Raygun - Steampunk Defense

Intro: Raygun - Steampunk Defense

Well the Glass Pirates returned...this time in an attempt to take my personal eye screens so I've decided pacifism is dead, and I'm fighting back. My research has proven that weapons make wonderful fighting tools, especially weapons that do not require being able to smell your adversary. I give you....

the Raygun!

STEP 1: Ingredients

Due to my material gathering process on this one, your go at this may be different than mine, but I wanted to share it anyways in hopes for a more well-armed populous.

Materials:
Lots of odds and ends picked up from thrift stores. Basically anything I liked the looks of in the knick-knack section, candlesticks, wall decorations, vase parts, old lamps, you get the idea.
Scrap leather - pretty sure this was some other Salvation Army find
Waxed Sinew thread
Silicone caulk
Two-part metal epoxy
Green tea
Gorilla Glue

Tools:
Dremel with Dremel Workstation
Caulking gun
Curved sewing needle
Duct tape

STEP 2: Design

So I'm not really sure how to go through the steps on this. I wanted to make this as simply as I could, using tools I both had around and could use in my apartment, which meant no welding or power tools larger than a dremel.
I don't have pics of the actual building, because I wasn't thinking about Instructables at the time, I just wanted to build a raygun.

So heres they basic features desirable in a raygun:
Handle - for holding
Body - where the "ray" is produced
Barrel - where the "ray" travels
Trigger - where you inspire the "ray" to begin it's travel

Embellishments that I enjoy:
Grip - to make the handle nicer feeling
Liquid - for cooling the immense heat created by the travelling "ray"
Focusing Dish - placed at end of barrel for extra "ray" focusing

STEP 3: Sticking Stuff Together

Here's where experimenting is key. Depending on your materials you will use all sorts of glues and epoxies and whatnot.
Here are the ones I learned on this gun - follow along with the pictures

Connecting the glass barrel to the metal body: 1st picture
The glass fit relatively well into the existing center hole of the body (i think it was some kind of vase or something). To keep in it places I used a healthy drop of silicone at the bottom and then used the caulking gun and my finger to create a seal all the way around.

Connecting stabilizing rod to the body: 1st picture
The rod is from a candlestick and was threaded on both sides, so I used my dremel to drill a hole just a bit smaller than the thread and just screwed it in. The metal body is kind of thin so the brass thread just bit into it without too much trouble.

Attaching trigger to body: 1st picture
I cut a small slot if front of the handle just big enough for the trigger piece. I dipped the end of the trigger in Gorilla Glue and stuck it in the slot. Gorilla Glue expands as it dries so it worked to create a mass of glue inside the bod where I couldn't see.

Connecting handle to the body: 2nd picture
I measured out and cut a hole in the body that was just big enough for the handle and then attached with two-part metal epoxy. It's that stuff that comes in a tube, it gray on the outside and dark gray in the middle. You can roll it and wrap it around, then when it dries you can sand it and all sorts of stuff. Sorry I don't remember the name, the sell it at Home Depot and Autozone for fixing radiators.

Backplate to the body: 2nd pic
Gorilla Glue...just a bunch of glue.

STEP 4: Special Attaching for Barrel

Before attaching the focusing dish at the end I filled the glass tube with green tea( I was drinking some at the time and thought it was a cool color) (and besides, green tea is the only liquid in the universe that can keep those high ray temperatures in check).

I attached the dish to the open end of the glass with the same metal epoxy, waited for it to dry, then coated it in silicone so none of the liquid would come out. It only took me three time to get it completely sealed which is why the tea wasn't as green as it started out as.

I used the same metal stuff to attach the second dish on top of that one.
Sorry for the blurry picture.

STEP 5: Grip

I started by sticking pieces of duct tape together to make a small sheet that's not sticky on either side. I wrapped it around the handle and marked it up to make a pattern. I used the pattern and cut a piece of leather. Then I used the curved needle and waxed sinew to stick it together.

Hey, guess what....there's a picture!

STEP 6: All Done

Well, I'm off to fight the glass pirates. I'll leave you with a few details in the form of pictures.

Comments

[Everett_McKinley]

Who'd have thought weapon would make good fighting tools?
Nice work though and thanks for the tip about candle sticks I'll keep that in mind.

[leroyxiii94]

is it a gun or a bong

[thepelton]

When I was young, I made a raygun out of Mother's turkey baster and a T joint from a watering system. I put the oversize eyedropper part in the straight part of the T joint, and used the downward part of the T joint as a handle.

[rocksalt2342]

what's a glass pirate?

[aintMichael]

they're pirates...that steal glass...and fly

[rocksalt2342]

pirates that fly? maybe their ships can fly... maybe their ships are made of glass! then wouldn't it be easier to throw rocks at them?

[Mr. Hyde]

What's the fun in that?

[rocksalt2342]

well, you can throw rocks at their ships, watch them crash, then shoot them with a raygun. concidering if they're not dead from the crash. either way its alot of fun. and its too easy to just shoot them outta the sky anyway.

[pyrojed]

yaaaay dead pirates

[Weapon Maniac]

OR you could just hire some ninjas to kill the pirates... That'd be easier than anything else in the world you know... As long as you can find some ninjas and give them a ray gun

[josh1324]

Ninjas will do nothing! Everyone knows that Chuck Norris is a glass pirate too! And the guy from road hose!

[rocksalt2342]

Maybe, but I don't think ninjas will wield guns. It might be against their code.

[quincentopolis]

The only problem I have with this is that steampunk implies that it runs off steam, and only steam.  There isn't anything that gives the illusion of this running off steam (vents, tubes, water, heat source)  Other than that I find it aesthetically pleasing and this is a great instructable, but it doesn't truly represent steampunk.

[foxtrot4697]

you want battle damage? throw it on the ground a few times... hard

[Ivriniel]

 Broken, broken, broken, hairdryer [/Doctor Who reference]

Sorry couldn't resist.  Love the ray gun. :)

[SlashmasterAeoniX]

Green tea is somewhat a rare and valuable commodity in my sector, since our trade with Asia is strained as of late. Would implementing something as simple as water infused with *colored (chemical) dyes (and of course, pH correcting chemicals) work just as effectively? Glass pirates have been pretty wiley in my area as well...(i.e.--*food coloring)

[OneManUniversity]

Interesting... nice, but you might want to add bits of random junk like screws and springs and such... LOL great instructable!

[galenorama]

Some adjustment nobs, too?

[shadowfluid]

"stabalazing"? *smirk* give those glass pirates hell mi'lad! i join CapnTac in applauding your wrist printing. good show dear boy!

[aintMichael]

thanks