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Swing Setup Guide

Please read the DryFire User Guide after finishing setup.

Swing uses a laser to show the trajectory of targets - it is not designed for use with a PC data projector.

Before installation

  • For safety reasons the battery inside Swing is not fully charged before shipping. Ensure Swing is switched off (switch towards the USB socket) and plug it into a USB port or USB charger.

    The yellow LED will come on to indicate charging and the green LED will come on when the battery is fully charged. You don't have to wait for it to be fully charged before continuing with setup - 20 minutes will probably be sufficient.

  • Decide where you will locate Swing facing the centre of the wall. You can use a tripod or any horizontal surface - naturally we recommend using the DryFire Shooting Stand.

    Swing should be between 1.5m and 2.0m from the wall and between 0.5m and 1.0m from the floor.

  • If you are using a horizontal surface mark the point where the centre of the front of Swing will be located.

    The photo below shows a yellow stick-on dot marking the centre of the front of DryFire Shooting Stand - but a pencil mark would do just as well.

  • The mark helps you place Swing in exactly the same position each time you use it.
  • The reference point for measurements is the middle of the top edge of Swing's metal base - on the side facing the wall.
  • You will need four (4) Post-it notes with diagonal lines drawn on them to mark their centres.
  • Place one Post-it note on the wall directly ahead of the reference point with its centre at exactly the same height as the top of the metal base.

    In the sketch below the top of Swing's metal base is 634mm (0.634m) from the floor so the centre of the Post-it note is also 634mm from the floor.

  • Place a Post-it note exactly 1m to the left of the first one and another 1m to its right - both at exactly the same height.
  • Stand in the position where you intend to shoot from, take up a shooting stance and point your shotgun directly in front of you - your shotgun should be absolutely horizontal - get someone to check it with a spirit level on your gun barrel.

    Use the final Post-it note to mark exactly where your gun is pointing, In the sketch below the gun was pointing directly above Swing and 1400mm (1.4m) from the floor.

Installation and calibration

  • Connect Swing to your PC/laptop using the USB cable. Your PC/laptop will probably "beep" to indicate a USB device has been plugged in and Swing's yellow "charging" or green "fully charged" LED will come on.
  • Switch Swing on. The red LED will flash and after a few seconds it will go into demo mode.
  • You may now download, install and run the DryFire version 5 software.
  • If there has been a change to the firmware inside Swing since your unit was manufactured you will be given the option to update it. Please select this option if offered.
  • The software will detect Swing and go straight into Calibration mode.
  • Enter the measurements required below.

Setting the home position

  • You will probably have noticed that the bracket holding the vertical axis servo motor and the mount for the laser are not lined up properly - they don't "look" right.
  • This slight misalignment from straight ahead and horizontal is caused by the way the bracket fits on the splines of the horizontal motor and the laser mount fits on the splines of the vertical motor.
  • Our first task is to take out this misalignment.
  • Use the movement pad shown on the screen to move things left/right/up/down until they look right - just as in the "before" and "after" sketches shown above. You may find it easiest to hold Swing on one hand while using the other hand to make adjustments with the movement pad.
  • As long as it looks OK, it will be OK - so don't go overboard with spirit levels and what-have-you - doing it by eye will be fine. The setting you have defined is Swing's "home" position.
  • Put Swing back in its normal position facing the wall and click "Next" when done.

Setting the laser ahead position

  • Swing will display a horizontal line on the wall pausing briefly at the ends and in the centre.
  • Use the up/down arrows to move the line up/down so it passes through the centre of the Post-it note directly ahead of Swing.
  • Use the left/right arrows to get the centre point of the line as close as possible to the middle of the Post-it note directly ahead of Swing. Don't worry if the laser is not exactly on the centre - "as close as possible" is what we are after.
  • Click on the "-" and "+" pads to reduce or increase the length of the line so the end points are as close as possible to the centres of left and right Post-it notes.

    This should not change the centre point of the line which should still be close to the centre of the Post-it note directly ahead of Swing.

  • Swing must be parallel with the wall for the line to be accurate so you may have to rotate the unit slightly to get the laser to touch the centre of all three Post-it notes.
  • Click "Next" when done.

Swing to wall distance

The procedure above will probably change the simulator to wall distance you entered at the beginning.

Since the left and right Post-it notes are 2m apart, and the software now knows the angle required to move the laser dot from one to the other, it can use simple trigonometry to recalculate the distance - so don't worry if the next time you run calibration the simulator to wall distance is different.

Setting the shooter position

  • Use the movement pad to move the laser dot to the centre of the Post-it note you used to mark where your gun was pointing. Click "Next" when done.
  • That's it, you have calibrated your Swing. You can do it again at any time by selecting "Calibration" from the "Settings" menu.
  • Now please read the DryFire User Guide for more details about using the software.

Target selection

Swing displays single targets but, for doubles, you can select the left or right trap from the ellipsis menu (three vertical dots close to top left of display).

Swing doesn't detect shots or show results but it steps through the targets in a simulation and marks each one with an "X" to shows where you are.