iSoaker.net: The iSoaker Network

Here's something I was working on today as a break from website work:



The gun's going to be called THR (Tactical High Range water gun). This is my response to some shortcomings people have seen in my homemade water guns. Specifically, it's a response to the lack of an included reservoir. While it's obviously far from done, this is just what I've completed today. You can get the basic gist of the design from the image above, but it has nothing showing the pump system, the handle, the strap, the nozzle selector, etc. The innovation here is the use of a plexiglass structure, which allows for a lot of structural stability at a light weight. Okay, maybe it's not an innovation because I got the idea from Lonnie Johnson's prototype Super Soaker. The gun is about 6 inches thick at the plexiglass and 4.25 inches thick at the pipes. I'm aiming for about 36 inches in total length. The gun should be done in a few days.

I'm lucky to have not very cold weather right now, I guess.

I'm really liking how it's turned out so far. For an hour or two of work, it's great. Most of the time was spent using a router to cut the plexiglass and sanding it smooth afterward. After that I just had to cut the pipe and plug some PVC together to get what you see. I've walked around with it and it seems easy to hold and light so far. Using PVC drain pipe was a good idea. This water gun is strong, but very light.

For those interested, this gun will not be on SSC immediately after we update. I'd like to save this for a later update. It's non-essential to the major update in my mind.



Edited By Ben_ on 1199228539

Today I bought some pieces I was missing for THR. I still forgot a wooden dowel for the pump, but I might have one at home.

This project has gone very smoothly despite the improvisation I've been doing the entire time. I got the idea to use plexiglass to mount everything in a few months ago, and then it was "just an idea." Using a router to cut the plexiglass was my father's idea and it worked great. Now I've improvised a great way to attach the pump firmly to the plexiglass.

Now I can see some interesting new designs for homemade water guns. Designs can be categorized into PVC structure, other structure, and case structure. Most previous homemade water gun used pieces of PVC themselves as the structure, which can be limiting. Here I am using a plexiglass structure to add a lot of flexibility in terms of shape and where pieces can be mounted. And in the past my brother has made an actual case for one of his homemade water guns that he mounted everything in, which gave more flexibility than the plexiglass even. I can see now that problems putting water reservoirs in had more to do with how the pieces were put together than anything else.

Seems a structure is much more beneficial than I originally thought. Go figure.

Edit: Below is some progress I posted at SSC. This water gun is unlike anything else ever constructed.

Today I bought a few more parts I needed and did some work on the pump. I needed a way to attach the pump firmly to the plexiglass, and I improvised one based upon what was available in the store. It works great! I'm surprised with my luck improvising here.



Above is an overview of the water gun. You can see the pump is attached with something, but you'll need a closer look to see what.



Here's a closeup on the front clamp. I used pipe straps, an aluminum bar, nuts, and bolts to make something that could clamp onto the pump. It's a very solid clamp. The pump can't move forward or backward in the clamps. It can, however, move slowly from side to side. I'll add some rubber from bike tubes to prevent that. Overall, I'm more than happy with this.

The cool thing about using these clamps is that I can remove the pump if I need to. A goal of mine is to make this design as easily repairable as possible. If the pump breaks, no problem. That can be replaced without hassle.

These clamps are really cool. You could construct an air pressure water gun similar to this with 4 clamps instead of two. Two of the clamps would replace the top 4 inch pipe which is a pressure chamber here. Of course, you also could use a piston air chamber with a piece of 4 inch PVC pipe (not drain pipe) and have another similar design. The mounting bracket design is very flexible.



Here's another angle of the clamp on the plexiglass bracket.

I forgot to buy a washer for the pump and a dowel rod for the pump, but other than that, I have everything I need to complete the water gun.

While building this water gun I realized something about most homemade water gun designs. DX previously categorized water gun designs as 2D and then said 3D had benefits over 2D, which I would say isn't true simply because there are good 2D designs as well as 3D designs. My categories make a little more sense.

Most homemades are made with a pipe structure, i.e., there is no structure aside from the pipes. My THR water gun is made with a mounting bracket of some sort that allows parts to be mounted on something else. And other homemades use a structure more like manufactured water guns, i.e., the mounting parts inside of something. The latter only has one example so far, Drenchenator's water gun from a while back.

None of the options are necessarily better than the others. It just depends on what you're doing, how you want to do it, and how much time you are willing to put in. Pipe structures are the easiest and most obvious design types, but thye offer the least flexibility in positioning. Some of that can be solved by doing duct taping parts onto each other, but that's messy. Mounting brackets are a little harder to do and more expensive, but they give you a lot more flexibility in positioning of parts. Having an internal structure is similar to a mounting bracket, that is, it takes more time and will cost more, but gives you more flexibility in the position of parts.

Edit: Could a moderator break these posts off into another thread? Thanks.



Edited By Ben_ on 1199419128

Needed to update, so I apologize for double posting.
The project has been halted because McMaster-Carr don't want to ship to Canada (something about the US border people getting stricter). I have all the other pieces, including the two smallest nozzles expanded to ~1x and ~3x.
Off Topic: Is there anyone willing to send me a foot of 3/8" ID 3/16" wall LRT? I'll pay for everything.
Please PM me if you're willing.
Thanks in advance.