Did we blow it?

General water gun discussion.
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kindredsgirl
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Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 5:10 am

Did we blow it?

Post by kindredsgirl » Tue Aug 01, 2006 5:17 am

Hi there,

My two sons and I (knowing NOTHING about soaker technology) bought a cool looking water gun at Goodwill tonight. When we got it home, oddly enough, we could not figure out how to put the water in. . . I thought this was ironic, since the thing was called a "speed loader." hmmm

Anyway, we figured out that we have a W3 Speed Loader 1000 made in 1998 by the yes! entertainment corporation. . . .and we also figured out that it has no "speedloading/quickfill hose attachment"

One of your wise soaker fellows mentioned that without this attachment, the gun becomes just a "paperweight item"

Have we purchased a paperweight unknowlingly? Or can we reengineer the hose attachment?

Any wisdom you have would be heartily appreciated!

Thanks

Kindredsgirl
& Thomas (10)
& Matthew (7)

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wetmonkey442
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Joined: Sun Jun 22, 2003 12:00 pm

Post by wetmonkey442 » Tue Aug 01, 2006 11:41 am

Constructing a homemade QFD (quick fill device, a generic term people use to describe the thing you're missing) is a bit of a difficult task, although I'm sure some would be more than willing to try it. I'm not sure anyone has ever made one before, however I do distinctly remember a topic a while ago questioning the compatibility of Super Soaker brand QFD with a Speedloader Gun, and vice-versa, the compatibility of a Super Soaker brand gun with a Speedloader QFD. The tricky thing is, Speedloader is not a large company, and does not produce water guns any more. At the peak of their sales activity, they were still substantially smaller than Super Soaker. Thus, it'll be a lot harder to find a Speedloader QFD than a Super Soaker QFD. However, if they are compatible, you should not have any problem with finding one, as I know some members on this site have a few extra, and I also believe they're available from the official Super Soaker site at Hasbro.com. If someone (like SilentGuy), could provide the link to that replacement parts page, that would help.

If they're aren't compatibile, or if they are and you can't find one, then your last option is building one yourself. A QFD works by releasing the pressure of a hose into the gun (usually through the nozzle) when the nozzle of the gun depresses a check valve. Although that wouldn't be hard to build, the problem would be, A. Finding the measurement of the gun's nozzle exactly, and buying a check valve correspondingly, and B. Building a stable platform to support the QFD. A QFD is generally used on the ground, attached to the hose, and you insert the gun's nozzle/quickfill orifice into the check valve of the device. With all the pressure of the hose behind it, you have a significant chance of soaking yourself while attempting to fill your soaker holding your homemade QFD in your hands.

Good Luck, and by the way, welcome to the SSC forums!

This topic actually belongs more in the super soaker repair section of the tech forums (So I'm moving it), as you don't seem to be a 12 year old spammer.

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SSCBen
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Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2003 1:00 pm

Post by SSCBen » Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:42 pm

Hasbro has discontinued selling QFDs. I asked them about that via email and they thought I was talking about the quick-fill caps. Shows you how much they care about discontinued products - they don't even think about them!

Building a QFD, no matter what type, is actually fairly easy. Take the water gun to a hobby shop and look at the various sizes of brass tubing. For some odd reason, the place to check for a variety of diameters of brass tubing is the hobby shop. One size certainly will fit over the nozzle and seal with the O-ring.

Before you go however, if you have access to calipers, could you measure the diameter around the rubber O-ring? I'm sure that would help others in the future.

You don't need to mess around with any check valves because one is in the nozzle. You will however need to get some hose couplers and a ball valve from your local home improvement or hardware store. Using some pipe fittings, you can attach the ball valve to the hose couplers and the other end of the ball valve hopefully to the brass pipe with epoxy. I'll explain in more detail once you find the brass tube.

I was going to construct QFDs for the Super Soaker water guns using the same basic design to sell to people, but I ran out of money.

Check back with us so we can give some follow-up replies. Hopefully you'll be successful in constructing a homemade QFD. I probably have got 30 emails this year on this subject alone!

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Silence
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Post by Silence » Tue Aug 01, 2006 3:18 pm

I believe I know how to make a QFD for a Super Soaker, but I think it's slightly different on Speedloaders. The check valve is actually inside the gun, as Ben said, but that just makes things even easier.

And now for a couple of pointless but somewhat relevant links: ZOCCOZ's mostly incomplete Speedloaders website and the Super Soaker replacements order form, which only carries quick fill caps (to fill a reservoir without unscrewing the cap) but has a few other things of potential interest.

Anyway, it looks like Ben can show you how to make the appropriate QFD, so good luck with that. :)

_Sniper_
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Joined: Thu Aug 24, 2006 8:45 am

Post by _Sniper_ » Thu Aug 24, 2006 9:22 am

They stoped making QFD's? the hell..? why?

Happy I still have mine for my splashzooka... :)

Striker
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Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 4:18 pm

Post by Striker » Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:19 pm

The product was discontinued, and there is no reason to produce them anymore. I think I found an alternative that uses a garden hose with an attachment which you press a 1/2 inch tube with an O-ring inside to refill, but since I don't have a Zook or Speedloader, It won't work.

It works fine for my 2L Homemade though! :D

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