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Pneumatic Marble Gun

last photo ←

A gun with 15mm barrel powered by compressed air and a modified sprinkler valve.

Total Cost of progect: $85AUD aprox.

Hell powerfull but a little hard to aim, anyone got any ideas on sights?

28 comments

Jul 11, 2010. 7:33 PMsamdaman says:

do you think that if you made it with a 20mm barrell it would be suitable for paintballs?

Jul 12, 2010. 5:16 PMbrum (author) says:

The barrrell is 15mm and the keeps marbles fairly loosly they just roll down the barrell. I think it is fine for paintballs aswell but dont have any to try. There will be a standard paintball size or barrell size. Browze the net, paintballs arn't the cheapest ammo arround though.

May 12, 2012. 10:43 AMde0509 says:

Hehe, try coating your marbles with cellophane. cellophane tapes arent really made to cover curved surfaces, but that what makes small pieces of cellophane all over the marble. they are kinda springy, so it seals pressure, prevent ammo from rolling out, but is not too tight. its cheap and is a quick fix.

Now you can shoot downwards. however, its not stable enough to be stored for weeks. after a while, the cellophane open up slowly, but its not much of a problem. still cant find a viable replacement thats as cheap and easy but stable. When you can find, please share the idea. id appreciate good ideas

Dec 26, 2011. 10:47 PMJACKBASSHAM says:

(removed by author or community request)

May 12, 2012. 10:34 AMde0509 says:

for one, these guns arent meant to be used for fun shooting other people. Actually its still possible, but use soft bullets. Also, single shot and you need to pump it back. unless if theres a backpack reservoir to refill the gun. also, reloading these types of guns are messy, unless if youre using symettrical projectiles. i.e. batteries, marbles. im currently finding a way to cycle nail darts with a slide action. still not sure if can be done. final sketch is done, in google sketchup, but not really sure to pursue. also, im having A levels this month

May 12, 2012. 10:24 AMde0509 says:

Sights for 15mm pipe. i used them for my gun. you can see the sample on my first gun

http://www.instructables.com/id/Repeating-airgun-ball-valve-triggering/step3/additional-modifications/

its a PET bottle neck cut from the bottle. Then I cut a notch on a side. most normal bottles fit nicely around 15mm pipes.

not sure what you would want for the rear sights. note: i prefer sights instead of scopes for less precise-homemade guns. if you get actual scopes the main challenge is to calibrate it and to keep it undisturbed

i think i have an idea. after the sprinkler valve, theres a tee right?(above the trigger handle) what if you can attach two vertical rods on both left and right of the tee. maybe pens? then you can tie horizontal strings above the tee by tying at the 2 rods. attach a few strings for different range. i.e. the lower string aligned with front sights makes the gun almost horizontal. calibrate for 10meters. another higher string aligned with the front sight makes the gun to aim slightly above horizontal. use this for maybe 20meter/30?

then after some calibrations, you can surprise people with the badass accuracy of a sprinkler valve and the variable sights. just make sure you set a standard pressure. more pressure, faster bullet, flatter trajectory. different pressure, different trajectory. good luck bro.

Feb 3, 2012. 2:00 AM

dog digger says:

You could use half a set of binoculars from the cheap shop

Jan 26, 2012. 12:32 AMairgunmakr18 says:

can you please put a list of materials that are needed for this masterpiece

Dec 3, 2011. 6:34 AMbwells2 says:

sounds dangerous

Nov 2, 2011. 10:16 AMdeobomb says:

you could hose clamp a sight rail on to it someone ells did that and it worked grate

Aug 11, 2011. 8:52 AMdmartin13 says:

whats is the range and velocity?

Aug 6, 2011. 1:31 AMMegrathea69 says:

Thinking maybe you could maybe attach some kind of sighting device to the top of the barrel with duct tape

Jul 13, 2011. 4:05 PMwoodstockbirdy says:

Hmmmm...... does not look like a regular sprinkler valve. What kind is it?

Jul 29, 2011. 12:09 PMcap n crunch says:

its an air compressor valve

Apr 28, 2011. 6:25 PMbubba j says:

whats the range??

Feb 16, 2011. 7:35 PM

ostomesto says:

Nice gun. Have u thought about a laser for sights

Mar 29, 2011. 2:40 AMebrun says:

Laser sucks, if hes firing in daylight... Maybe use laser AND a cheap scope from dealextreme :)

Mar 29, 2011. 3:39 AM

ostomesto says:

Yea that works

Nov 30, 2010. 12:08 AM

Mattrox says:

BTW Love the gun very practical design. Looks powerfull.
A cheap red dot scope might be good.

Nov 30, 2010. 12:06 AM

Mattrox says:

Try my instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/Long-Distance-Bullets/
if your looking for ammo

Oct 8, 2010. 12:35 PMfrankei says:

es hermosa,
i `m de Argentina no me hablan en Inglés muy wel

Jul 22, 2010. 6:00 PMpatricksimpson says:

Hey nice gun!!! How bout posting a downloadable so we can all make one? I really like your design :):):)

Jul 29, 2010. 4:46 AMbrum (author) says:

i appreciate it mate, but seriously just do what i did: spend some time trawling through all the instructables on this site, figure out how the sprinkler valve works and the theoroy behind it, go to your local pluming store spend about an hour and a half at the shelf picking out mixing and matching pressure tested parts until u get a design you like. I picked this because the amount of parts was cheap, air tank was big, simple to put together, all this put together means less to go wrong. Even after i bought the parts i still changed the design though, its all part of the fun, you will eventually get board of shooting it but making it is awesome especially when ur done.

Oct 3, 2010. 5:37 PMxXFootlongXx says:

Hey i would be really very very appreciative if you could or maybe someone could give me a list of the materials used in this particular project, i know how everything works and understand the concept but i am struggling a little bit with the names of the actual fittings etc that i need. i have some of the parts and im going to the plumbing store today to get the rest, i just need the sprinkler valve, equipment to mod it and the reducers etc maybe some elbows and tee's for a stock like yours.

Jul 22, 2010. 6:16 PMbombmaker2 says:

If you could make them, the iron sights like those on an AA-12 would be BADASS!

Jul 18, 2010. 6:36 PMbrum (author) says:

Just an update, made a bullet for it out of a used .300 shell, filled it with water for weight, wrapped in tape to make it snug, added bailing twine on the tail for stability, added a tip out of hot glue and compressed for damage. The used shell is made so that the primer is the tip. Havent used it yet but dam it looks cool and looks like it will do some damage.

Jul 12, 2010. 8:34 PMsamdaman says:

ok thanks for that