Super Soaker Central

While not entirely a super soaker, I am looking to make a water gun. Basically, the goal here is I want to be able to attach a garden hose to a nozzle and boost the pressure by adding a air line from an air compressor. The main question is could I make it (would it be cheaper?) or should I buy it?


My question is, would it be better to make my own if it were cheaper or should I just buy one? If it would be better to make it, any ideas. I am looking to make something like this:

http://www.cardealerdepot.com/images/vi ... ctId=16654


or

(Image # 2) can I just hookup the intake to a hose? (if that is the better option)

http://media.uxcell.com/i/11a/ux_a11021 ... 7_ux_c.jpg


You hook it up to a garden hose and it adds air to boost the pressure. If anyone has difficulty understanding, please let me know and I will do my best to clarify. This product also does not have quick-connect. would it be possible to add?

If any questions, please don't hesitate to let me know. If you can, I would really apreciate the help.

h20bcessed

Hello and welcome to SSC!

The device you are interested in would not function very well as a water gun. These guns act as vaporizers, for mixing air and a secondary substance, often cleaning detergents, insecticide, paint, etc.

The reason why this design would not work well as a water gun is that the air that is being introduced into the water stream does not "add" to the pressure in any way. In fact, because the stream is constantly flowing through the nozzle and the only thing that is being controlled is the flow of the air, no pressure is being built up whatsoever. The stream that would result would be fragmented due to the input of air and would not travel very far before breaking up.

If you are looking into utilizing an air compressor in your homemade setup, I would recommend checking out Roland Tower's homemade here. http://www.sscentral.org/homemade/rolandtower.html

As far as I know, there's no general way to supplement pressure from another pressurized source. You have to increase pressure where it's coming from.

Perhaps one possibility is the commonly rejected CPS-in-air pressure system. A CPS bladder is encased in an airtight chamber. This is commonly rejected because one can simply use a thicker bladder for more pressure, and it is unnecessarily complicated. It could do what you're looking for though; the hose pressure fills up a bladder that's as powerful as possible but still weak enough for the hose to pressurize. Then, an external source compresses air in a large chamber which the bladder is encased in. The volume of this chamber must be at least as much as the volume of water in the bladder, but up to 4 times is good. This ensures more constant pressure. The huge problem with this setup is what to do with the air when water runs out. This is a problem for the SuperCannon II as well; the air is usually released which is a waste.

I would strongly recommend against such a setup, simply due to waste. Just build something that the hose can fill to decent pressure, and if you want more power, build something else.