Mechanical Pencil Gun

Step 6 Final Notes and Modification Suggestions

The gun is pretty powerful (but it's potential is defined by the type of bands you use. High-tension bands make the gun much more powerful.), but it does have it's shortcomings. Multiple impacts from the eraser shaft to the barrel chip away at the barrel, eventually making it useless. It's also got a lot of kick, it's pretty uncomfortable to fire if you're using really strong bands (even though some of the bands I used could put a BB through a soda can).

The way I described is the bare-bones assembly. There are many modifications that could increase the longevity of the gun and make it more powerful. On my gun, I took the clip off of the barrel, wrapped the entire barrel in electrician's tape, and proceeded from there. That reduces chipping from the firing mechanism. I also wrapped the eraser notch assembly with tape (just in case, and it makes the gun look more uniform). There is also a part of the eraser shaft that is not as wide as the rest, I cut it off and filed it down, so that the hammer takes up the whole width of the barrel, and leaves some space in the muzzle for ammunition even when the hammer isn't pulled back. Finally, at the firing end in the clear shaft, the opening isn't as wide. You can shave the excess plastic off to make for a uniform barrel width.

Comments

[samaside]

Anyone know what size BBs work the best?

[knexdestroyer]

6mm .12 g bb's would work the best

[NE patsrock]

regular airsoft bebes

[oa-j]

just use the pen ink cartridges... works fine but curves alot.....use close range

[sszeprocks]

dude, how much fps is this thing

[cookie38]

6000000 mile per millisecound

[pokerstud001]

It makes it a lot easier to keep the rubber band on if you duct tape it to the barrel, then duct tape the other end to the eraser.

[Chuck P.]

Im not sure if this was mentioned, but about the barrel chipping? If you were to use the body of a pen, it is a bit more... rubbery, than the mechanical pencil, and i believe that should minimize chipping. Oh, and then you can add a stylish cap to the top and keep ammo under it so its always ready for use ;) Though one problem with this is that it can (sometimes) be hard to find the right kind of pen that a standard BB fits into and the wont require any cutting to disasemble. I would upload a picture, but i'm not sure where my camera is at the moment.

[scarecrow]

made one of these beasts and i shot ma mate in the forehead (by accident of course) from about 20 ft away!! soo good!! just wonderin if there was anyway to make a mag for it so it could be semi-automatic?

[padricjoe]

to make a mag you could drill a hole in the top of the clear plastic then put a drinking straw in the top of the hole then fill the straw with the ammo,when you fire a bullet another can drop through, that might work

[grant19930]

AWESOME! These things are perfect for those really boring days at school. I was wondering, if you used 2 pencil shafts and taped them together if that would work?

[Amadeos]

look at mine, I alreagdy have a Mag, And to make it Automatic, just pull back, realese, ect. It'll shoot as fast as you can pull-shoot!

[Undrallio]

I don't mean to be a nit pick, but just for clarification that wouldn't quite be automatic. It'd be semi-auto. But still, awesome!

[Amadeos]

True true, just was in a hurry and 4got to write Semi-auto! LOL and It's fun to shoot skrews and say,"Skrew you!!" an Nails! (Small ones!)

[killa696]

how do u make the mag? post a pic plz

[Amadeos]

I can't post a pic because my camera is broke. But its really easy to explain. Step 1: Get annothor tube (like the barrel), you can use a body of a pen.. Step 2: Make a hole in the barrel. make the hole a little smaller then the diameter of the mag. Have the hole about one inch from the tip where your ammo come out. Step #: Use hot glue (or what ever) to mount the mag to the hole. Be careful tho, don't have the tip of the mag in the barrel too far, or else it won't work.

[AlienLocust]

I still can't find anything to shoot out of it, someone please help me!

[ruiqim]

Use nails, trimmed blowgun darts, bb bullets, wadded pieces of paper, etc. They HURT!

[werty1174]

Hey i have one and me and my cuz use ink pen cartridges and it sends them right through cardboard boxes.

[siege engines ahoy]

well, since this gun is mainly for use, (it seems) in class or at work, (since you can conceal it easily) I am going with the classic class artillery, spitballs, though bits of lunch, such as bread balls or orange peel work to. Try clumps of tin foil.

[jake2k3]

I'm going out on a limb with this, but you know those chain necklaces that are strung together with small silver beads? The individual beads look small enough to slide into it. Those would hurt too :)

[KeviBear]

Yeah Right! you did not break a window i new how to make these before seeing this and i have messed around with it for a long time and it is not possible

[irish meatball]

this things a beast! i made one, shot it at my fried, missed, then broke a window (in school) and got suspended!!! it was so worth it ;)

[free2playhappy32]

i think a really cheap ammo is if u cut off the white/cotton pieces of a Q-TIP and then cut the "stick" in 4 quarters. it gives u 4 bullets right there.

[plastik2112]

Cool project. I fit two rubber bands to mine and instead of notching the eraser notched the eraser holder. I also bored it out with a drill, and I fire small birthday candles with it. They fly better than Q-Tips, and are less lethal than ink cartridges. I fired an ink cartridge outside and it went over my fence, about 50 feet. The candles go about 35 feet.

[orcboy25]

THX! im gonna use it on this really annoying kid as payback. TC Dieter im comming for you!!!

[Ncfdpaul]

heres my other pistol-like addition, a trigger-like thing. you star with anoter pencil which you glue or tape perpedicular to the gun toward the eraser end. next you want a cuver insturment like the thing that peeles oranges. around the the small curve slightly up, tighten a rubber band so that the botom springs out. remove the blade but make sure the plastic prongs on either side stay there. now it is almost ready. to start it, pull the eraser part out slightly and push the orange thing forward so that it snaps between the earser and the clear. noe to us it simply push the two added bottom parts together slightly and load the gun if you don't already have the auto loader, and then push them together more and the earser will go back then slip around the orange thingy the snap forward and launch. now i'm sorry i could couldn't include any pictures, it may not work for you as planned, but hope fully still work. i hope this also helps someone. I am not responisible if you stab yourself with the orange thingy

[Ncfdpaul]

a great pistol-like addition is an auto loading barrel. you can make this easily by taking this desing, making one, and at the barrel make a small round hole big enough for a bb. next take another clear barrel part and snap it in half ( or quarters, depending on how big you want the ammo feed) and tape or glue the part over the hole you made earlier so that you can see down into the barrel or drop a bb in. there you have your ammo feed. how you use it: put multiple bbs in the ammo feed, and pull back. depending on how you mad eit one or more bbs will slip inside the barrel, ready to be launched, that way you can lach multiple shots quickly. the eraser part will keep the bbs out until you pull back. the only problem with this is that i'ts a fair amount of more work for something that will degrade quickly. i hope this helps someone, i'm posing another comment for a trigger like mechanism.

[Gilly001]

Hi, I made this just 2day and it's PRIME! I added a handle which i got from a couple of other pens that broke in my attempts to get that cone bit off! I also made a pistol with a longer pencil which used the same sort of design as well.

[sumplesnoob]

airsoft BB's work the best as ammo.

[xegghead15]

yh it works ok

[siege engines ahoy]

if multiple firings cause the barrel to chip, I used a rubber band and put it in between the barrel and the eraser shaft, mine has lasted a while now. . .

[dvc_rox2006]

i used a gel pen nd a fat rubber band nd this cud draw blood

[pro_blowgunner]

i have some new interesting projects how to do a blow gun a bomb(not wery harmful, not illegal). the Mechanical Pencil Gun is very very good and i must say that work perfectly. if someone is interested about my projects contact me at [e-mail]. thank you

[theking]

this is AWESOME

[littlesamurai]

OMG! use the normal rubber band at the top of the gun then put a black hair band on the back connected by the clip. in increaces the power tenfold. im a'gonna try to make some pin ammo for this, im useing some eraser cut to size then put the pid through it and add some kind of stableization (also look up blowgun ammo)

[mememe]

i adapted it by adding a small piece of latex pipe big enough to fit a bb pellet in and some tape to stop the rubber from slipping it works really well

[franalpo]

try bbs