Step-by-step

[Ben]

I'd just like to breath some life into the Tech forum -- apparently it's been inactive for a week.

I've been working on the step-by-step guide to Air Pressure Homemade water gun construction. While I already have most of it outlined, what would YOU like to see in it?

An incomplete overview is below. I recalled it from memory and I likely forgot a thing or two.

• Overview of the APH and the review in the current one
• Price and part list and tools required (with images of each part available upon clicking)
• Guide to PVC craftsmanship
• Water gun design explained
• Detailed list of how long to cut each piece of PVC
• Construction in 3 parts: Reservoir, Pump and valves, PCs and nozzles
• Gluing your water gun together
• Testing and my tested ranges
• Pictures, and lots of them

That sounds fairly complete, I may have missed something (in fact I'm sure I did). :P

[Ben]

It appears I will have to hold back on finishing this gun for a while. PVC Cement required use at temperatures over 40 degrees Fahrenheit -- it's been in the teens all week.

However, if I can given my time constraints, I will at least try to get up part of this guide as soon as possible. Glueing is the easy part -- if you follow what's written on the cans I doubt you'd have a problem. Of course, by the nature of this step-by-step guide, I'll be taking pictures of myself doing various finalizations. I must have taken over 100 images so far, and because of the mass of this guide I do suspect it will become it's own directory on our server. Something like http://www.sscentral.net/buildyourown/ or whatever comes to mind.

What is done so far: Price and part list and tools required (images are not added yet however).

Well anyway, I hope I get some actual replies this time I bring back this topic. Last time I expected it to at least get a few replies, but then again it's mostly a notification.

[Spinner]

Should be useful for those people who can't understand your current article and maybe even for those who do. I wonder what the "Guide to PVC craftsmanship" section will involve?

[Commander_Gaunt]

Yeah, I have always put off making homemades because I'm not familyr with PVC use and safety... hopefully now I will make some.

[Ben]

I wonder what the "Guide to PVC craftsmanship" section will involve?

This section was going to be on proper use of PVC glues and how to properly cut the PVC. Some will have problems with the entire glueing process -- this specific part is mostly to prevent leaking. It is more likely that people will have trouble cutting the 3" PVC not at an angle, though I also will include a small guide to cutting normal sized PVC.

Essentially, if someone could have a problem with a certain stage of their water gun development, I would try to make a section on it. This guide is designed to make building water guns available to even those who are not very technically inclined. I never (until SSCentral) thought I was very technically inclined and made homemades mostly out of my though "requirement" for them -- they at first were made only because there wasn't any thing better. Building them made me realize that they were NOT the impossible to build weapons that everyone had thought previously (read GNG and you'll see this opinion in some of his articles), in fact I know that the hardest part is getting over the thought that they are hard to build. Of course, my intention was to make a guide, but I never expected people to have trouble with it. I worked mostly off my own knowledge of how water guns work and the few pictures and descriptions of homemades available. No guide was needed (or should be if you were determined enough to get down to making a water gun).

Wow, I think I said a little more than what was requested.

[rinkydinkysplat]

YAY! I was confused buut this article will fix this!

[Hunt_and_Annoy]

I tought I had it but now I won't be able to screw anything up....