Modular APH

Build a homemade water gun or water balloon launcher and tell us about it.
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Vickers303
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 7:00 pm

Modular APH

Post by Vickers303 » Mon Jun 29, 2009 3:51 pm

It's funny that I built a Supercannon II first, then an APH ... but what's even funnier is that I found the APH even harder to make than the Supercannon :rolleyes: .

My first objective in making an APH was to reduce costs to about fifteen to twenty dollars. Obviously, saving money is nice, and I was willing to sacrifice quality for cost. I built the entire thing from scratch, and when I finished it, I was pretty pleased with performance and cost. I built the entire APH for $19.36, and the range with a 1/8 inch nozzle (or 1/16 inch nozzle, I forget. But the diameter was definitely small) was about twenty feet straight, forty feet angled (further tests are needed). Of course, I did deviate quite a bit from the standard APH design.

1. I used only one pressure chamber, which has a 1 1/2 inch diameter and is about a foot or so high. A 3 inch diameter PC would have been way too expensive for my budget.
2. The "skeleton" of the APH (pump, tees, nozzle, etc) was made entirely from 1/2 inch pipe.
3. The APH is compatible with an onboard reservoir (bottle compatible) and a backpack, with the same fitting (that is, the fitting can switch between backpacks and bottles).
4. Almost all of the parts are threaded. Since I made my own check valves (and threaded 1/2 inch tees are hard to find), I basically had to attach the pump, PC, and reservoir with threads. I was worried that this would increase cost and create a loss of pressure, but it actually created interesting results. All of the parts are removable, so repairs are easy and cheap to make. I don't have to scrap the entire gun for a broken or leaking valve or tee. What's even better is that the gun can be customized endlessly. It's like the Stoner gun system. The system is centered around one frame, and different capabilities are provided by different parts. I can change the PC from a 1 1/2 inch diameter to a 4 inch one, switch pumps to different lengths, alternate between nozzles, or change reservoir. I can have a carbine, rifle, or heavy cannon all based on the same design, and not have to buy entirely new guns for the functions.

My only problem is that the gun is too tall and unwieldy, because of the fittings needed to support threads (and a foot-high PC doesn't help), but that's basically it. Pictures are unavailable now, since my dad locked the garage until this saturday and the gun is inside.
Why isn't there a water gun armored vehicle yet?

Arsenal: Modded Supercannon, Backpack-modified Piston Gun, WBL, Storm 300 Pistol, and a whole slew of defunct soakers in the garage.

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Specter
Posts: 474
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 4:57 pm

Re: Modular APH

Post by Specter » Mon Jun 29, 2009 6:59 pm

That is basically how i made my APH. mine is "fully customizable", originally built with 3 PCs 8" long 2" PVC, but I took one PC off. My entire gun is threaded parts. I had the 2" pvc from building my launcher but my APH cost me over $50. If i want to build another though, it won't cost anywhere near as much. The reason mine was so much was I probably bought 3 parts that I could have swapped out for 1. and i had to buy some vinyl tubing, 2 sets of O-rings because my first size didn't fit sch80 pipe.
I think if i used 3/4 or 1/2 inch parts instead of 1" (which i used because i had 1" threaded parts on my launcher which i interchange between soaker/launcher) my APH would have cost much less
Last edited by Specter on Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My "arsenal": Customizable APH, Storm 600 pistol (still haven't finished fixing this), launcher- Model:AB1.0(Decommissioned), AB1.5, soon AB 1.1(2"rebuild) maybe ill get something else in the future
My site Image My website/forum is back up and running, for the most part after it having been deleted in october

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Silence
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Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2006 9:01 pm

Re: Modular APH

Post by Silence » Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:54 pm

Wow, that's pretty resourceful. I'm waiting for the pictures, of course.

I'm interested in how you made the check valves. Did you use one of the designs floating around the site and forums? What did you use for the spring and for the seals?

For some extra cost, you could build a piston for the pressure chamber and angle it horizontally – as in Supercannon II or one of Ben's low pressure drop water guns. That might make things less bulky.

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Vickers303
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Modular APH

Post by Vickers303 » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:53 pm

I actually used two different designs for the check valves, Waterwolf's design and Ben's design (the rubber gasket seal sheet). Waterwolf's design worked perfectly, but was a bit expensive (bike-tire valves went for two dollars by themselves, yikes), but Ben's design had to be modified a bit. The rubber sheet was a little flimsy for my taste (and it couldn't stand up to pressure very well), so I attached a rubber washer to strengthen it. Then it worked as well as Waterwolf's design. I have no idea what I used for the spring, but I do recall it was a little weak.

I've always wondered about a piston PC. Would you precharge the PC on one side and then pump water into the other side of the piston? That would conserve space, but a bit pricey for my liking.

Oh yeah, and some more stats the I forgot to put on my last post. Shot time was for twenty seconds with about twenty-five pumps, but dropoff was pretty fast. I'm probably going to swap my 1 1/2 inch PC for a rubber tubing one, so that range remains constant.
Why isn't there a water gun armored vehicle yet?

Arsenal: Modded Supercannon, Backpack-modified Piston Gun, WBL, Storm 300 Pistol, and a whole slew of defunct soakers in the garage.

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