Spiderman Webshooter

Have you ever wanted to be like the superhero Spiderman? Have you even wanted powers that let you shoot something from afar and look cool while doing it? Well then, this build is perfect for you! My project is a Spiderman web shooter, which shoots a metal dart attached to a piece of thread using an electro-magnetic coil. When a wire coil has electricity running through it, it generates a magnetic field. This magnetic field repels the metal projectile and causes it to fly away. A winch is then used to pull the thread and the projectile back after it is launched.

I made this as my SIDE project in Ms. Berbawy's POE class.

Special Credits to @CallMeSwal and @HowToLou for helping me through this project!

Software

• Prusa Slicer
• Autodesk Fusion 360

Supplies

• 90 degree DC Motor
• A spool of thread
• A bobbin
• Gaffers tape
• A glove that fits you
• Electric stapler (I used the Stanley Bostitch 02210)
• 12 M3 x 12 machine screws, 1 M3 x 18 machine screw, and 2 M3 x 30 machines screws and 15 M3 lock nuts
• Two 9-volt batteries
• Two Battery snap connectors
• Push button
• Needle (to sew)
• Jumper Wires (for soldering)
• Solder, Soldering Iron, and Heat Shrink
• 3D Printer
• Filament (I used Prusa PLA Lipstick Red)
• Prying tool to pry open stapler
• Metal darts (have to be able to be attracted/repelled by a magnet)
• Velcro

Use a prying tool to pry open your stapler:

• Try to pry it open starting at the gray button and work your way toward the front, splitting it vertically
• If the casing is too difficult to split apart, you can use a hammer to tap in the tool at the seams to split it open
• Remove the electronics. There should be a circuit that consists of a PCB, a touch/Infrared (IR) sensor, a copper coil, a switch, and possibly an LED

Here is how the circuit works:

• When you press the first physical switch, power will start running through the circuit, but not through the coil
• When you trigger an IR or touch sensor (depends on what you get from your stapler) the power goes through the coil and this is when your dart will shoot if it is resting in the coil.

You will be using CAD software to model everything for this project. Here are the things you should measure, which will be bolded in later mentions, and my measurements for each of the dimensions are underlined in the parentheses:

• The diameter that the push button screws/fits into (16mm)
• Maximum arm width (75mm)
• Maximum arm length (180mm)
• Maximum arm height (40mm)
• Battery height, width, and length (18mm, 26mm, and 46mm respectively)
• Screw diameter (3mm)
• Dart diameter (8mm)
• Dart length (with fins cut off) (75mm)
• Motor Axle total length (end of one axle to end of the other) (38mm)
• Distance from screw holes on DC Motor to the back of the motor (22mm)
• Distance in between screw holes on the DC Motor (20mm)
• Coil holder inner diameter (radius of the hole in the coil holder) (17mm)
• Coil holder outer diameter (radius of the walls of the coil holder) (42mm)
• Coil wire outer radius (radius around which the wire coils around) (37mm)
• Coil Width (30mm)

• Use the dart radius, dart length, coil width, the inner radius of the coil holder, and the outer radius of the coil holder, to CAD the Dart Housing, which will hold the dart and the coil
• You need the outer radius of the coil wire and the coil holder for a sleeve that attaches to the Dart Housing
• The radius for the hole of the dart has to be greater than the radius of the dart, but less than the inner radius of the coil holder
• Add screw holes so it can attach with the arm assembly

NOTE: Attached are the .stl files for the individual 3d printed parts that make up my Dart Housing (DartHousing.stl and CoilSleeve.stl), as well as a file that displays both of them together (CoilHolder with CoilSleeve.stl)

• First, make a rectangular prism and cut another rectangular prism into it (The dimensions of the cut should follow the arm width, height, and length)
• The dimensions I suggest are a thickness of the 2.5mm for the sides and 5mm for the top. The bottom should be open.
• Then, fillet the inner edges. So far, this should simply be an assembly that is flat on the top, open on the bottom, and should fit your arm.
• Make the battery box, using the battery height, width, and length, on the back of the assembly
• Cut a 20mm x 18mm opening in the middle of the short side of the battery box for the battery plugs
• If you need two batteries (as I did), make a copy of the battery box and stack it onto the first one
• Make a cap for the battery box, with the same length and width dimensions
• Put screw holes in the cap and the battery boxes, which would allow them to attach together
• Then add a shelf to the edge for the hole where the button screws in, using the button radius.
• Then, import your dart housing to match the screw holes with where you will fasten on the arm assembly
• Make some holes in the walls of the Arm Assembly for the Velcro to go through and hold the web shooter to your arm
• Finally, measure the remaining space on top of the web shooter, which will be used to make the Motor Holder (you should just need the length and width of the empty space).

NOTE: Attached are the .stl files for the individual 3d printed parts that make up my Arm Assembly (ArmAssembly.stl, BatteryBox.stl, and BatteryBoxCap.stl), as well as a file that displays all of them put together (FullArmAssembly.stl)

• Use the empty space on the Arm Assembly between the Battery Box and the Dart Housing to make a motor holder, which would be a 90-degree bracket that would be screwed onto the Arm Assembly at one pivot point, allowing it to rotate
• Add the screw holes for the DC Motor, using the distance between the screws on the motor
• Use the dimensions of the motor (distance between the screws and the back of the motor and the total axle length of the motor) to make the motor holder small enough that the Battery Box and Dart Housing are not on the path of Motor Holder's rotation
• Match the pivot point screw hole to where you want to put it on the arm assembly.

NOTE: Attached is the .stl file for my Motor Holder (MotorHolder.stl)

• Print small sections of your build to test out the holes in your 3d designs
• After testing your holes in all of your 3d designs, you can start your final prints
• I used Prusa Slicer and printed at .15mm layer height, 20% infill, and a gyroid infill pattern.
• I also went with red to keep the Spiderman theme

• Use the screw holes that you put in the designs to attach the parts together using the machine screws and lock nuts
• Attach the Dart Housing and the Battery Box onto the allotted screw holes on the Arm Assembly
• The DC Motor attaches to the Motor Holder, which screws onto the pivot point on the Arm Assembly
• Take your spool of thread and put desired amount of thread into a bobbin (go with a larger amount than you think you will need)
• The dart (with its fins cut off) has a hole burrowed in the back, where the thread from the bobbin will be attached
• Put the dart in the groove in the Dart Housing, pull the thread through the hole in the back of the Dart Housing and tie it to the hole in the back of the dart
• Wrap some gaffers tape around the axle of the DC Motor where bobbin will rest (enough that its tight enough for the bobbin to stay firmly on it), and put bobbin on the axle and make sure it doesn't fall off
• Attach the coil to the Dart Housing using the Coil Sleeve, which will hold the coil and will be screwed onto the shelf protruding from the Dart Housing
• Attach your button to the hole made for it in the Arm Assembly

• First, cut part of the glove to make it easier to stitch into
• Put the coil circuit on the glove in the orientation you want it
• You would want one trigger mechanism on your palm, which would use touch, so you can trigger it using the classic Spiderman web trigger motion (shown in the sixth photo above)
• The other trigger mechanism would be off to the side and would be trigger by your other hand
• I put the LED off to the side, where I can see it and check if the circuit is getting power
• Put the PCB Circuit board on a place where it would not get in the way and the wire connecting it to the coil would not be pulled on
• Stitch the circuit components in the designated places
• Stitch the glove back up
• I used thread, kept together with tape, to attach the coil circuit to the arm assembly, and you have to make it shorter than the wire connecting the coil to the PCB, to prevent on the wire being pulled (since the attachment would be taut before the wire can be pulled)
• Screw the coil onto the Dart Assembly using the sleeve you designed in Step 3 and printed in Step 7

• Solder the winch circuit to follow the diagram above
• This circuit had two batteries connected in parallel to the button and the motor, allowing the motor to move when the button is pushed
• Make sure the wires are long enough to allow the DC motor to rotate
• Try not to melt the 3d print with your soldering iron
• Use heat shrink to insulate the solder joints (ideally you would use a heat gun, but since it would melt my 3d print, I just used a soldering iron to contract the heat shrink)

• First, loop the rough side of the Velcro around on side of the Arm Assembly on the holes in the walls
• Sew the Velcro in
• Then loop the smooth side on the other side of holes on the Arm Assembly
• Sew that in
• Make the Velcro long enough so that it connects when you want to fasten the design to your arm

How to use the Webshooter (the pictures above correspond with the steps; first picture corresponds with first step, second picture with second step, and so on):

• Wear the assembly (plug in the coil circuit)
• Put the DC Motor in a position where the thread will not get caught in the bobbin
• Press Button#1
• While holding down Button#1, press Button#2 (dart will shoot)
• Put the DC Motor in a position where the axle is perpendicular to the thread
• Press the DC Motor button, which will wind the dart back
• Press the button again to stop winding the thread

Here is an edited video of the web shooter in action with sound effects!