Make a Vacuum-cleaner Bazooka

In five minutes, you can build an air-powered bazooka. The bazooka launches plastic capsules about 100 feet. And with some tweaking, you might stretch that distance quite a bit.

Although everything you need to know is in the pictures, the video tells the whole story just as well…

If the video is not playing, have a look at it here...

All you need to know to build this low-pressure kid's gun is described in the texts, as well as in the comments with the pictures. Have fun building and shooting! But please be careful, don't point your self made bazooka to living creatures.

Step 1 Stuff you need

Stuff you need:

• A vacuum cleaner. Any model will do.
• Straight piece of PVC tube, at least 1 meter long. Longer is better (see the text on tweaking)!
• Inner diameter 35 mm (1.4").
• A PVC 3-way junction with an angle of 45°, that fits the straight PVC tube.
• Duct tape.
• A projectile: I used the plastic capsule that is inside "surprise-eggs" (see picture). Old school film containers work as well. Whatever you use, make sure that the projectile's diameter is just a little smaller than the PVC tubes'.
• A small piece of cardboard (business cards are perfect).

Comments

[bloomautomatic]

Here's how I did mine. I used 1-1/4" sch 40 PVC pipe for the launch tube, and 3/4" sch 40 PVC pipe with caps for the projectiles. They fit perfect with no modifications.

Home Depot didn't carry a 45 degree 1-1/4" Y or T joint, so I went with a regular 90 degree Tee. I used a 1" elbow to get some angle on the inlet. The 1" elbow fit tight enough inside the 1-1/4" T. I didn't use cement on any of the joints.

I tried 2 different lengths for the projectiles (about 6" and about 3"), with and without sand for weight. They seemed to fly farther without the sand. I also tried a shorter launch tube - 2 ft instead of 3 feet. The longer tube launched them farther as well. I didn't measure, but it was probably in the 50-60' range, depending on the angle.

The ID of the 1" elbow was a good fit for my vacuum cleaner's hose, so I didn't need any tape there.

Thanks for posting a great instructable! Hope you win the contest!

Vince

[ynze]

Thanks! And thanks for your pictures, too! The pvc projectiles look impressive. Adding the sand makes them just too heavy for your vacuum cleaners' power, I guess. The Kinder egg capsules weigh almost nothing, compared to your projectiles...

[Shadetree Engineer]

A good example of matching the energy level of your vacuum system to the weight of a projectile. If you wanted to find the ideal length of tubing to use for a projectile, you could try firing the tubes into a cardboard box that has a pillow inside. Then measure how far the box slides on each shot. I would add some packaging tape to the bottom of the box, because the amount of force to get the box to start moving needs to be both low and consistent over many shots.

[NightHawkInLight]

This is really awesome guys, way to go on winning the challenge!

[ynze]

Thanks!!! We're having a ball here :D

[neologik]

excelent!!! very good .. does this work with water baloons?

hehe

greets

[thejevans]

All I see is an unfinished Airsoft RPG Launcher. fill the egg with BBs and an m120. Stick the fuse out of the bottom of the egg. Light the fuse, and shoot the egg. Lots of experimenting with timing would be necessary, but I think the end result would be worth it.

[neil a downie]

The Vacuum Bazooka is indeed in my Vacuum Bazooka book- and the rapid fire multiple projectile version is in my soon to be published book-Ultimate Saturday Science. I have 2 other books - Ink Sandwiches and Exploding Disk Cannons. You can see other projects on you tube (try nddownie) and on the Eli Whitney Museum website.

Have fun! Neil A Downie

[Nachimir]

So lovely, and simple. Thanks :)

[PS118]

For whatever reason I can't reply to bloomautomatic's post, but...

I couldn't find the PVC Y fitting at Lowes either. BUT... they do have them in the black sewer pipe section!

[dylankunaikennedy]

could i make it with a 90 degree elbow piece?

[ynze]

Yes. The chance that your projectile will get stuck is slightly bigger, but if you choose projectiles that are a bit longer than the plastic eggs I use, it won't be a problem.

[dylankunaikennedy]

instead of a 3 way connector?

[ynze]

Have a look at Bloomautomatic's comment (with pics). Is that what you mean with a 90 degree elbow piece? That version works!

[avatar_i]

That is completely incredible!

After reading this instructable, I made mine with leftover parts lying around the shop using: a BIG shop vac, a 4.5 foot long metal pipe, and Gorilla Tape.
I sent a 35mm film canister filled with flower about 140 feet on the first try.
The only [other?] thing I did differently was to put a small hinge on a very thin strip of brass to act as the "stopper" [?] on the muzzle end, so I did not need to have a pile of business cards, or scamper to find the last one that wsa shot off the end.
Man, whas that ever fun, but my Dogs hate me now!!!

[avatar_i]

I wonder what would happen if I used an old belt driven compressor with a 4" piston, weighing about 85 pounds...

MWWWAAAAHHAHAHAHAHA!

The Trouble I could get into is ENDLESS!!

[dawsonj]

AWESOME! AWESOME! WAEOSEM! wish I thought of this!

[evilmadcow]

suuuweeeett.

[steveastrouk]

From Bill Gurstelle's book "Backyard Ballistics" ! An excellent instructable. We did it with water filled 35mm film cans- a really nice fit in standard pipe.

[evilmadcow]

good idea. I live in the U.S. so getting an egg like that would cost a fortune.

[ynze]

I wasn't aware it was in Backyard Ballistics. I first made it in 2006, and was told about it by a colleague science teacher...

[steveastrouk]

Sorry, my bad, wrong book, its http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bazookas-Electric-Rainbow-Saturday-Projects/dp/0691009864

[ynze]

What about this book:
"Vacuum Bazookas, Electric Rainbow Jelly and 27 other saturday science projects", by Neil A. Downie?

I think the vacuum cleaner bazooka just MIGHT be in there, too :D

ISBN 0-691 00986-4

Y.

[steveastrouk]

That's the one in my link above your comment. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bazookas-Electric-Rainbow-Saturday-Projects/dp/0691009864
 Bold is ISBN number

Steve

[ynze]

Ah, I see :) The book was on my shelf for AGES. I bought it because the physics behind the projects are very well written out...

[danielthomas72]

Hey there, I made a version of this with the kids on the weekend!! Brilliant!! Thanks for posting, it was so simple that they were able to assist with most of the construction.... absolutely ingenious!! Cheeeers!

[ynze]

Thanks :D

[astrong0]

what if you used a shop vac....

[steveastrouk]

Range over 200 feet.

[The nerdling]

deadly

[Shadetree Engineer]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Automatic-Vacuum-Powered-Paint-Marker/

So I think I can say that this is very cool! And if you add a hinge to the business card with a travel stop so it can't open any further than 90 degrees, the suction will pull it closed and you could have a rapid second shot.

I used 3/4 inch PVC pipe, with paintballs.

[ynze]

Yup, I like your automatic weapon a lot! I had a look at it before I entered my bazooka. The physics of our projects are the same, the construction is different.

Adding a travel stop to the card is a smart idea. If that works, a cartridge containing several projectiles can be added, too...

[Shadetree Engineer]

'weapon' is an overstatement, it had trouble breaking all the paint. But using a continuous flow of air to move projectiles looks promising. My goal is merely to get 300 FPS, all other serious research in a device like this was to get over 1000. 300 is the legal limit for playing fields.

A travel stop mod would be easy to add to your existing bazooka. A hinge can be a piece of duct tape. The stop itself, a piece of coat hanger wire bent into a U and taped to the side of the muzzle, right over the tape hinge.

But that would be the easy way. I would like to see a 6-inch section of 2 x 2 square tube hot-glued across the muzzle. Entry & exit holes right through the center and the hinge taped into place on the inside so that the tape is neatly out of sight and stuck firmly on a large flat area. This would have a much nicer appearance, like a Barret .50 rifle.

[freakyqwerty]

Wow that looks awsome! How long does it take for Hoover to create a vacume in the pipe?

[sitzikbs]

Great job guys! it looks awsome!
can it launch a small potato too?

[ynze]

I never tried...

[payman]

Thanks, this is very interesting...!

[mrmath]

Kinder Eggs are illegal in the US :( I guess you'd have to substitute small water balloons :)

[klindner]

I read the wiki link. . . and I still don't believe it, I juuust walked out of a VONS 10 minutes ago which carried them. There are also identical Korean and Japanese knock offs at Asian specialty stores all over.

THX for the awesome, and awesome-ly simple, 'ible!

[bradhowes]

What?! We bought them all the time in Cambridge, MA. Are you serious?