Homemade help

Build a homemade water gun or water balloon launcher and tell us about it.
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MasterBlaster
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Homemade help

Post by MasterBlaster » Sat Apr 12, 2008 7:15 pm

Can anyone help me out with this? I am planning to make a homemade water gatling cannon with a separate air tank. I was thinking I would pressurize the system with a piston system of some sorts. Any helpful hints or ideas?

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Silence
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Re: Homemade help

Post by Silence » Sat Apr 12, 2008 7:23 pm

Welcome to Super Soaker Central! :)

Could you please expand on "gatling cannon"? Is it just a water gun with lots of parallel nozzles? Do they fire at the same time, or is it a rotating nozzle selector?

Your "piston system" sounds like a homemade water pump. Basically, it's a reciprocating plunger with two check valves. Pumping takes water from the inlet and pushes it out the outlet.

And finally, how exactly do you plan for the water gun to work? Is it based off of existing systems? Constant air pressure does use an external air tank, but most water guns use external water reservoirs. If you're curious as to how most water guns work, you could read this article or the HowStuffWorks guide.

Finally, glance through the homemade water guns section to get a feel for commonly-used techniques. :cool:

That's a lot of links, so feel free to ask if you have any questions. Good luck with your project!

MasterBlaster
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Re: Homemade help

Post by MasterBlaster » Sat Apr 12, 2008 7:31 pm

probably a cap system with a rotating barrel assembly. The barrels would ram up against a plate and then be released one at a time as they rotate around. I looked at the piston assembly ben built and it looks similar I guess. I'm trying to get the best volume of fire I can out of this thing.

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SSCBen
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Re: Homemade help

Post by SSCBen » Sat Apr 12, 2008 7:43 pm

Welcome to Super Soaker Central MasterBlaster!

I'm still confused about the barrel/gatling part. Does that have a purpose or is it like a rotating nozzle selector? Are each barrel pressurized? Is it just aesthetic?

MasterBlaster
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Re: Homemade help

Post by MasterBlaster » Sat Apr 12, 2008 7:49 pm

I'm kinda changing my mind around here. Going for lots of volume with minimum reload time. I'm thinking something like you're supercannon II, but connected to a large external water source. Also I'm doing the pressurization system differently. You used a compresser to reach 100psi, but I'm going to try to use a CAP system with it. The gatling cannon may come back later, but for right now I killed it. Thanks.

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Silence
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Re: Homemade help

Post by Silence » Sat Apr 12, 2008 8:16 pm

Oh, I think I see what you wanted. Each "barrel" would be filled with water, and with a large supply of air, you could rotate, shoot, rotate, shoot, etc. If that's correct, you could get the same effect with an alternate method: using a device to rapidly open and close a single valve. :cool:

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Drenchenator
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Re: Homemade help

Post by Drenchenator » Sat Apr 12, 2008 8:27 pm

I'm thinking something like you're supercannon II, but connected to a large external water source.
SuperCannon II reloads too slowly for any real combat. Ben and I worked as a team during testing and were able to get a shot every 3 to 5 minutes or so. A much better idea would be to have an improved CAP system in a backpack. If you're going for shot time with constant performance, it's the system you should be thinking about. Ben's SuperCAP had about 8L of water from what I remember, and at about 1 oz/sec in output that comes out to about 4 minutes 20 seconds of shot time. Reloading wasn't too bad either; you just shut off the air, release the reservoir's air, refill it with water, close the refill valve, and reopen the air valve. Piece of cake.
The Drenchenator, also known as Lt. Col. Drench.

MasterBlaster
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Re: Homemade help

Post by MasterBlaster » Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:27 pm

Yeah I was thinking of maybe having a large stationary tank in the back of a truck or something and having something like a quick reloading supercannon II connected to it and have a valve to the tank so I could reload quickly and still get the maximum oz/secs I could possibly get

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Drenchenator
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Re: Homemade help

Post by Drenchenator » Sun Apr 13, 2008 12:17 am

Unless you had a system that dispenses pressurized water, you're not going to get a "quick reloading SuperCannon II." The gun is the equivalent of a muzzle-loader: You fill it up through the firing valve and prime it on the other end with pressurized air.

Hypothetically speaking, if you really wanted a "quick reloading" one, you'd have to build a big tank with water and compressed air in it. The gun itself would need a filling valve put before the firing valve. If you open the air release valve and let the chamber fill to a certain point--and only a certain point; it needs space for the compressed air--then you can close the air release valve and pressurize the gun. If you wanted to, a dual-chamber SuperCannon II would let the gun have plenty of air for this. If you got good at it, you might be able to reload in about 30 seconds if everything was prepared beforehand. You might be able to reload in about 10 seconds if you make some "master control" box for all of this too.
Last edited by Drenchenator on Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The Drenchenator, also known as Lt. Col. Drench.

MasterBlaster
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Re: Homemade help

Post by MasterBlaster » Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:32 pm

Yeah this sounds like exactly what I want. Let me know if anyone else might have any ideas on how to get something like this working. Thanks for all your help.

aEx155
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Re: Homemade help

Post by aEx155 » Sat May 03, 2008 7:01 pm

Image

You could have a detachable hand pump that connects to fill from the main tank to the water portion. Then, you could have an air pump/compressor to fill the air portion if the pressure is low. Of course, the air pump would be detachable too, and there would be a valve for the air outlet.

Just an idea.
Last edited by aEx155 on Mon May 19, 2008 3:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

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