Super Soaker Central

Hi All - I'm new - I bought a SPEED LOADER DOUBLE CROSS 3000 for my granddaughter at a garage sale and I need the SPEED LOADER REFILLER - I heard they are hard to come by but maybe some genius out there would have an idea how to make one.
any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Tricia

Welcome to Super Soaker Central!

I've been receiving requests for the rare Speed Loader hose adapter for several years. I myself have never even seen one. A homemade version is a possibility. Please measure the internal diameter of the filling nozzle to as much precision as possible with calipers, post the measurement, and we'll look into which parts can be substituted into a homemade version.

And if you do make a homemade version, please please post a how-to guide. I get this request all the time. I haven't made one and if I did, I wouldn't even know if it would fit right because I don't have any Speed Loaders.

If I remember to and if I can find my Speed Loader refiller, I'll post some pics and also do measurements on it to help with this project. Sorry, but I'm not selling my refiller, tough. I will supply as much info on it as I can, though.

wait... is the speedloader thing the green and yellow QFD? I think I have that in the depths of my garage somewhere. If you could clarify it, I can sell it. I don't have a working SL (PC ruptured), so I could sell it to you if I find it.

Picture of Speed Loader filler attached to this post.

The inner O-ring is about 2 cm in diameter while the inner-diameter of the main ring is about 3 cm in diameter. Total depth from top of outer rim to bottom is ~2cm. Depth from top of outer ring to top of inner O-ring is ~1cm. O-ring itself is about 0.4cm tall. Diameter of inner part of O-ring is ~1.5cm.

That's different than what I thought it would be like. I remember someone telling me that Super Soaker QFDs are female while Speed Loader QFDs are male, but this proves that wrong.

Could you get any more precision or do you think it's that clean cut?

I just dug up the email I got with some information. These are measurements from the water gun end rather than the filler.

Inside diameter of Nozzle: just over 1/2" (.55)
Outside diameter of Nozzle (at narrow end): Just over 3/4" (.88)
Outside diameter of Nozzle (at wide end): Just over 1.08" (.88)

Of course, I asked them to take those measurements assuming the filler was male rather than female.

Is there an O-ring in the water gun filler nozzle? I can see there's one in the hose adapter, but I assumed there was an O-ring in the water gun filler nozzle itself before.

Mine does not look like that from my memory. I got it with an SL1500 though, so it might be more heavy duty. If you push down, water comes out. Yes there is some form of O-ring in the filler, but it does not seem to be a conventional O-ring, more of a washer. I still have to find mine, but I remember it being more 'beefed up' than iSoakers.

With the tools I have at my current disposal, I can't make much more accurate measurements that those above. As CROC noted, it is more like a washer than an O-ring. I just got lazy when typing.

As for the nozzle on the Speed Loader, the one I have is the Speed Loader 1000, one of the smaller ones in the line. The nozzle has no O-ring on it and pretty much looks to push up against the filler's rubber washer to create its seal when filling. I wouldn't be surprised if larger Speed Loaders have larger, more beefed up fillers. Never used those ones, though.

Yours seems to be like the one that is shown with the double cross 3000. I still have to check, I have been really busy with school work, and hockey
GO HABS GO!

EDIT: Found it, uploading the photos now.

Perhaps something as simple as rubber tubing stretched over the nozzle area would work. Maybe not in the Speed Loader because the filling nozzle seems to have ridges (see here), but that could be a good cheap way to make a compact QFD.

Go to the hardware store and look for rubber fender washers or just plain rubber washers. Bring the water gun to see if you can make a good seal with the filling nozzle. Then we might be going somewhere.

Another option would be the rubber pieces put in some hose couplers. They might fit well and with one you would already have a piece that can attach to a hose.

I could send mine, since I no longer have any SpeedLoader guns, to either you, Ben, so that you could make a homemade mockup, and sell them, or I could send them to this person who is requesting it.

Either way, I can probably ship it for a very low cost.

The charger seems to operate only when pushed down. If there were some spring loaded endcap or something, and a decent seal made, it would not be hard to make replacements. The hose connector piece goes to a plugged kind of push valve, which allows water to flow in the nozzle. Leaks are prevented by the rubber washer.

Would it be possible to make Ben? It might require heating the top of a PVC endcap to get a nice fit of the nozzle.

I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to make. If you have all the right size parts, it's just a matter of putting them together. The push valve isn't even needed; technically a ball valve would work to control when the water goes up into the nozzle; it's just not as functional compared to a push valve.

That is true, and the push valve allows the water to be more accessible, but gives the hose the single purpose of filling the one gun. Ball valves allow more uses, but less ease of filling I guess.