Cap Gun

Katie McEathron, Christina Winters, Yijun Dia, Garrett Conklin

Introduction:
 For this assignment, our group has decided to do a cap gun. This type of modeling

assignment allows us to model the different pieces of the cap gun and essentially make the gun

come to life in Autodesk Inventor. All cap guns work under the same basic principles. A cap,

filled with gunpowder, is aligned with a flat, hard striking service. When someone wishes to fire

the gun, they pull the trigger backwards which in turn pulls the hammer backwards. Once the

hammer reaches its full extension, it is quickly released and makes contact with the back of the

cap. The resulting pressure ignites the gunpowder creating the characteristic “Pop” sound, flash

and smoke. Cap guns, depending on the type, are typically made up of about 14 different parts.

This product competes in the market for games as well as toys and outdoor play. The

target customers mainly consist of children and possibly some adults. The basic purpose of this

product is entertainment. The consumer can take the cap gun and shoot it at fellow opponents,

players, objects, etc. It could also be used as an accessory to various costumes (cowboy, etc.)

The customer would want the product to be durable and as realistic as possible.

The main competitors behind this product consist of other toy gun manufacturers as well

as companies that make toys for children. For example, some manufacturers and distributors are

Hasbro and Walmart. Research has shown us that there is no company that can be called the

main producer of cap guns. Cap guns’ principal competitors are any projectile toys such as nerf

guns, paintball guns and airsoft guns.

Products that compete with cap guns have some different and additional features. These

could include a laser sight for more realism, different materials for more realism, a magazine to
load a number of caps, and safety features to prevent accidents caused by improper use of guns

by children. These competing products are often more realistic but also significantly more

expensive. It all comes down to what the customer wants out of the gun. For this project, we just

want to observe the characteristics of the gun.

In order to understand how the gun works, we need to take the gun apart and work with the
various parts.

Step By Step Disassembly

1. First we made simple sketches of the toy gun in order to put measurements on a sheet of
paper
2. We used a screw driver to take apart the first three screws that hold the entire gun
together.
3. We measured to outside parts of the gun. This included the barrel, upper and lower
handle, and trigger section.
4. We took apart the top and bottom pieces of the gun and measured the different parts. For
this type of gun, there happened to be 14 different pieces.

Each of the following pictures show graphically how the steps were taken. The final picture is
depicts the inside pieces of the upper handle.
3D modeling- verbal description, embedded images, image quality (christina)

Product Analysis
The main parts of the toy gun includes 3 steel screws, a barrel, and a handle, which are all

made of plastic. The three screws function to hold the entire toy guy together. Within both the

barrel and handle are many different components. The barrel houses the cap base, which is made

out of metal. The cap bases serves to hold the exploding caps in place and functions as a anvil

when the hammer is released. When the gun is triggered, the hammer will release, and a sound

will go off. This toy gun does not actually shoot a projectile.

Within the handle, there are a numerous amount of components. The handles holds two main

pieces, the logo pieces and the upper handle. The logo pieces (2) give the customer a place to
hold the gun. It has a rounded/lofted body that allows the gun to rest easily on the user’s hand.

The upper handle is comprised of 2 main pieces, a trigger, hammer, cap, metal cap, screw,

straight spring, and coil spring. The cap, hammer, and trigger are all made out of the same

material of plastic as the barrel. The metal cap is made out of a flat sheet metal (steel most

likely), and the coil spring and straight spring are both made out of the same steel material. The

small screw, which holds everything on the inside together, is made of the same material as the

three larger screws.

In order to have the gun to make the popping noise, the trigger is pulled back causing

the hammer to move backwards and the cap base to move to a fixed position. Once the trigger is

pulled back to its full position the hammer will release and strike the cap base creating a noise.

Taking a deep look at just one part of the movement, one sees that the trigger, metal cap, and coil

spring are connected together. When the trigger is pulled, the coil spring will stretch, and the

metal cap will be forced upward and in the process the cap base will be moved into a fixed

position. The next part of the movement consists of the trigger, straight spring, and hammer. As

the trigger is pulled backwards it forces the hammer backwards. As the hammer is moved

backwards, the straight spring is squeezed together forcing the potential energy in the spring to

increase. This energy then forces the the cap to unlock from is locked position and moves the

hammer to make a sound.