Simple Set-mounted PVC Blood Cannon for Theatre Special Effects

Sometimes when you're doing a  play, killing a few people onstage just isn't enough. Sometimes you need a bloodbath. That was the case for a production I worked on recently. The show opened with the brutal murder of an entire wedding party, and that was just the Prologue. Throughout the play, the violence kept escalating until the final scene, when three characters mow down an entire dance club full of people in the course of a few seconds.
For this scene, I needed to provide something special, a veritable orgy of bloodshed, or the scene would just be anti-climactic.
Unfortunately, by this point in the show I had already used up most of the squibs I had been able to afford to make (see here and here for two different squib designs). Also, my feedback from the Director had typically sounded something like "Blood on the walls! Blood on the floor! Blood on the audience! Blood EVERYWHERE!". Have I mentioned yet how much fun I had working on this show?
In any case, since I had already tied up most of the effects budget in squibs and gallons of blood, I needed to come up with a way to sling tons of blood around, and I needed to do it on the cheap. Here's what I came up with.

Step 1 You Will Need:

Materials:
2-3 feet of 1/2" schedule 40 PVC pipe - rated for 600 psi*
One 1/2" PVC tee fitting - threaded in the center hole, slip-fit in the side holes
One 1/2" PVC bushing - threaded one side, slip-fit on the other
One 1/2" PVC threaded cap
One 1/2" PVC slip-fit plug
One threaded nylon 1/2" hose barb fitting - straight or 90 degree elbow
Three 1/2" 90 degree PVC elbows OR two 90 degree elbows and one 45 degree elbow
Five feet or so of 1/2" vinyl tubing (length will vary depending on where you mount the cannon)
Small hose clamp (optional - not pictured)

Tools:
Air compressor or other source of regulated compressed air (not pictured)
Compressor Hose
One blower nozzle with coupler
One blower nozzle hose barb adapter**
One blower nozzle hose barb**
Drill
Saw
Assortment of drill bits
Pliers
Wrench

Supplies: (not pictured)
PVC primer***
PVC cement***

* We're not going to get anywhere near 600 psi, but why take chances? Exploding PVC can create shrapnel that will kill you. Use the good stuff.
** Usually found packaged together with a few other blower accessories - about $3.00 at Lowe's
*** IMPORTANT - all slip PVC connections in this project must be secured with PVC primer and cement. The cannons build up a lot of back pressure when fired, and any uncemented connections will result in PVC fittings being flung across the stage at dangerous velocities.

Comments

[magikhandz]

ummm...what show was this for? lol

[RavingMadStudios]

The Revenger's Tragedy - a new translation of a 400 year old play. The version we did looked much more like Kill Bill than Macbeth....;-)

[moo of the cow]

YAY!!!!!!!!! lots of blood in my movies nice job!!!!!!!!

[RavingMadStudios]

Thanks very much, and good luck with the movies.