Q-Tip Gun

Step 3 Firing

To fire, put a Q-tip in the barrel, make it doesn't slide down into the bottle part just spray a very small amount of hairspray into the chamber and very quickly close the top, if you do this part to slow the gases will escape and it won't fire, if you use to much most likely it won't fire due to not enough oxygen, or if it does the bottle could possible explode.

If you want you can wrap the bottle part in electrical tape, if you put duct tape on the screws the electricity from the sparker will go through it, so use electrical tape.

In the video below I used a lantern sparker, and I used propane from an old lighter which I stuck a small piece of tubing on the end of, its actaully just the outside casing of copper wire.

Comments

[Blindmisfits]

I cant get mine to work its bugging me

[saskskrat]

if it only works sometimes, try wiping out some of the gunk from the spray sometimes left behind on the screws. also make sure the screws a close enough together to spark. and check to see if the BBQ lighter is sparking.

[cbennett811]

i had some trouble with mine too. i think it was lack of oxygen. i drilled to small vent holes in the bottom of the pill bottle next to the barrel. it helped alot , but watch not to plug the barrel to tight and keep fingers away from the vent! i stuffed a wad of paper in and flames came out the vent instead of the barrel. left a wicked little burn. does anyone no how the grill lighter ignition actually works? it seems like it only sparks half the time. i tore a broken one apart to try to figure it out but i still dont get it.

[manmelvin]

Would anything work besides hairspray i cant find any in my house

[mo5]

outs works the best

[toogers]

use axe/lynx spray deodorant.

[noah1r]

wd40 will work

[bneboys]

any spray works as long as its flammable i use fly spray.

[Arrgh406]

do you think engine srtarting fluid will work?

[turtleguy7]

possibly but very dangerous

[bigfootduck]

u could also turn this into a mini spud gun. just take a slice of potato (about 1/8" to 1/4" thick) and stamp the tip of the barrel on the potato slice. when u lift it up, there should be a little piece of potato (the same thickness as the slice u cut) stuck in the barrel. when u shoot it, it is just like a mini potato gun. i did this and it was awesome! except i used a chapstick bettle instead of a pill case and thumb tacks instead of screws.

[offlogic]

I hesitate to interfere with Darwinian forces like this, but I gotta say it: You best be wrapping that pill bottle with something! Plastic frag is tough on the eyes, and doesn't show up on X-rays very well.

[mrbob1000]

cat scans my man or mri's

[bigstiffe]

mri....lets seethat stands for MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGERY where do you thinkthere might be a problem in detecting PLASTICshrapnel...hmmmm maybe..just maybePLASTIC IS NOT MAGNETIC.. just apassing of info to my dear misinformed .

[aiden120000]

so how does an mri see body parts

[Quick Comment]

You have Metal in your body, that's how. ;P

<a href="http://www.hriptc.org/metal_metabolism.html"> Here is some </a>
<a href="http://www.howstuffworks.com/mri.htm"> How MRI works </a>

[Patrik]

MRI has nothing to do with metals in your body. MRI measures the resonance of hydrogen atoms when excited by radio waves inside a very strong magnetic field.

Considering that plastics are hydrocarbon polymers, I expect they would show up on an MRI very nicely, provided you can tune the MRI for the specific signal they give off.

Plastics *are* very hard to detect on X-rays however. Much harder than glass, for example. This is why there was such a hubbub a while back about new plastic-based guns which could go undetected by airport security.

CAT scans work by taking X-ray images from all angles to reconstruct the 3D structure of the tissues. Therefore, CAT scans are going to have the same trouble with plastic shards as X-rays.

Do keep in mind that X-ray technology has advanced a *lot* over the past decades. I'm sure today's airport X-ray machines have been tuned to be able to detect plastic guns by now. And I'd bet that plastic shards would be noticeable on a modern-day X-ray, if you knew to look for them. They'll never show up as well as glass, ceramic or metal though.

[JoshMan619]

yes, Patrik is correct, i work in the medical field, and therfore know firsthand that the magnetic part of MRI deals only with how the device works to complete its goal, and therefore, the object you are looking for need be neither, magnetic, or a metal of any type.. quite simply it works through the same concept of sonar (with sound waves), and laser mapping (using, of course, lasers).. but in this case, magnetic fields are used since they can pass through objects, depending on strength, to make a 3 dimensional mapping of the terrain, or in this case person, it is applied to =]

[Quick Comment]

That's why I listed the sites to go to to look @ it in detail and put a :P that turned out to be a ;P for some godawful reason. By actually reading those articles, I kind of figured out my first reaction was wrong, albeit still funny (to me at least). But thanks for posting it in detail.

[robacarp]

even still! tape it.....

[indeed85]

I couldnt get mine to work... until i used butane from a lighter; just hold the gun barrel up, press the button on the lighter, put the cap on while its still pointing up and voila!

[TallDrinks]

I'd even go so far as putting a failsafe plug into this, like maybe a small cork on a string that'll pop out if the pressure is too great, or if barrel gets clogged (especially since taping this up will turn it into a small grenade even moreso than it is). Not to be a worry wart, but I hate things exploding in my face... not pleasant. Cool project. Very fun.

[m80 took my pinky]

yeah i know whatcha mean about the blowing up in ur face.... i had an m80 do that to me... yeah.. not fun

[bigstiffe]

Oxygen baby ,pure oxygen...grab grannys tote about oxy bottle(the green bottle shes nursing off of) capture a wee bit in your chamber.... you know the rest..The spudgun community has known this as the ultimate propellant for some time now...but be careful oh scientist of little expierience... this one i s highly explosive....and dont forget to give granny back the bottle...she needs it more than you.

[badaz68]

for the explosion thing just wear eye protection it may sound stupid but my uncle shot his eye out with something like this so...be smart

[Arrgh406]

next step: make a giant version that will launch tennis balls oh, and by the way, MAPP gas works very nicely