Build a water mortar

How to build a super-soaker-like toy from PVC.

This water mortar is made from PVC using a variation on the "drill press lathe" technique from the book "Eccentric Cubicle." The finished product launches over a quart of water per shot!

Also see the followup instructable, with more design ideas...

Step 1: Parts

Here are the parts you need:

- 30" of 1 1/2" schedule 40 PVC
- 24" of 2" schedule 40 PVC
- End caps for 2" PVC
- Plumber's silicone lubricant
- 2 size 224 Buna-N O-rings
- 6 inches of 1"x3" oak
- 2 chunks of 2"x4" for pillow blocks
- 6" of 1/4"x20 threaded rod
- 4" long 1/4"x20 carriage bolt
- 1 1/2" long 1/4"x20 bolt
- 1/4"x20 nuts

Here are the tools you need:

- drill, twist bits, spade bits
- 1 3/4" hole saw (the kind that cuts out a plug)
- 2 bearings with shoulder bushings (from old inline skate)
- 2 clamps, mine were 8"
- gouge
- dial caliper

You can get O-rings from Superior Seals, they have a great selection of sizes and materials.

Comments

[l8nite]

While re-reading this ible (because some day I'll make one for the grandkids) I saw the garage door comment and had to laugh. My younger brother who is still old enough to know better, recently froze paint balls and set up cardboard boxes as "targets" in front of his garage. The results were way more than he expected when the paint ball went through the box, and with a resounding CRACK BANG (or was it BANG CRACK?) through the garage door panel and dented his wifes BRAND new car....

[U.S.M.C.Demolitions]

on the last picture, it the kid on the bike talking on a cell phone??

[Valster]

He's relaying the co-ordinates to the shooter!

[cornflaker]

Whats wrong with that? jediking14 says he wasn't but if he was perhaps his dad was away on a business trip so his mum was letting him talk to him on the phone or something along those lines, its not illegal for young kids to talk on mobile phones or anything...

[Bartboy]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2011/feb/04/phone-cycling-law

It's a bad habit none-the-less.

[jediking14]

No  he was putting his helmet on.

[m32825]

That's mortar fire control talking to forward observers!

[lsmith254]

LOL.  Hilarious!

[luneydude]

....tkkkk....charlie team we need mortar fire 3 clicks north of our location and 2 clicks west, over....tkkkk....tkkkk....copy that bravo company, ready to fire on enemy position in 3....2....1.... mortars have been launched, over....tkkkk....tkkkk....bullseye charlie team, good shooting, thanks alot, over....tkkkk....tkkkk....anytime bravo company, over....tkkkk....tkkkk....over....tkkkk....tkkkk

[Bravery]

Fire for Effect, I repeat Fire for Effect!!

[mhkabir]

+1

[john15nlt]

I was looking over your parts list and I was looking over how you built this and I have to say, impressive but I might have a way to save a bunch of time.

I used to build slurp guns to pull ghost crabs ouf of the sand at the beack to fish with. Its basiclly the same prinicple only in reverse. Instead of O rings, we built them with adjustable pressure plugs. Basicly its two metal washers with a rubber grommet in the middle. there is a hole in the middle with bolt through it with a wing nut attached. As you tighten the wing nut the rubber gets squeezed and it makes it bigger, which makes the seal tighter.

Not my plans but I googled it and here is a similar thing someone else built using one of these pressure plugs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEzhrBHYwlE

[EmmettO]

I finally got a chance to make a bunch of these. I made them with different sized nozzles (read: holes in the end of PVC cap) and then made one with three nozzles in different directions, just like those three way guns in the old side scroller video games.

Tons of fun! Thanks.

[jediking14]

Cool but i think I'll stick with "the tennis ball mortar"

[ThePlumber]

This is great... To make this better I would make it auto refill. Here's how... Add a one way valve to the side near the top and attach a hose that goes into a water bucket, or directly to the faucet. Then add a one way valve to the firing outlet. direction the valves so that when you push in the piston it fires and when you pull it out, it refills from the water source... UNLIMITED NON-STOP FIRING! This is just a mod of a simple pump mechanism, except this pumps water into other kids faces.

[n0ukf]

I've thought about doing this with 1/2" copper and 2L bottles, but the problem is finding suitable check valves for the repeating mod.

[devonfletch]

Boating supply shops have 1/2" non-return valves.

[m32825]

Good idea! How about hooking the hose up to a fitting near the top? Then you could let the water pressure do most of the filling. This is giving me more ideas that need to be tried... :)

[codongolev]

hooking up a hose would make it like a piston kind of... maybe if you put just enough friction on the inner pipe, then it would go down only when water was put in it. then, there was a weight sensor below the pipe and could tell when it was full of water and then told a motor to push the pipe?

[snerblemeister]

what is the range on this thing?

[Hades di Angelo]

whats with good stuff ruined with pvc.where can you get that anyway

[hopenui]

This is Awesome! Love it

[Lt. Duct Tape]

DUDE i made one of these in PEN form and size that shoots powdered sugar! it has gotten me into no trouble and has annoyed other guys at my school to no end! tis awesome!

[Jupitane]

ROFL, did you take a screenshot of a guys avatar? Preferably a guy named AlphaCamo on deviantart?

[Lt. Duct Tape]

Nope. For some reason, my GIF didn't work.

[MechEngineerMike]

i would very much like to hear more about this. It sounds like it could be really fun to annoy people with !

[codongolev]

i'd like to see a picture/instructable.

[johndoe5595]

make an instructable of the powdered sugar version. it seems cool.

[m32825]

I've been focused on scaling up, but this is a reminder to think of applications at the other end of the size spectrum. Good work! Got a picture?

[Karroo Oakey]

Very, very clever!

[eyebot117]

This is a very nice instructable. The thing that I like about water wars is that you don't have to buy pellets, you don't have to buy paintballs, you don't have to buy darts, you don't have to pick anything up, you don't even necessarily even need to buy a gun or super soaker (a full bucket of water works fine), and the ammunition you shoot someone with stays on them. Of course, the other types of war games are fun too, but water wars are so much easier to understand because all you have to do is get to soak the other person with water! You don't have to scrub any paint off, it's clean, it's safe, and its great for hot weather (winter no-no), and it's FUN! And now, water balloons (biodegradable) are used, and even-rockets are being used. Even mines, RC robots, vehicles, bases/forts, etc... are used in water wars. And it's so easy. Just add water (and pump) and shoot. (If anyone who is interested in this sort of stuff, then you might want to look at my group that is made specifically for water warriors like you-The Water Warrior Group.)

[justoskar1]

haha sweet i can shoot over the street

[Thelonelysandwitch]

you should use black powder and a 6 foot tube.

[LeumasYrrep]

Great Instructable! I have been looking in every store I could think of to buy Super Soakers for an upcoming family get-together at my uncles pond. SO I made some! Used 1" and 1/2" PVC about 2' long for better handling. Luckily I have a lathe so I didn't have to use the drill method, everyone on Instructables needs a nice hobby lathe(should be a competition). They came out so nice and easy to build that I made 10 total. A great project for some summer fun!

[m32825]

Thanks for the feedback, well done!

[casey321b]

how bout putting gasoline in it and a flame at the tip. its really stupid cuz it would blow up but if you only used a little it could be a nice flame mortar

[codongolev]

might work with alcohol, hairspray, etc.

[masterme120]

Why not just put the wooden disc in the other end, so that you could wouldn't waste any room or weight?

[barney_1]

If the plug was on the other end it would not push all of the water out. You would be left with an inner pipe still full.

[emanuel321]

it is good plies send me an email