3 Simple Ways to
Share What You Make

With Instructables you can share what you make with the world — and tap into an ever-growing community of creative experts.

PhotosPhotos

Share one or more photos of a project, recipe, or whatever you've made, quickly and easily.

Get Started

Learn more & Get Tips

Step by StepStep-By-Step

Share your step-by-step photos with text instructions of what you made so others can do it too!

Get Started

Learn more & Get Tips

VideoVideo

Share your how-to video. You'll need your embed code from a video site such as YouTube.

Get Started

Learn more & Get Tips

Print PDF

Favorite

Air Cannon

last photo ←

This is an air cannon that I built this summer to shoot mini tennis balls to my dogs. Of course I also shoot other things like potatoes, tomatoes, apples, etc. Hope that you enjoy the slide show.

36 comments

Jan 18, 2011. 3:39 PMDumchicken says:

here's mine you just duct tape it to an air compreser aim and fire

203

Feb 9, 2011. 7:57 AM

Computothought says:

An Ideo!

203

Mar 23, 2010. 12:44 PM

Computothought says:

My first burrito blaster that I am in the process of building.

Sep 13, 2008. 5:56 PMcowscankill says:

Interesting gun, though if you build another, give it a better design so it is easier to hold, carry, and then shoot. My firsdt air gun had no stock, my second had too big of a stock, and my last gunI built is sooo freaking huge, I put my arm through the stock so I can get some support. So just keep in ming, any gun design that is preferably compact, small, easy to wield, and shoots well is great. Nice gun for a first though ;-)

Feb 6, 2010. 1:22 PMstephenniall says:

Yeah ! thats good advice My best gun so far i took a bb gun pistol apart and used the handle from that as a Grip and mounted the piezo behind the trigger so i can use that !

Always a good idea to have a Sling and a stock ! A good idea for a stock is to cut a slot down a piece of pipe Heat it up and push the pipe together and tape it .

Works great

Sep 19, 2008. 2:50 PMrock climber (author) says:

Thanks for the tips. It is a bit hard to carry, but I had built smaller hand held cannon that was that had a large handle to hold onto. On this cannon I wanted to make the tank directly behind the valve for best air flow, so I made a tee shape which was one of the most compact designs possible.

Aug 22, 2009. 7:39 AMclemsonguy1125 says:

I tested it and what works great is 2 90 degree elbows next to the tee

Sep 19, 2008. 4:18 PMcowscankill says:

I just finished version 5 Air rifle, and is is mostly S shaped. the top of the s is extended into a barrel, the middle of the S has a trigger, and the bottom of the S has a 2 wide chamber. That is how mine is compast ;-)

Sep 24, 2008. 5:29 PMrock climber (author) says:

That sounds like an awesome cannon. You should post a slideshow of it.

Sep 25, 2008. 2:24 PMcowscankill says:

One problem: The tests I've done so far let it only shoot 20 ft at 30 psi :( My other gun goes like 100 ft at 30 psi... I might need to do some more tests.

Sep 26, 2008. 8:05 PMrock climber (author) says:

What are you shooting out of it, and what kind of valve are you using

Sep 27, 2008. 8:20 AMcowscankill says:

Um... a tight wad of aluminum foil works well, but not in my compact gun... They both have the same trigger, a modded sprinkler valve.

Aug 22, 2009. 7:40 AMclemsonguy1125 says:

Try a piston valve

Sep 29, 2008. 6:28 PMrock climber (author) says:

Hmm... It sounds like a great cannon that should shoot more than 20ft. at 30psi PS The Aluminum foil sounds like a great projectile to try.

Aug 23, 2009. 5:43 PMcowscankill says:

Oh haha... I know this is an old post, but I found out that only half of one of the end caps was glued on. I applied glue all the way around, and it works fine.

Aug 25, 2009. 6:50 PMrock climber (author) says:

Cool, now are you talking about your version 5 air rifle?

Aug 25, 2009. 6:51 PMcowscankill says:

I think so. The compact version.

Aug 27, 2009. 5:16 PMrock climber (author) says:

Sweet!

Aug 27, 2009. 5:44 PMcowscankill says:

Should I like try a video? or slideshow?

Aug 28, 2009. 5:38 PMrock climber (author) says:

Yeah, that would be great. I really want to see what it looks like.

Aug 28, 2009. 6:03 PMcowscankill says:

Sorry, Currently working on an 'ible :D Remind me after I post it :P

Aug 29, 2009. 6:31 AMrock climber (author) says:

Ohhh ok.

Aug 20, 2009. 2:36 PMclemsonguy1125 says:

What size is the barrel

Aug 21, 2009. 6:17 PMrock climber (author) says:

Check the coments below

Jul 24, 2009. 7:56 PMalejosbin says:

(removed by author or community request)

Jul 24, 2009. 8:08 PMrock climber (author) says:

Ill have to check it out it sounds cool.

Jul 17, 2009. 6:16 AMtots says:

How much did it cost to build and how long did it take.

Jul 20, 2009. 3:26 PMrock climber (author) says:

It cost me around 60 dollars i think. But i could be wrong i built it a long time ago and cant remember. I took me five minuets to put the parts together an 2 hours for the glue to dry. Although most PVC cements take longer.

Jul 2, 2009. 1:52 PMaahutner says:

what is the diameter of the barrel?

Jul 2, 2009. 4:14 PMrock climber (author) says:

For this cannon, i use 2in. barrels and 3/4 in. barrels

Feb 2, 2009. 12:51 PMFUNKEY_DUNKEY_MONKEY says:

I tried it and found you can use two 9 volts instead of three.

Jun 10, 2009. 10:53 AMcovey12 says:

i would pneumatically mod the sprinkler if i were you

Jun 11, 2009. 12:37 PMrock climber (author) says:

I have actually done that and it worked great, but i did not mod the sprinkler valve on this cannon because i liked that i could fire it 50 ft. away behind a shield for protection because i used this cannon for experemental shots that were very close to the target.

Feb 3, 2009. 3:52 PMrock climber (author) says:

Yeah, that is what I use at low pressures and it works great, but sometimes at higher pressure it doesnt open as fast. I just built a new more compact version with a metal tank and for that i am using a quick exhaust valve. I would recomend using a quick exhaust valve they are sooo much better and dont need batteries.

Jan 26, 2009. 11:22 PMFUNKEY_DUNKEY_MONKEY says:

how do you power the sprinkler valve ?

Jan 30, 2009. 7:13 PMrock climber (author) says:

Sorry aubout the late reply. Here is a diagram: