Piranha Air Pressured 2L

[C-A_99]

Well, after trying to fix the trigger problems with the Piranha today (I figured out that the ball valve just needs lubrication and that the spring is fine), I decided that I've fed up with the piss-poor range and power on it. A while back, I drilled the smallest nozzle up too large, almost as large as the largest on the selector which is far too large for the Piranha to handle. Even at the small 2x nozzle that was available, the range was considerably sub-par, so I decided to go with a somewhat radical solution: get a stick of epoxy putty and a 2L bottle and replace the HydroPower bladder.

Despite the small ID of the internals before the nozzle, that is not the only limiting factor to the Piranha's capability; the pressure chamber just isn't pushing out the power. There was one slight issue caused, and that is that the reservoir would get in the way of the 2L bottle, so I had to take that out and adapt it to connect to a backpack.

I don't have pictures yet, but it's not hard to imagine how this would work. The 2L bottle provides a lot of PC space and produced ranges several feet farther than before. I did not disable the PRV and I probably will not to preserve the epoxy connection and the bottle.

Unfortunately, my first tests weakened the epoxy putty. The putty dries hard in about 10 mins after application, but seems to need 12 to 24 hours to fully cure. I also decided to make the bottle removable at first by epoxying only the cap on (after the cap was drilled), but the threading of the bottle proved to weaken the connection as well.

Right now, some putty I had to re-apply has dried about an hour ago. I'll continue to reinforce it later since I'm not sure how well this will stand up over time. I don't want to use PVC since it's fairly heavy and more expensive, and the lightweight bottle is an advantage.

If anyone was thinking to experiment with something like this, I think it's worth the shot. The requirement is that because it's air pressure, the 2L bottle should point directly downwards when attached. I'm a bit weary on how long the putty will last though, and may need to consider various reinforcement elsewhere.

[JuchTurtles]

This is an interesting modification. I was thinking of doing this on my XP 270, but I'd have to build a backpack for it to work.

It seems like it would work well. I'd actually use pipe instead, so it'd be more permanent, so you wouldn't have to reinforce it again and again. Even though pipe isn't translucent, it's more reliable.

Now I would also disable the PRV. You could pressurize it more and make it even more powerful.

I'd like to see pictures though. It seems like a good modification.

[C-A_99]

The XP270 already runs on air pressure and a PC replacement would just increase the volume; I don't think it'd benefit the power considerably. I haven't had any power problems without removing the PRV yet, and it's a good safety cap to have especially with the current 2L setup. Because of PVC's weight, I'd need much better reinforcement around the connection to the rest of the internals but the 2L is very light, making the extra reinforcement less necessary.

[C-A_99]

As requested, here are the pictures.

[JuchTurtles]

Sweet! Does the power meter still work?

[C-A_99]

Nope, I took some of it off in an attempt to lighten up the blaster, though that didn't really happen. However, it only has use if I resell the blaster anyway since you can hardly see the darn thing and it still only gives you the three red/yellow/green colors so it's pretty useless. Heck, the 2L bottle is transparent! I just got to remove the label on it though and it's good to go.

I'd like some word from others on safety. I'm always getting the feeling that this will turn into a 2L rocket if I power it up good, even though the PRV is still in place. I suppose the epoxy connection should wear out steadily instead of shoot off, though the bottle itself also has risk of explosion. If I have to do this again, I'll use a spherical CPS PC with balloons and some improvised PC case.

[JuchTurtles]

I think you're pretty safe with the bottle, probably with the PRV still in place especially. I'd say that the Pirahna only goes around 20 psi anyway. Maybe every 3 months (or less if needed) you'd change it.

[C-A_99]

The bottle itself is pretty old and scratched up a bit. (it's the only one I have) Plus theres a lot more air than when the bottle would be used to store soda. I guess the epoxy should be safe since it can hold a small valve in a hole giving a good 80 PSI (and if there's a problem, it will leak and break slowly without shooting off). I'd prefer to wait for the word from someone more experienced than both of us anyway, but I'll still be testing it myself later on as time permits.

[JuchTurtles]

Ok, sure. That's fine (I'm not very experienced with soda bottles besides my bottle shot stuff, and I don't use that very much).