Coffee Creamer Cannon

Step 3: Make Fire

A few final words of caution before I start this part.  Always do this outside.  Dust fires are terribly hazardous indoors.  Always make sure you know what is around you, and that you have plenty of room above you.  You're about to shoot a fireball at least 10-20 feet into the air, so what is above the end of the device is important.  Your sparklers probably will come down to the ground still burning.  Be prepared to put them out, or at least know what you're going to set on fire when they come down.

Now, let's make a fireball.

You'll need something to keep the nozzle end of the device upright.  I used two cement blocks, which worked fine.

Using a bike pump or an air compressor with a tire-inflating valve, pressurize the air chamber.  You really don't have to go over 50 psi to make this work, and in our test-shots we found that over-pressurizing the chamber almost always resulted in a misfire.

Fill the 2 foot length of PVC about half way with coffee creamer.  The exact amount doesn't seem to be critical, so just eyeball it. 

Light 5-6 sparklers and drop them into the tube on top of the coffee creamer, and get everyone out of the immediate area.  If you're wondering why 5-6 sparklers, it seems to about the right amount to ensure that the cloud of coffee creamer ignites.  Too few, and you get a lot more misfires.

Open the ball valve, and shoot everything into the air.  Physics will handle the rest.  The video below gives a good idea of what happens when everything goes as planned.