanism and taking the cocking mechanism off of the frame, you can take off the rear cap (indicated by the green box), take out the 11 screws on the frame (indicated by the blue boxes) and separate the frames into two parts.

It is possible that the manufacturer might have enabled the easy removal of the cocking mechanism and frame in order for a consumer to customize the gun, such as coloring it, but it looks like the screws are the cheapest alternative to connecting the frames.

3

You will now have two parts of a frame. The trigger components (indicated by the green box in picture A)are held together by 4 screws (indicated by the blue boxes in picture B) and a spring (indicated by the yellow bow in picture B). By taking out the screws and the springs, you can take out all the trigger components.

The manufacturer did not intent for the components to be removed. The components were set to fit into the frame upon the connecting of the two frames and the trigger was just resting on the components. This is why it was so easy to remove.

4

You know can see two main components of the gun, the coil (in picture A) and the chamber (in picture B).

A)B)

5

After close observation and awkward placement of a screwdriver, it is possible to remove the chamber from the gun. Now you can see how the chamber and it's components work together and how they connect to the rest of the gun.

Difficulty: Hard

Tools used: Screw driver (screws), hands (removal of chamber)

This step was extremely difficult because of the location of the chamber inside the barrel, which is glued, and the awkward placement of the screws. The chamber and coil are not meant to be removed from the frame.

6

To take apart the drum, take out the 6 screws on the top of the drum (indicated by the white boxes and arrow) and remove the orange stem and black cap. Upon removing the orange stem, a spring and orange cap will be released. Take out the 4 screws on the bottom cover (indicate by the white boxes in picture B) and remove the bottom cover

Difficulty: Easy

Tools used: Screw driver (screws), hands (removal of stem and caps)

The removal of the stem and cap was not intended. Many parts of the stem had to fit into the drum so precisely in order for the drum to function correctly.

A)B)

7

Now you can see the components that make up the trigger for the reloading mechanism. Taking off the spring (indicated by the yellow box) lets the reloading trigger (indicated by the purple box) free. You can now take the trigger, spring, and rod (indicated by the blue box) off. Now, take out the 6 screws (indicated by the white boxes) and take off the black lid.

Removal of the springs and components of the reloding mechanism was easy, but very difficult to put back together because of the complexity of the placement of the simple components in order for the drum to be reloaded properly.

8

You should not have the components shown in pictures A and B.

A)B)

9

By taking out the 4 screws (indicated by the white boxes) on the orange lid, you will release the 3 other springs and spring caps. Your result should like look picture B.

This process of removing the springs was simple due to the fact that the springs were only held by the lid and topped off by the cap. I do not believe the manufacturers intended for this to be neccessary because of all of the pieces you needed to take apart in order to get to this step.

A)B)

10

Once you remove the springs, you have an empty barrel and you can see the design that is intended to keep the disc bullets in place.

Conclusions

Subsystems and Connections

[File:1sub.jpg|700px]]

The main subsystems in the gun are the cocking mechanism, the drum (clip), the trigger, the coil and the barrel chamber. It is clear that the chamber is the most important and complex part in the subsystem because the chamber physically transports the disc from inside to outside of the gun at a certain velocity, which we presume to be around 10.4 m/s with a standard deviation of 1.5 m/s [2]. By the use of the cocking mechanism, it takes human energy and converts it to mechanical energy within the gun when it both transfers a disc bullet from the drum to the chamber and allows the trigger to be loaded because of the setting of the coil. The cocking mechanism, coil and chamber are connected physically by the components in the gun and the cocking mechanism and the drum are connected by mass due to the transfer of the disc bullet. Pulling the trigger transfers human energy by user input to mechanical energy by setting off the coil and activating the chamber, thus shooting the disc. The coil and chamber are connected physically by the main chamber component and the utilization of this connection converts potential energy stored in the coil to kinetic energy by the shooting of the disc, which is the main function of our product.

Subsystem Components

Cocking Mechanism:

The energy that is used to propel the disk from the gun is created by the cocking mechanism. From the user pulling back on the mechanism the energy is stored in the coil. The users kinetic energy is stored in the coil as potential energy. The cocking mechanism is located at the bottom of the Vortex Nerf Gun, attached to a plastic grip for easy access. This cocking mechanism is made specific for this gun because of size and location. But the basic concept could be used for other potential Nerf guns. This mechanism is not intended to be disassembled, but it can be with a Phillips screwdriver with minimal difficulty.

Clip:

The Vortex Nerf Gun can hold forty disks at a time. The ammo storage device for this gun is the circular clip. The clip has four storage compartments for disks. The clip is designed to be removed from the gun. But the clip is not designed to be disassembled because of spring-loaded components. It can be done with a Phillips screwdriver at a very high difficulty. This subsystem is designed for particularly for this gun because of the new disks it holds. But this clip design could be used in other Nerf gun designs. The clip could be designed with a less complex method and still function properly.

Trigger:

The trigger releases the energy stored in the coil. It is made up of plastic components and springs. This subsystem is not intended to be taken apart but can be with a medium difficulty using a Phillips screwdriver. The design of the trigger is basic and could be used in another design for a Nerf gun to increase the revenue on this design.

Coil:

The Vortex Nerf Gun is a coil driven disk gun. The coil stores potential energy from the cocking mechanism and gives off kinetic energy when triggered onto the disk. This subsystem could be easily changed to a more or less powerful coil depending on desired product cost. Also the coil could be used for a different gun. This component is not intended to be taken apart, but it can be with a Phillips screwdriver at a high difficulty.

Barrel Chamber:

The Barrel Chamber is a major subsystem to the gun. Its main objective is to receive, hold, and transfer energy to the disk. This component is made specifically for the style of Nerf gun because it shoots foam disks instead of darts. It could be used in another design for a disk gun because it is an internal component that could be placed in any outer shell. This was the most difficult piece to remove because it was designed not to come out having glued components. But can be with a Phillips screwdriver and a little muscle grease.

Outer Shell:

The outer shells purpose is to hold all the internal subsystem components together in their proper places, and hold the outer design of the gun. This gun could be sold as a totally new gun with the same internal parts but a different scheme for the design of the outer shell. The outer shell could be easily taken apart with a Phillips screwdriver.

Factors of Connections

While dissecting our product, we learned how the connection of components affected the guns function and how certain factors would affect the gun and its performance.

Global Factors: Global factors are design influences that are based on cultural and geographical traits from a particular region. This factor influenced certain subsystems including the outer shell, and the clip for the disks. Nerf guns grab the consumer’s attention because of the design and look of the outer shell. The design is similar to mainstream “Hollywood” guns. The clip also gives the gun a more realistic characteristic being able to remove and reload clip. Enabling the consumer to be more there favorite mainstream movie star. The entire Nerf gun is also made up of metal springs screws and plastic components enabling it to be played in any atmosphere.

Societal Factors: Societal factors influence the design particularly for reason of impacting society and peoples lives. The subsystems that are influenced by this factor are the outer shell, coil, and barrel chamber. The barrel chamber is designed to reduce, and make minimal noise. But the major influences from societal factors are safety reasons. The subsystems listed make the product safe as much as a toy gun could be. The coil and barrel chamber provide disk to project out of the gun at a safe velocity. The outer shell is made of plastic, durable enough for kids to drop and kick around and keep small harmful internal parts intact.

Economic Factors: The economic factors influence the design of the subsystems in current economic conditions, project develop and sales. All the subsystems are influenced by this factor because of the materials used to construct the Vortex Nerf Gun. Plastic is a cheap and durable material for a poor economy. With using plastic it also enables the variety of many other guns quickly.

Environmental Factors: Environmental factors are impacts that consider product life cycle, sales, and disposal. The Vortex Nerf Gun subsystems were influenced by its life cycle. The gun is a toy and toys are played with rough, even if it built durable. So considering a smaller life cycle than other products the Vortex’s sub systems are made up of recyclable materials.