Introduction: Water Gun Adaptation

By Duquesne Assistive and Rehabilit
About: The Duquesne Assistive and Rehabilitative Technology Lab is part of the Department of Occupational Therapy at Duquesne University. We teach students to make assistive technology. Check out our Minor in Assisti…

We modified battery-powered squirt guns so they can be operated with a switch. This way, kids who have trouble operating the trigger can soak their friends with a squirt gun, too!

Note: The squirt gun we used in this Instructable was (surprisingly) realistic. We put stickers on the squirt guns when we were done to make them look a bit more like toys. Another option is to put a colored tip on the end. There are also battery-powered squirt guns that are a little less authentic looking, and they work the same way as the toy we used in this Instructable.

Supplies

Here is a link to the squirt gun we used. Squirt guns come and go on the market pretty regularly, so you probably won't be able to get this exact squirt gun. However, the basic process outlined here should still work.

Materials

Solder

Electrical tape or heat shrink

Cable tie

1/8-inch mono female switch jack

Tools

Phillips Screwdriver

Wire strippers

Soldering iron

Step 1: Remove Screws From Gun

Open up the squirt gun. If you can't get the squirt gun we used, make sure the squirt gun you get is put together with screws so you can open it without breaking it.

Step 2: Prepare the Switch Jack

You need a 1/8 inch mono female switch jack with two wires. The easiest thing to do is to get a female-female cable, cut it in two, and then strip the wires.

Step 3: Create a Hole in the Squirt Gun for the Switch Jack Cable

You need to create a hole in the body of the squirt gun to feed the switch cable into. I used a soldering iron to enlarge one of the screw holes. You will also need to cut down the part on the other half of the squirt gun that lines up with the screw hole to leave room for the cable.

Step 4: Disconnect the Button That Activates the Squirt Gun

Disconnect the button from the cables that connect it to the gun.

A more ambitious modification would be to keep the connections to the button and add the switch-jack connection.

Step 5: Solder the Female Jack to the Squirt Gun Wires

Connect the female jack to the cables that used to be connected to the trigger button. Insulate the connection with either electrical tape or heat shrink.

Use a cable tie to provide strain relief for the cable inside the squirt gun.

Step 6: Re-assemble

Put it all back together!