Buzz Bee Tommy 20 Mod - Increase Rate-of-Fire!

As you all know, the new Buzz Bee Tommy 20 can now fire in full-auto mode! It does this via a motorised rotating drum magazine and dart pusher mechanism which automatically push foam darts forward in sequence into its 2 fly-wheels.

There are a total of 3 electric motors:
1 x Drum Rotator/Dart Pusher motor
2 x Fly-Wheel motors

As the speed of its motors are voltage dependent, increasing the voltage feed should be able to yield quicker drum magazine rotation and dart pushing, resulting in increased rate-of-fire (RoF).

In addition, the faster spinning of its fly-wheels should also "throw" the foam darts out at a higher velocity, thereby possibly increasing the firing distance.

Here is how i tested it with some simple components:

Step 1: Get the following items from an electrical supply store.
(Nerf Vulcan modders should be familiar with such items by now!)

1 x Battery Holder (holds 8 x AA Batteries)
1 x Battery Holder Snap-on Adapter
2 x Insulated Wire Leads (Red + Black w/ Crocodile Clips)




Step 2: Attach everything together and install the AA Batteries (in this example, i used 8 x 1.5V AA Batteries which provide 12 Volt power in total). Once again, please take note of the Positive (Red) and Negative (Black) wire leads, do not let them short-circuit!




Final Step: Remove the Buzz Bee Tommy 20's battery cover and clip the Red and Black wire leads onto the connection points (clip properly and note the wire lead colours!).

Okay, time to test it out!

Here are the Test Fire Videos of my stock vs. upgraded Buzz Bee Tommy 20s:

Buzz Bee Tommy 20 RoF - Stock 4.5 Volt Power



Buzz Bee Tommy 20 RoF - Upgraded 12 Volt Power




The stock unit had a RoF of approx. 2 rounds per second, while the upgrade unit generated a RoF of approx. 3 rounds per second. Therefore there was a 50% increase in RoF.

In the upgraded unit, the foam darts also got "thrown" out of the 2 fly-wheels at a higher velocity too, with an average increased firing distance of around 6-7 feet.

If you are confident, you can try increasing the voltage further to increase the RoF and range even more, or use other power sources such as rechargable RC car li-po batteries to do the upgrade.

Just be careful not to burn out your blaster's motors! :)

An additional note for those of you looking to get into more detail in the modding of the new Tommy 20:

The front 2 motors powering the fly-wheels are seperated from the main body unit by a pair of electrical contacts (you can see them when you flip up the front barrel unit), therefore with additional mods, it is possible to power the drum magazine/dart pusher motor and the fly-wheel motors seperately with different power sources and voltages.

Hope we can see more mods done on the new Tommy 20! :)

Nerf Vulcan Mod - Increase Ammo Belt Capacity!

The Nerf Vulcan's stock 25-dart ammo belt can seem abit short for such a high RoF blaster.

Lets extend them for more ammo capacity...

Step 1: Put the ends of 2 ammo belts side-by-side.




Step 2: Remove the screws from each end-block. Remove the covers.




Step 3: Cut a small notch on one of the belts to fit on the other belt's clip.




Step 4: Attach the cover back to the connected belt and install the screws back securely.




Final Step: You now have a 50-dart ammo belt!




You can keep connecting ammo belts until you get your desired ammo capacity, i'm sure some of you are already planning to go for 100-dart ammo belts!

To revert the belts back to stock 25-dart ammo belts, just reverse the process. :)

Nerf Vulcan Mod - Increase Rate-of-Fire!

Want to increase the Nerf Vulcan's rate-of-fire?

The Nerf Vulcan's rate-of-fire (RoF) is voltage dependent. By default, the stock battery sled holds 6 x 1.5V D Batteries which combine to provide 9 Volt of power to the vulcan's motor, this supports a RoF of approx. 3 rounds per second or 180 rounds per minute.

To increase the RoF, a popular method is to increase the voltage to the motor. Here is how it can be done in a modular manner with affordable easy to find parts.

Step 1: Get the following items from an electrical supply store.

1 x Battery Holder (holds 10 x AA Batteries)
1 x Battery Holder Snap-on Adapter
2 x Insulated Wire Leads (Red + Black w/ Crocodile Clips)




Step 2: Attach everything together and install the AA Batteries (in this example, i used 10 x 1.5V AA Batteries which provide 15 Volt power in total). Please take note of the Positive (Red) and Negative (Black) wire leads, do not let them short-circuit!




Step 3: Remove the Nerf Vulcan's stock battery sled and clip the Red and Black wire leads onto the connection points (clip properly and note the wire lead colours!).




Final Step: Test out your upgraded Nerf Vulcan!




Here are the Test Fire Videos of my stock vs. upgraded Nerf Vulcans:

Nerf Vulcan RoF - Stock 9 Volt Power (180 RPM)



Nerf Vulcan RoF - Upgraded 15 Volt Power (300 RPM)




Do note that as expected with most electrical components, increasing voltage to a motor might invariably shorten its operating lifespan.

I've also tested increasing the voltage to 18 Volt and 24 Volt by adding more batteries (and also tested with other battery types like R/C car Li-Po batteries), the RoF gets even faster! But at those crazy speeds i could smell the motor start to overheat even after firing just 2-3 ammo belts, therefore do be careful when increasing voltage to those limits! Don't let your Vulcan's motor burn out prematurely.

This upgrade is easily reversible back to stock voltage (just detach the clips and revert back to using the stock battery sled) and its very modular too, so you can adapt it to your own preferences. :)

Nerf Recon Mod - Tagger Dart Compatibility!

As a Nerf game player, it can be abit frustrating to only be able to use Streamline foam darts on your Nerf Recon.

Sometimes you may also want to play Dart Tag games with your Nerf Recons, or you might simply have run out of Streamline foam darts.



Here is a simple mod that will enable your Nerf Recon to chamber and fire Tagger and Sonic foam darts!

Lets start...

Step 1: Take your Nerf Recon, only focus on the pistol section.




Step 2: Unscrew the casing, take note of all the screw locations and loose parts.




Step 3: Note the internal layout, especially the bolt carrier group and how it works.




Step 4: Take the bolt carrier group out of the Recon.




Step 5: Seperate the bolt from the carrier frame holder, you will need to push out a metal securing pin.




Step 6: Put your Tagger dart in to test, notice how its stuck and can't be chambered or fired properly? We will need to create a better fit.




Step 7: Use a hobby craft knife (please be careful) and cut away the flanges on both sides of the bolt.




Step 8: Trim the bolt's dart support thinner and narrower, keep testing with your Tagger dart to work towards a good fit.




Step 9: Remove the pop-up blocker plate, trim the block lines so that it can better fit Tagger darts.




Step 10: Put everything back together and install all the screws securely.




Final Step: Put a Tagger dart in your magazine and test fire your Recon. If it jams or doesn't chamber properly, open up the casing again and do more trimmings and adjustments, it can take some time to achieve a good fit.




Here is a Test Fire Video of my Nerf Recon firing Tagger foam darts:




Being a clip-fed blaster, the Recon will tend to be prone to jams, so my advice is to make sure to use perfect foam darts, load them into the magazines properly and chamber each foam dart steadily.

In addition, do note that N-Strike clips are not originally designed to hold Tagger foam darts, so any clips longer than the 6-dart versions would still have issues working properly due to the foam darts being positioned increasingly at downward angles.

Now go play Dart Tag with your Nerf Recon! :)

Welcome to Mod Works!

Welcome fellow modders & tinkerers!