SpudFiles

I'm making a homeade super soaker to use next summer with the air pressure coming from a bike pump and using one or two 2-liter bottles for holding water. Or maybe a backpack, haven't decided yet.

Plan:


Will this plan even work?

Most SS I've seen have a 2 or 3 mm bore, approx. Thats a good size stream.

The pressure is in front of the water is it not? Since water doesn't compress very well, the pressure will just sit at the front.

Also it'll only be one shot, i'm sure you could make something that is more accurate and has a longer squirt like a hose.

Don't use a barrel, instead use some sort of nozel after the ball valve that will funnel the water. Or you could use a short piece of like 1/2" pvc for it. I don't think this will work very well because the way the bottle is sitting it will only shoot water out if aimed down.

MrCrowley wrote:The pressure is in front of the water is it not? Since water doesn't compress very well, the pressure will just sit at the front.

Also it'll only be one shot, i'm sure you could make something that is more accurate and has a longer squirt like a hose.

Pressure is in front, I guess I could just JB weld the schrader into the bottle at the back.

And I based this off plans I saw by another guy on here do. And his worked. So I obviously messed up on my plans. So I guess I'll have to go find that thread.

I don't think you're getting the point. If you look at any squirt gun the water leaves the tank at the bottom, since the air pushes it down. In your design, as soon as the water level goes below the bottle neck the air will just fly out the barrel and leave half the water behind. A backpack design would work better, or anything where the bottles are neck down.

If you use a hose attached to the barrel/nozzle with a weight hooked on it inside the water tank, it will pick up all the water. Thats a trick rc flyers use when doing areobatics so the engines don't run out of fuel. With the weight the pick up tube will all ways be in the water. It will work.

I second the backpack design. Tape two bottles together, glue pressure hoses in from the top leading to a pressure tank of some sort. Open valve and pwn people with water.

Dude, I loaded up this cannon with a 5 foot chamber and barrel (1.5" chamber and 1.25" barrel) with water, and when I shot it, it was like a cannon! It totally knocked me over at only 40 psi, and it stung! I had another with about a 3/4" barrel with a smaller C:B ratio, and the effect was similar, just smaller. It may not be a super soaker, but it sure is one heck of a shot gun if you want one!

I updated with a new picture.

It would be a lot better if people would link to a reliable source rather than just sprouting stuff even I know is utter nonsense, and I'm hardly an expert.

Rather than asking here, you should really look at a site like Super Soaker Central, particularly their home-made water gun section and forums. Because those people are as dedicated to their water guns as we are to our launchers (if not more so), they'll have much better advice than anyone on this forum will be able to give.

...stay away from the plans for the modified water railgun though.

And people are right, you need a nozzle, not a barrel.
I've seen and used home-made water cannons. With an optimum nozzle, they'll shoot about 20 metres, twice as far as any store bought model.
When they use really large nozzles, they'll dump water really fast... but not as far, and it takes ages to pump them up again.

It looks a lot better, but I'm not sure if a ball valve is appropriate. You might want something with a slower rate of flow, because I'd think that a ball valve will just exhaust your water and pressure chamber too quickly. Will a blowgun work, or is that too little?

noob of noobs wrote:It looks a lot better, but I'm not sure if a ball valve is appropriate. You might want something with a slower rate of flow, because I'd think that a ball valve will just exhaust your water and pressure chamber too quickly. Will a blowgun work, or is that too little?

Blowgun would kinda work, but I would want one hand to hold the gun, another hand to pump it, and then I would need a third hand to trigger the blowgun. Unless I routed the blowgun and PVC (maybe air hose, dunno yet) down to one of the handles. Hmmm...

Ragnarok wrote:It would be a lot better if people would link to a reliable source rather than just sprouting stuff even I know is utter nonsense, and I'm hardly an expert.

Rather than asking here, you should really look at a site like Super Soaker Central, particularly their home-made water gun section and forums. Because those people are as dedicated to their water guns as we are to our launchers (if not more so), they'll have much better advice than anyone on this forum will be able to give.

...stay away from the plans for the modified water railgun though.

And people are right, you need a nozzle, not a barrel.
I've seen and used home-made water cannons. With an optimum nozzle, they'll shoot about 20 metres, twice as far as any store bought model.
When they use really large nozzles, they'll dump water really fast... but not as far, and it takes ages to pump them up again.

First off, this isn't utter nonsense. Yes, I forgot a link because I couldn't find it. But thank you for your link and info.

Noob of Noobs

Dude, I loaded up this cannon with a 5 foot chamber and barrel (1.5" chamber and 1.25" barrel) with water, and when I shot it, it was like a cannon! It totally knocked me over at only 40 psi, and it stung! I had another with about a 3/4" barrel with a smaller C:B ratio, and the effect was similar, just smaller. It may not be a super soaker, but it sure is one heck of a shot gun if you want one!

Yeah you need to be CAREFULL shooting water out of hand held guns. (with a 1.5" barrel 2" chamber 5' long gun) I snapped my piston valve off when i shot water out of it. The recoil blew it out of my hands and straight to the ground, snap. And if your looking for a suped up squirt gun, go no further than a water-based fire extinguisher. Schrader filled, easy to refill. I took one, mounted backback straps to it, and rigged a bicycle brake to pull the valve handle on my back. Works GREAT.