[Carbon]

I've been having trouble with some of my darts. I just found a 1/2" copper pipe in my garage, 5' long and cleaned it out and turned it into a blowgun. I made some darts using half of the normal skewers I usually use. Most of them flew straight, but a few of them would spiral like a football that has a spin but is "wobbling" in the air. Of the ones that worked, 3 of them would veer off course erratically after about 10m. What's going on?\

-C

 

[cjb4u]

I would examine your cones

 

[Carbon]

They are the correct size, centered on the dart, look perfect! It's weird..

 

[cjb4u]

Did you make the darts yourself? if so I would look to see if how you attached them or hold them together is weighted heavy on one side.

 

[Carbon]

well I guess the cones could be weighing the back side down. Perhaps they are tail heavy?

 

[NightKnight]

Try adding some weight in the front.

 

[superman365]

possibly, try longer skewers w/the same cone to see

 

[Lightgeoduck]

do you use the same size pieces to make them? though you might cut the cone down to the same size some cones may have more material than the other depending on how you wrap or tuck to make the cone. I am guessing the problem may be at one of the seams.

just a guess.

LGD

 

[Carbon]

they are each about 2.5in long strips of duct tape that I roll together. I'll try some stuff out tomorrow. As for now- SLEEP

..zzzzz....

 

[NaturalFork]

I would examine your cones

I agree. Make sure the cones are stable and don't move around.

 

[NaturalFork]

Try adding some weight in the front.

This too.

 

[treefork]

Roll your dart on the edge of a table with the cone hanging of the edge. Make sure there is no wobble. Like Aaronc said the forward weighting will offset the heavy duct cone giving the dart a different center o gravity.

 

[Carbon]

Good idea Treefork. I'm going to work on some more today, we will see how they turn out.

 

[NightKnight]

Here is an image from that Aerodart site. Note how the Model Dart has no nose waggle, whereas the dart with a heavy tail has nose waggle.

 

[NightKnight]

So, you basically want to bring the mass forward on the shaft, causing less waggle.

 

[Carbon]

That's what she said?

I dunno, what do you think Geo?

Anyway, I think I'll go with a packing tape cone on the next few darts to save some weight. Tests coming soon!

 

[treefork]

A good way to forward weight is to wrap the tip of the bamboo 1 1/2 " from the tip with a fine flexible steel wire found in the flower section of the craft store. Wrap as desired keeping the coils tight for about 1 " total length. Finish with an epoxy coat. Now check out the difference. Heavy end has to go forward.

 

[NightKnight]

The throwing dart guys have put a lot of thought into this. That is why they use a heavy metal in the front, and aluminum back by the fins. Now, our fins/flights (cones) aren't nearly as effective as those on a throwing dart since cones dont provide a great deal of directional stability. So, front mass can be even more important. Again, this is all IMO.

 

[Carbon]

So we figured out the wobble, but why the veering off of course after about 10m? It is very strange, they get to about 10m and then they take a 90 degree turn left or right

 

[NightKnight]

Here is a pro dart. This shows how the weight is balanced better.