Bungee Bazooka

This is essentially a shoulder-mounted sling shot that shoots large homemade Nerf-type darts.

It can also be used to launch other things like tennis balls, golf balls, tomatoes, apples, and even raw eggs.

This is something I had been working on in the back of my mind for over a year, trying to figure out all the details. For some reason the challenge of making a homemade, self-contained, bungee-powered, multi-ammo launcher was incredibly intriguing to me. I had never seen anything like it, and thought it would make a great experimental project.

The finished product is by no means high-powered like a compressed air- or combustion-fueled cannon, but it still packs a decent punch for what it is, and has turned out to be extremely fun to play with.

Please note that most of the information and details for this project are contained in the photos in the form of notes (the little yellow boxes). If you plan to make one of these, be sure to study all the photos and their notes carefully.

Thanks for looking!

Step 1 Video!

Here's a video showing the Bungee Bazooka in action.

Comments

[AudioMaximus]

I've got to make one of these! Judging by the surgical tubing and size of the thing, I can imagine it kicks like a mule when fired and packs one heck of a punch.

[bsmith62]

Oooooohhhh... a balloon full of paint- paintball bazooka/mortar!

[ilpug]

I'm not the only one who thought paintball bazooka then?

[pspringer]

have you attempted to shoot a rolled up t-shirt like at sporting events? I am thinking may be cool at the school I teach at in the gym? not to far, not to hard and no FIRE involved.

[ilpug]

Shrink wrap the shirt fist.

[badideasrus]

have a question. if i made these to sell, would you be mad? or even care?

[seamster]

I wouldn't mind one bit. Go for it.

[Kryptonite]

You should change the license on this Instructable if it doesn't matter, it means people know what they can do with it!

[seamster]

Perhaps I will. (But in this case I'm not too worried about it.)

[itri45]

Could this thing shoot t-shirts

[seamster]

I suppose it could, but I would need to make a different sling for it. If I ever get around to trying that, I'll post some info on the results.

[Matrix-technician]

Very nice, most definately an interesting build. To fire t-shirts I suppose you could place them in mug type cups like they shoot at ball games into the crowd. Therefore you would not need any modification to the sling.

[badideasrus]

i love this idea. no need for a compressor for a safe laucher!

[badideasrus]

i have one thing to say.

snow balls.

[patron_zero]

This is so going to solve my dogs-barking-at-squirrels-in-trees problem !

[Kryptonite]

...Do you shoot the dog or the squirrel?

[patron_zero]

Some days that's a toss-up (lol) but we have some really persistent squirrels that have actually come down from the trees and 'knocked' on the storm door when the dogs were inside the house !

[nof-z]

how much did it cost?

[seamster]

I spend less than $20, but that's because I already had most of the stuff I needed for it just lying around. If you had to buy everything to make this, I think it might cost around $50 - $80.

[nof-z]

thank you

[armored bore]

Now, the million dollar question is "How can I fire conventional Nerf darts with this thing?"

Also, how do you go about priming it? Do you just sort of reach up from the breech and pull it through?

[ihaveguitarskills!]

cool. i like the body especially. BUT, it doesn't seem to have a very good range. i would use maybe some pulleys or tighter elastics. very cool though.

[seamster]

Thank you. It was an interesting challenge and I was generally happy with it, but you're right about the range. I would have to incorporate some sort of winch if I were to put on stronger bands, which I've been considering.

[The nerdling]

don't hit your rc plane, defiently want to make one of these

[donphipps]

First Bazooka for my grand kids, made some changes because of size of grandkids. Went to walmart and bought a poly bread board for trigger, it has a 3/4 inch hole for finger and more comfort. Instead of spring inside the arm rest, I usiked rubber bands to be changed to springs later, i feel it was smoother action.
I used 3/4 inch PVC for handle because kids hands are smaller, mounted by making a plug for tube, tapping plug and screwing it on barrel then pinning with small screw. The main tube for thera band is 1 inch with 2 tees, and mounted same way and handle. I did not have the size pulleys in article, but I did have the ones from my plane which are composite and very free, they are small, I am waiting for my thera band to try. The thera band is attached to back of barrel by a turnbuckle, here to this is an experiment I wanted to keep weight down. As for the hardware, i did not use the carrage bolts, I used pan head scews which have the square on head for locking in, bought these at Menards.
Please let me know what you think.

[seamster]

Looks pretty good! I'd recommend testing it out really well before handing it to the the kiddies though.

Those bands will be under a lot of stress, and they can really whip around and cause some damage if you're not careful. Also, make sure the keyrings you use for the bands are high-strength. I had a flimsy one basically "unfold" itself as I was retracting the ammo back into the barrel to set it on the firing pin. Out of no where, it gave way and sliced up one of my fingers and shot a dart pretty hard against my garage wall!

[donphipps]

To Seamster
I am building a bunge bozooka, looking at pictures i don' t seen to see a dim. for how far back from front or back where you started to put access holes.
Don

[seamster]

Hi! Glad you're making one. In step three, all the dimensions for the layout of the access holes are noted in the little yellow boxes in the main photo.

Good luck with this! It's a lot of work. Let me know how it goes, okay?

[Kevin12345]

I've made many paper rockets like this one, some longer than others. You have given me an idea for a bazooka with a thinner barrel and a single length of tubing attached on both sides that could be hooked to the paper clip. With just a small length of bungee from my backpack, this rocket travels over 5 houses down from mine.

[seamster]

Not bad!

But man . . . that looks like it would do some serious ocular damage!

[parrster]

Showed my ten year old... he wants one. I'll post photo when completed. Cool stuff Seamster!

[Juxe]

Cool project, and excellent work! :) I was thinking about coat thread (like for a winter coat) to sew the tennis ball to the hooks, that stuff is tough as nails. How well does the dental floss hold up after shooting?

[seamster]

Dental floss is extremely tough, and I haven't had any problems with it breaking or coming undone. I frequently use it in my projects when I need to lash something in place where glues and other types of fasteners won't work (like in this one, and in this one, for example).

Heavier-duty thread would definitely work well too, if that's what you've got. I tend to use dental floss because it is inexpensive and readily available, but also because I think the wax on it helps keep stitches in place more securely.

[nsnip]

Artificial sinew would work great for that application. It's waxed polyester threads that can be split into smaller bunches depending on what you need. It's available at craft stores in bulk and has multiple colour options.

This bazooka is awesome!

[seamster]

I'll have to try that out sometime. Thanks for the tip!

[Broberg]

Just FYI for the both of you... Artificial sinew is the same stuff as dental floss. The sinew is coated with more of a waxy type stuff and is thicker but its the sme stuff.

seamster, this this is amazing. Keep up the good work.

[a4great]

add some solenoids, and rotating frame, and you could make a gattling gun

[nerd12]

this is definitly a favorite of mine. a little more power, a vast array of ammo and maybe a paint job and this would look wicked on my lab wall. this rocks. also by using the pulley system you get double the energy than it you attached it to the front. the main pvc pipe is a bit weak though, isn't it. other than all the wood carving this is easy.

[seamster]

Thanks, glad you like it. As far as painting, I opted not to because I preferred the way it looked as is. If someone did want to paint this, I'd recommend lightly sanding all exposed PVC first, and using Krylon Fusion paint for plastics.

Thanks for all your comments!

[nerd12]

i voted for this in 2 contests and it deserved it. could i use luggage bungee cables than the tubing though? i don't live in the states so getting tools and parts is rather difficult. for the paint instead of sanding it , you could use black, silver and red spray paint cans. it would look awesome then. a base coat of black, silver on the wood, and red flames at the mouth would make some on run away just looking at it. you could also not paint the handles and instead varnish them with the PVC pipe being black.
also is there any way to do the sanding easier. i have sand paper and a drill with a few sanding bits but i can't do much with it.