The Mighty Pocket Vuvuzela/Airhorn

In my last instructable, I showed you how to make a normal vuvuzela. Now I will show you how to make a pocket-sized one that still packs a punch and is inexpensive.

Due to its size, this mini-vuvuzela has a bit of a higher pitch than its bigger brother. But it's still in the same decibel range, at a fraction of the size! Also, this is not really a "real" vuvuzela. It's more of a horn that makes a similar sound. But it is still fun and has that "annoyance factor."

Now I didn't come up with this concept myself. I got the idea from some youtube video from Germany of a similar  device but couldn't reproduce it. Then I saw instructables featuring some film canister air-horn and it allowed me to complete the puzzle.

Now let's begin!

Step 1 Materials

This is not too complicated. All the materials here could be easily found anywhere. No exact measurements where done so i'm going to estimate.

-One 4" long piece of PVC. I used a scrap chunk of wiffle ball bat but PVC will work just fine. (PVC with thinner sides around 1mm, that is thinner then standard PVC which is about 3mm thick, is suggested as it works better) This can be free if you have scraps.

-One empty water bottle. Free.

-I picked up a funnel for pouring oil at Home Depot. $0.99 (optional)

-One Latex balloon. This can be substituted with a shopping bag or latex glove. Free.

-One rubber band. Free.

You will also need a hot glue gun, tape, a drill, an exacto knife, and a saw for cutting.

Comments

[uhsnamih]

to double the power use a cone then a bottle

[Dream Dragon]

Well this kind of instrument is called a "Membranophone" because it relies on a membrane as a kind of reed intead of a reed or your mouth.. It can be tuned by adjusting the tension in the membrane, sliding the bottle in and out a little, or altering the length of the pipe. Altering the shape of the funnel will change the tone to a certain extent also. This is perhaps the best DIY version I've seen, well documented and a clever use of materials. I would suggest a short length of tube as a mouthpiece, just to move the membrane and horn away from your face a little, it could be flexible and might make sounding it a little less awkward. I'd love to see a video too.

[dom13marco]

Wow. Thank you for the kind words and knowledge. I was always wondering if this device had an actual name. And you are 100% correct about being able to change the sound with the membrane. Some days it sounds different. I have been thinking about making an updated, and somewhat larger version when I get the materials. I'll take your suggestions into consideration when making it. And a video will be coming soon!

[Kaelessin]

heh brilliant! is it a b flat though?

[dom13marco]

Sorry, I don't know music very well so I couldn't say...however one of these days I will get a video up and you can decide yourself!

[Kiteman]

Let's see video of this in action!