Which Blaster Build To Choose?
Wondering which blaster to build first?
To help you decide, I’ve ranked these builds easiest to trickiest.
Spring-Powered blasters are often the easiest
Default spring-powered blasters are modular and the pieces slide easily together.
If you upgrade to a brass springer setup, things get harder. However, you shouldn’t have too much trouble at all with a default blaster.
Flywheel-powered blasters can be more difficult.
Flywheelers require soldering and often some tinkering. A build guide and my optimized files will help a lot. Links to the free files and build guides are below.
Blaster Build Difficulty Rankings
BLASTER | DIFFICULTY | TYPE | SOLDERING | ESTIMATED BUILD TIME | RESOURCES |
★☆☆☆☆ | Springer | No | 1-3 hours |
| |
★☆☆☆☆ | Springer | No | 1-3 hours |
| |
★☆☆☆☆ | Springer | No | 1 hour | ||
★☆☆☆☆ | Elastic-powered | No | 1-3 hours |
| |
★★☆☆☆ | Springer | No | 1-3 hours | ||
★★☆☆☆ | Springer | No | 1-3 hours | ||
★★☆☆☆ | Springer | No | 1-3 hours | ||
★★☆☆☆ | Flywheel | No | 1-3 hours |
| |
★★★☆☆ | Springer | No | 1-3 hours |
| |
★★★☆☆ | Springer | No | 1-3 hours |
| |
★★★☆☆ | Flywheel | Yes | 1-3 hours | ||
★★★☆☆ | Flywheel | Yes | 1-3 hours |
| |
★★★☆☆ | Springer | No | 2-3 hours | ||
★★★★☆ | Flywheel | Yes | 2-4 hours |
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★★★★☆ | Flywheel | Yes | 1-3 hours |
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★★★★☆ | Springer | No | 1-3 hours |
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★★★★☆ | Flywheel | Yes | 2-3 hours |
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★★★★☆ | HPA | Yes | 1-2 hours |
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★★★★☆ | HPA | No | 1-2 hours | ||
★★★★☆ | Flywheel | Yes | 3-4 hours |
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★★★★★ | Flywheel | Yes | 3-4 hours |
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★★★★★ | HPA | Yes | 2-3 hours | ||
★★★★★ | Flywheel | Yes | 3-4 hours |
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★★★★★ | Springer | No | 2-4 hours |
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*Estimated build time is our best guess at how long it might take someone who’s never done the build before.
Building your own blaster can be super fun and mechanically satisfying.
Also, it can save you like $40-$80 compared to the assembled version.
Doesn’t matter if you don’t have a printer, either. Just order the printed parts too.
Great for indoor afternoon or weekend projects.
Derrikk Sun
I started out as a Nerf hobbyist and enthusiast in the early 2000s. Nerf wars around the house, backyard, and with local friends grew into building blasters and sharing with the nerf community. As demand grew, Frontline Foam was born. Our mission to make Nerf, especially homemade blasters, more accessible and available. KEEP NERFING!
I’m thinking of getting a grass snake diy kit. Any solder and/or soldering irons that you would recommend?