A Project With the Kids - DIY Super Soaker Water Cannon

[BBQ Engineer]

When the niece and nephews are here, we always try to have fun projects or events for them to enjoy. We've done tie dying, Sky Zone Trampoline, Concerts, Zip Line, Etc. This time I wanted to do DIY Super Soakers. These are fun and easy to do at home.

First assemble the following items:

** A stick of 2" Schedule 40 PVC
** A stick of 1 1/4" Schedule 40 PVC
** A 326 O-ring




** 2 - 2" PVC Caps
** 2 - 1 1/4" PCV Caps
** 1 - 1 1/4" PVC Union
** PVC Glue

** Silicone Grease

** 1 3/4" hole drill

You will build a barrel and then a piston.

For the barrel cut 24" of PVC. Then drill a nozzle in one of the caps.

glue that to the end of the 2" pvc.



Now you will build a piston.

Use the 1 3/4" hole drill to bore a hole in the second cap.


Now cut 24" of the 1 1/4 PVC. Put a cap on one end and then add the 2" cap with the 1 3/4" hole so it slides back and forth (this will be used to keep the piston centered in the barrel at the back end). Now place a union on the other end. Cut a small section of PVC to glue in the union and accept a cap on the other end. Make sure you leave about a 3/16" gap between the cap and the union...you don't want them to butt together. Slide an O-ring over the cap so it seats between the cap and the union like this...




Smear some of the silicone grease inside the barrel and add the piston assembly.




Set out a bucket of water and watch the fun as the kids go crazy!!

Note: Don't glue the back 2" cap that is part of the piston. This allows you to separate the piston assembly and the barrel and grease as required. Also, we tried different nozzle patterns and hole sizes. The "X" nozzle was a true super soaker...it would empty that barrel in no time and if you were in the sights of this, YOU. WOULD. BE. SOAKED!

[THE ICEMAN]

Gotta keep those yard apes entertained...
Wish I knew aboot that when I was a kid. We used to have epic water fights here in the desert during the summer.
They used to be pretty much confined to water balloons until we discovered filling up a length of surgical tubing.

[BBQ Engineer]

Depending on nozzle size, you can get some impressive range with these. The bigger kids that can put more pressure on the piston can really get the distance. Of course there is a balance between distance and flow through the nozzle, so experiment with the hole size that you use.

One nephew was getting drilled point blank in the back and he said it kind of hurt! They definitely pump out a solid stream of water!

[curious aardvark]

hose pipes are good for water fights.

But those super soakers look like a blast :-)

Next time you'll have to teach the kids to cook

[Richtee]

Some fine engineering... Hmm maybe some .125 holes on slight angles for a “scattergun” for close range soaking?

[BBQ Engineer]

Some fine engineering... Hmm maybe some .125 holes on slight angles for a “scattergun” for close range soaking?

We made half a dozen for the kids...and used various hole patterns and a couple of different sizes. The "X" pattern had a center 1/4 inch hole and 4 1/8 inch holes to make the X...it was impressive how fast it would pump out a tremendous volume of water at a huge dispersion.

Since you don't glue the back end cap, you could conceivably have multiple "barrels" with different hole patterns as well.

I did buy an array of plastic paint but since it was kind of overcast with a chance of rain, we didn't paint them.

Originally I was going to make a dozen and then we were going to put 5 gallon buckets of water around with super soakers in them. As long as the kids kept that away from the main party area, we were going to turn them loose!

[SMOKE FREAK]

I saw those laying on the deck there Dana...I'm kinda glad I didn't get "super soaked"