My Homemade Design - Some input requested.

[Rook]

Well, about six months ago, I was playing one of my favorite games, Timesplitters: Future Perfect. I was using a gun called the K-SMG (which I think stands for Kalashnikov-Sub Machine Gun). This gun works like a standard rifle, except for one thing: it is capable of using a rocket-propelled grenade. So, I eventually decided to translate this into a soaker design. I call it: the S-SMG (Super-Soaker Mortar Gun).


(that little bar above it is an attachable WBL barrel)

This image was made using Scavenger's PVC designer. I have not yet finished it, however. I just need to glue it and add the Schrader valve, as well as to make some final changes. It's a standard air-pressure gun that can be used as a WBL. The PC is slightly angled to allow more water out without causing too much turbulence.

So, does anyone have any input for this?

Well, hold that thought, please. I have another design coming.



Before I begin: This design is intended to be closely clustered with an armband of some sort attached. There should also be a handle on the nozzle so you can hold the gun through the armband. The gun as a whole looks triangular if seen from behind. If someone has a better modeler please PM me. I'm not good with programming (I'll be taking a course next year) so if it's too complicated I won't be able to use it.

Anyways...This one is a little complicated. It is meant to be held on one arm by using an armband and a handle (which is isolated, blocked off from flow). It also has a small WBL attached to it. I am terrible at throwing water balloons, so I figured this may be a good alternative.

It is an air pressure gun, of course. The PC is two sided. One side to the WBL, and the other to the nozzle. Inside the PC will be a piece of tubing leading to the nozzle to take in water. A pump will be attached to the side of the PC. Two actually; a normal one and a bike pump. Oh, and the arm-piece, the PC, and the WBL assembly will be arranged in a triangular fashion (as seen from the rear).

This gun hasn't begun the build stage yet. So here are my biggest questions: Will it work? And is it even worth making?

Thanks for your help.

[SilentGuy]

The PC designs are essentially the things bugging me about the designs. In the first, you don't need to worry about linear flow enough to angle the PC. In the second, the PC isn't big enough and if would be hard to shoot all the water.

If you can make hand pumps to pump both air and water, then this should be easy. If you have to use a separate charger, you should create two separate weapons. The reservoir would also make things complicated--a gun, a backpack, a bike pump...or just an unbalanced gun and a bike pump.

You know what, a pressurized reservoir APH might be the best solution. I'd have the single pump along the bottom, the WBL barrel above that, and the soaker barrels and PC(s) above that. You could probably track the pump along the WBL barrel.

Ugh, this "virtual" designing is pretty annoying to me (no offense to you). Nothing seems to be the same once you have the parts right in front of you.

[SSCBen]

In the first design, angling the PC like that would actually let less water out. When the water gun is angled at a 45 degree angle, the air would move to the valve, and all that will be shot out is air. I would suggest the standard 90 degree turn.

When I design water guns in my head, I know how to tell where the air and water will go by angling the water gun at 45 degrees and putting a horizontal line at the lowest part of the PC. If that line is not at or above the nozzle, not all of the water will be shot out. Perhaps I should tell more people about this design tip.

A 90 degree turn doesn't create that much turbulence. In the past I overstated the importance of "linear design." What matters more is not creating too much turbulence. Some is fine and won't affect performance much. What matters for the vast majority of water gun range is the force put on the water.

I doubt that you'll be able to make something that works as a water gun into a good WBL. The pump diameter of a water gun is so small that building up the pressure for a water balloon shot would take too long. You would find that you're not getting good pressure from the pump, your PCs are too small for a WBL, and that the valve turns too slowly. WBL design and water gun design should be two separate things for these reasons.

The second design looks a little better. My initial suggestion is to note that you can't hook a check valve to a slice of pipe. You'll need some sort of fitting to attach it.

Again, the WBL idea won't work well and I would remove it. The PC will work at most any angle with a tube in it, but, tubes especially limit performance due to their lack of flow. You will not get the level of performance expected from homemade water gun from that for that reason. If you wanted to use a piston in there, you could keep the PC design mostly the same. I would recommend a more normal style PC again in this situation.

Let us know if you've got any more questions.