Ben's next homemade water gun

[SSCBen]

This morning after looking through the boxes in my workshop, I've decided to make the most powerful water gun we've seen yet. Of course, I do plan on not making it perfect by anyone's standards, just designed purely for performance and made from very common and cheap parts. There would be no fun if there was no room for improvement too! That and my wallet sure isn't big enough to support the best of today's technology.

I went out to Lowes and bought everything except for a few parts that I had and the 4 inch pressure-rated pipe. I will buy the 4 inch pipe off McMaster-Carr simply because the only place to get pressure-rated pipe around where I live doesn't carry it all the time. I will be buying another part, but it is not required for construction. A fire hose nozzle would be a great thing to have however, given that it has a conical design which is better for the stream.

My plan at the moment is to build the parts that I can before I get the pressure-rated pipe. Once the pressure-rated comes in, all I'd have to do then is cement the pipe on, which shouldn't take long at all.

Also, for those who would consider using this homemade water gun in a battle, this water gun is designed strictly for performance, not battle-usability! This homemade water gun wouldn't be a bad choice for a battle on a smaller nozzle, but it would be hard to carry without a strap and only have one shot per tank with a long time between shots (due to the air compressor that must be used to pressurize it). This water gun is not meant to be fired towards people at full power.

I've planned making a water gun like this for over a year. It's time that I actually got to making this water gun, probably the first of many with a strictly performance-oriented water gun design. I think it would be a neat bragging point to say "Super Soaker Central: Home of the world's most powerful water gun". :;):

[LIGHT ANNIHILATOR]

"Super Soaker Central: Home of the world's most powerful water gun".

Even if you do that, someone will still probably make or try to make a homemade more powerful than your's. Good luck though, if it was made strickly for performance i would make it a statonary base defense gun, at 1/2 to 3/4 power, but that's just me.

[SSCBen]

Of course I realize that someone else will try to beat me! And they should try! I welcome any competition.

I would not make this a stationary gun for several reasons:

1) Making a stand or adapting this water gun to use a tripod would require more money than I am willing to use on this project.
2) Mobility is extremely important - let's keep this gun mobile.
3) Having a gun with extended range would be worthless unless you can go somewhere with the extended range.

The gun will have a strap and holding it with the strap will be quite easy as well, so why would I bother making it stationary? Sounds like extra work with no advantage to me.

[SSCBen]

Adding these posts in a log format might help generate some interest in this water gun! To me, this is one of the most important homemade water guns made in a long time, at least to me.

10/10/05

Yesterday I finished up the two most important parts of this design: the special nozzle that must be attached to pressurize and a specially modified ball valve, modified to make use easier. As you can see in the image below, I am getting much more leverage than I was before:



This actually makes this large valve fairly easy to open and close and I plan to modify some of my other valves similarly.

While at the store, I considered buying a brass ball valve simply because it would be easier to turn. Now this appears to be an excellent deal because it cost far less than half the price total and the valve is easier to turn than the brass valve to begin with.

Also, the image is fairly distorted for one reason or another. While the PVC pipe I used is fairly long, it's not over a foot as it appears to be in the picture. I almost wish it was because the fire hose nozzle I ordered was 10 inches long and my nozzle chamber is about 8 inches long. The handle would seem short it seems...

Today I ordered two conical nozzles (one 3/4" and one 1 1/2"). I also ordered my 4 inch pressure-rated pipe and 1 gallon of glycerin, the latter being very expensive. I don't plan on buying another gallon any time soon, given that one gallon is good for at least 20 gallons of water. I now can afford to have substantially improved range in every battle I go to. Of course, I will be asking everyone before use knowing that there's always those who would believe this stuff is either unfair or unsafe. To me, the concerns about it being unsafe are mostly worthless given that this glycerin is diluted when I get it, I dilute it further, and glycerin is used in many foods (just check the ingredients if you don't believe me).

The plan at the moment is to make a modest guide with videos of the water gun in action and maybe some of the finalization of the construction. This guide will not be step-by-step simply because I don't want incompetent people using a water cannon of such potential. I also plan on using every bit of the 5 feet of pressure-rated 4 inch pipe I bought, which will make this water gun a serious cannon in every respect.

10/11/05

The 4 inch pipe and glycerine came in today. I also ordered a new nozzle for my APH's (reducing/tapered/conical design). The nozzle I ordered for this water gun was sent the same day, but apparently was at another warehouse. I'd expect that to come in later this week. McMaster is located in New Jersey, which explains the fast shipping, but I do not know where the other warehouse is located.

The glycerin I ordered suggested checking out the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet). This dispells all thoughts that this is unsafe to me. When diluted as much as I will dilute it, this should essentially be as safe as regular water. I intend on doing a study into how much glycerin makes the largest difference. My guess is that a graph of glycerin concentration vs. range will follow a graph similar to 1/x, and I can find the point where your glycerin will increase your range the most substantially with the least concentration using simple Calculus.

The end of this brass nozzle I received doesn't seem to be very clean. It appears that I will have to drill out a larger size to use this nozzle at it's peak. I'll take a picture of this for the updated Water nozzle and stream physics article to warn people to watch out for this.

I have to study for some tests tonight, so I will not be finishing this water gun until tommorow. If I finish studying, I will modify one part to allow pipe to pass straight through it and then call it a day.

10/13/05

I finished constructing the one modified PVC piece that I will need to make this cannon. However, during the modification I found out that the construction would be easier and better if I bought another coupler. Today I may be able to get the coupler, but I do not know for sure if I will be able to.

I also cut the 4 inch pipe to 2 1/2 feet long. The cut makes this gun far easier to carry empty and I can use the other 2 1/2 feet I have to make another gun.

For fun, I make a mock assemblage of the gun and walked around with it. Needless to say, the gun appeared frightening at best. My brother was very sick and could not have taken a picture of me walking around, so I took some pictures of the gun itself lying on the ground. The total length is about 5 feet. The red nozzle is a cheap plastic fire hose nozzle I ordered from McMaster-Carr.

http://www.sscentral.org/images/dscn0269.jpg
http://www.sscentral.org/images/dscn0271.jpg

The images are slightly blurry due to last night's lack of light. If I used a flash, the image would appear dark because the flash did not have a very good range, so I had to take the picture without a flash at about 1/4 of a second.

[LIGHT ANNIHILATOR]

Thats one BIG homemade, it doesn't look intimidating in the pictures, but on the battlefield that thing is scarier than a MXL.

Mobility is extremely important - let's keep this gun mobile.

I don't nean to sound like a n00b but if the gun is five feet long how could you possibly carry it. Even with the strap that thing will probably be heavier than a monster XL.

[DX]

Weight and length do not necessarily restrict mobility. Look it the current Douchentor WBL design-more than 5 ft long, yet can be brought almost anywhere. It really depends on personal strength and/or endurance, or just plain age. And Ben/Doom specifically stated that this homemade was purely for preformance. You could probably make a variant of it that is shorter, lighter, and therefore more battle-oriented. Up to the individual, I guess.

[SSCBen]

The pictures give you a very poor view of the water gun. Seeing one carrying this water gun is simply frightening because the gun is only maybe a foot shorter than the guy who's carrying it.

Duxburian is also completely correct about carrying this. You would think that carrying would be awkward, but it actually comes quite naturally! I'd have to wait until I fill the gun up, but as it seems right now, carrying is no problem.

I've began cementing some parts. It rained a bit on them, but luckily they were under my deck and the cement set in by then. Nothing bad appears to have happened and I am very thankful. To finish this, I will need a coupler and maybe some other parts, but I will let everyone know once the water gun is complete.

[SSCBen]

Some updated from SoakerMedia:

11/14/05

Pressurization is done through a special nozzle. I've added some extra pressure to my APH's before with a small piece like this. My WBL is pressurized using a similar method, though it's not a nozzle (but can be removed similarly).

I choose this method of pressurization for a simple reason: there is less to carry on the field and there also is less to break on the field. The pressurization part is fairly large because I used a check valve and a special adaptor to pressurize this like an air-powered tool. This gets a better seal than traditional shrader valves and was actually cheaper.

This design is made to be upgradable and completely repairable too. I used a threaded ball valve to allow for it to be replaced if it breaks. The hole where pressurization is done also allows for checking of the internals. If one pipe fitting breaks, I can saw off right before and replace the affected parts. This design is made to be easy and cheap to repair because at high pressures parts are far more likely to be broken.

11/15/05

I was wondering when someone would notice that the water doesn't float on top. The modified PVC fitting I was talking about was a reducer modified to have the pipe pass straight through it. This will allow me to feed from the water at the bottom. I first considered a piston, but I will try that method in a later design. This is easier and less expensive at the moment.

This should not affect stream lamination because it travels in a straight path to the nozzle. The water should drop down and then once it is low enough, almost be sucked up the intake pipe. In theory one may think this design will not be as effective as a design with a piston, but the long length of pipe will provide for an extreme amount of flow straightening. My nozzle also is of a conical design, a first for a homemade water gun, which will reduce turbulance at the nozzle.

Right now I am considering using a piston in my next one of this design. I'll make them nearly identical except for the piston and we'll see how they perform side-by-side.

--------------------

At the moment I still need to get the single coupler needed to finish this cannon. Once complete I do intend on making some videos and a guide to building a similar cannon. This all should occur in the next week.

[m15399]

Great! Will you be uploading the guide at that time, or will you wait until you finish the next SSCentral update?

[LIGHT ANNIHILATOR]

I hope it's next week since the ssc update will take a LONG TIME, maybe as long as next summer.

[SSCBen]

Yesterday and today I conducted some tests of the "completed" cannon. From these tests, it is obvious that I am not complete yet. Power is good, in fact, I would say without any doubt that this is the most powerful water gun I have shot yet. However, reliability is not very good. The back-loading system I created leaks terrible - this is the cause of most of the problems. It also is hard, if not impossible, to remove the water from the chamber after a shot because getting the large 4 inch threaded cap off is simply impossible at this point. Pouring the water out can not be done because of the pipe going down the center.

I'm considering upgrading this system to correct these problems. At the suggestion of my brother, I plan on adding the filling parts in the center as opposed to the end. The end parts will be removed and capped off.

After this, I intend on making the simple air-pressure piston (APP as opposed to hand-powered pistons?) version of this cannon. This will not include the hydraulic leverage feature I spoke of at SM. This will only be a simple cannon, nearly in the style of MrPukeOnYourHead's water guns, except that it is far larger and far more powerful.

From SoakerMedia:

I didn't measure distance, but my brother did tell me how far it appeared to have shot. I used the big read 1/2" nozzle that I had bought, and due to the nozzle size, a mist was created upon the shot, making it hard to see where I shot. The second shot we did, which I believe was at 60 PSI approximately, shot completely down our driveway (according to my brother who did some measurements, the driveway is over 50 feet long). We prepared for one 100 PSI shot, but the air compressor attachment was attached far too hard to the nozzle and we couldn't get it off. We had a similar problem with an 80 PSI shot before that, but we were able to get the attachment off before too much pressure was lost due to leaking.

I would suggest to those interested in making a powerful water cannon to wait for the results of my second cannon. The air-pressure piston brother of this cannon should culminate new experiences gained from the creation of this most recent cannon and theoretically superior design.

This is very much how I expected building homemade water guns was when I started. I thought that I would have to make one, improve, and then make another one, maybe several times until I was satisfied. This water gun can be used and I won't be getting rid of it, but it should be pale in comparison to it's piston brother.

Also in the piston version I plan on making the pressurization device built in to the gun. I thought that having a nozzle-based pressurization device would be useful, but it turned out to be a pain on a larger cannon such as this. Removal is hard due to the large size of pipe used.



Edited By Doom on 1129671673

[m15399]

Wow, things just keep getting better and better
Any idea when the second one will be completed?

[SSCBen]

I'm thinking the next homemade water gun from me could come within a few weeks. I need to buy some parts, do some design work, and write some articles for my redesign.

Of course, you'll hear from me first on every single forum, that way you don't miss a thing no matter which one you keep up with.

[DX]

Any news on your next homemade? Tech discussion in general has been on the decline, yet this is a good time of year to start up more tech-related talk.

[SSCBen]

I said at Super Soaker Central that I was running out of money. In the meantime, I have been organizing parts and saving money. Nothing really new with this. I'll release some neat pictures later today.

[m15399]

With a ball valve "regulator", will you use it as a regulator (constantly allowing a little pressure), or will you open it then close it after each shot?

[SSCBen]

I am confused as to what you are referring to. From what I know, the more expensive regulators don't use a ball valve. I intend on using a ball valve as a "bypass" for full force however. That will be next to the regulator. Is that what you meant? That ball valve will either be completely open or completely closed.

[m15399]

Oh, I thought you were going to use a ball valve without a regulator. I understand now.