I haven't named this soaker yet, but I have been thinking of some good names. It is basically your standard CPS gun only made from PVC and steel piping. And just like every other standard CPS gun, it has a trigger. The gun does not have the handle attached yet, so the handle-like thing is actually the trigger (the handle is the pipe in the foreground. Currently the pressure chamber is the old worn out chamber from Ben's CPS homemade, but once I finish the gun I will replace it with some brand new latex rubber tubing.
This gun is actually pretty small, especially considering that it is a homemade. It is only 24 inches long and when completed with a bladder casing only about 6 inches tall (not counting the handle of course). There it is, next to an XP 150, just slightly larger. The gun is rather heavy though. Currently it is 5 pounds without any water in it, but this is from the steel piping in it (steel is very heavy). It is well balanced though.
The trigger valve is simply a 1/2" brass ball valve with a new replacement torque arm. The torque arm took a long time to make. In fact, it took me 3 designs to come up with a good one. The new torque arm was cut out with a dremel. The holes were drilled with a small drill press and then I bend it into shape with a hammer.
The trigger does activate the ball valve, but at the moment only opens the valve about three quarters of the way. This creates a ton of turbulence because it ruins the linear flow. I just have to make the trigger pull larger to fix this because I can't decrease the torque arm length anymore (I drilled two holes in the new torque arm, and the one closer to the nut needs less of a trigger pull to activate the valve all the way). The valve also lacks a return feature, but I will add one once the case is completed (it needs something to attach too). But it is functional, just not optimally functional.
The pump is connected to the trigger valve by use of 3/8" vinyl tubing. This allows each part of the gun to be completely replaceable and upgradeable. If you want a larger pump, you can replace the old pump with a new one easily. The gun is held together by nuts and bolts. Currently, only two bolts hold the two sections together, but I will hopefully add up to four for redundancy. It is held together well by two, but more will not hurt.
I hope to complete this gun within a week. Please post comments and such, I really have worked hard to make a great homemade and would like some feedback.
