PVC Water Balloon Cannon

Hello!

Me (William Casap) and my partner (Danny Morales) found a PVC water balloon cannon project in Makezine Magazine!

We decided to take action to it for a school project and these are our instructions to get a fully capable cannon!

Gather your materials!

You will need:

-5 Ft length of a 40 Schedule 2" PVC Pipe.

-10" length of a 40 Schedule 2" PVC Pipe (x3)

-PVC tee fitting 2' Schedule 40

-PVC cap fittings, 2", Schedule 40 (x2) (make sure not to have ridges on the inside of the cap [like a water bottle] make sure there is nothing there)

-PVC ball check valve, 2"

-PVC Primer and Cement.

Automotive tire valve stem, not rubber!

You will need these tools!

-Hacksaw

-Water Balloons

-Bike Pump

-Automatic Drill

Procedures!

-Prime and Glue the three 10" PVC pipes and glue them to the tee fitting.

-Take the stem of the "tee" and in the middle of it, drill a small hole roughly the size of the tire valve stem. (DO NOT glue the valve in, make sure it fits snuggly, but do not glue it.

-Glue the ball and valve to the end of the stem of the "T"

-Glue the 5 foot PVC pipe to the other side of the ball and valve.

-Glue the cap fittings to the ends of the "T" (note: not the stem! You should not be able to anyways.)

Close the ball and check valve, fill it up with air, pour water into the stem (Make sure the ball and check valve is closed!) and than insert the water balloon after the small amount of water. Release the valve and watch it fly!

*Additionally, you can code a simple hummingbird servo to move when manually activated. Tape a small cardboard box to motor and a heavy object on the end of a table. Run the servo and have the box hit the heavy object off the end of the table. Aim the cannon upwards so when the objects falls, it should hit the valve on its way down, automatically releasing it, instead of manually pulling it. This may work sometimes, depending on how heavy the object is!

Have fun and enjoy!