Hydrocannon

[mr. dude]

i got a hc but it cant shoot i dnt no y help plz
pics






i dnt no wat do y wont it shoot WAAAAAIIIIIIIII

[mr. dude]

With that out of the way...
Croc and I have recently embarked on two projects, one being the homemade pull valve, and the other being a big time HydroCannon mod. I found this HC thrown out on bulk garbage day so I grabbed it, it turns out there's a problem with the check valves. So, looking through my box of spare parts, I borrowed my WW Blazer's pump (the Blazer can work, but repairing it would be less fun than modding the life out of this HC ).

Basically, the HC will get:
-New pump
-New PC (not a fan of the stock one, which will probably go into a homemade pistol. Still deciding what the new PC will be made of)
-New reservoir (backpack would be more aesthetically pleasing, but I like on-board better)
-Any fun doodads we can come up with along the way

I'm currently in the process of extending the length of the pump stroke, which involves snipping and filing along the bottom of the blaster (where the pump bit pokes out), and some boring along the sides where the track goes.

This beast will be ugly, but it should turn into something very useable.

[marauder]

I'm really excited about this, especially the pump length extension. I have a HC NIB back at home waiting for me to mod. Why do you like on board reservoirs better than backpacks?

[mr. dude]

Extending the pump stroke shouldn't be too difficult, a dremel along the sides would extend the groove that the track goes in, then a bit of snipping and filing along the bottom, then all that'd be left is finding a long enough pump for it (in my case, a WW Blazer happened to be sitting around).

As for on-board reservoirs, I just never feel free when I have a backpack on. I always feel inclined to hold the straps to make sure they don't break, and I find it impossible to run. No matter how big the actual blaster is, I'm far more comfortable carrying it all with my arms.

[SEAL]

As for on-board reservoirs, I just never feel free when I have a backpack on. I always feel inclined to hold the straps to make sure they don't break, and I find it impossible to run. No matter how big the actual blaster is, I'm far more comfortable carrying it all with my arms.

I'm totally with you here. That's why I decided to use an onboard reservoir using a 1-gallon water jug for my APH, although in that case, a backpack might have been better. If I ever build a CPH, I'm going to make one out of PVC.

Back on topic, here's yet another potentially awesome HC mod, and I still haven't picked one up! Oh, well. Hopefully sometime I'll find time to do so. Good luck with yours!

[mr. dude]

Update:
Work on the pump will be delayed for a while, so I've shifted my focus to the PC. I've decided to risk trying an all-balloon PC again (having done so on my WW Lightning already, so far unsuccessfully). My reasoning is that repairs wouldn't be as difficult with the HC as they are with the Lightning, plus I don't really like any of the other options. To be extra safe, I'm not cheaping out on balloons this time, I'll get high quality stuff.
Then, I'm probably using a length of 3" pipe as the reservoir, and dropping the intake hole at the bottom. I'll probably end up improvising a fair bit because I don't really have anything set in stone at the moment.

Simultaneously, I want to use parts from the HC to create a CPS pistol, basically using CA99's concept to make it more compact. However, that's another project for another thread.

[mr. dude]

Totally forgot to update, I've taken a week off this project, but I want it to be done within the next few days, so here I am!
The internals are basically done, I've tested it and it works nicely (will be better after some nozzle work, for now I've just ripped out the screen at the tip of the nozzle, seems to have improved range a fair bit). Today, work will commence on squeezing it into the case, which will require a fair bit more mutilation than I would like, but it must be done.
Also, recent occurances have limited my mobility (hamstring injury), so I've decided to take the lazy way out and only use parts I already have. This has led to me scrapping most of the ABS piping I wanted to use in the reservoir, now I'll be using an old X-Stream Super Cobra's reservoir (holds about 1.3L) but extended with some ABS.

Here's a piccy of the internals:

That long hose is necessary, but it will get in the way so much.


Also, if you're wondering what I've done with the check valve that I lopped off the HC...

It's gone into fixing a broken MD6K, which I plan on changing in a huge way. It's also getting the HC's old PC.

[marauder]

Wow, you are really frankensteining this thing. I hope it holds together and works well. I'm assuming you are using the thicker clear tubing (that's not the original is it?) so that you get more water with every pump?

[mr. dude]

So far, it's held up well in testing, main area I'm worried about is the connection between the clear tubing and the top half of the gun. You can kinda see in the picture how little room I had to clamp the tubing on, so I gave it a bit of glue just to be safe.

As for the tubing, really it was just the only thing that fit over all the components well. No real reason beyond that, I was at the Home Depot and was like "hey, tubing! Hope it fits!", and it did

[mr. dude]

In case anyone's interested, these are the last few pictures I've taken of the thing (I have since changed the ABS pipe to a smaller diameter pipe to get it to fit):

And the case had to be modified as such:


I haven't worked on since the end of July (about a day after those pictures were taken). I put everything together, having tested all the components already and it all seemed to work. I filled it with water, the reservoir leaked incessantly at the joint between the stock purple reservoir and the ABS pipe (will be fixed with epoxy putty and more glue). I was okay with that, I proceded to pump, and the new vinyl tube (which held up well in my earlier tests) popped off.

Since then, I've done no work on any soakers of any kind, because my main motivation (having everything ready for my friends to use on my birthday) was gone. I hope to get a quick spark of motivation before my summer ends, because it really is a couple of simple repairs before everything works.

[marauder]

Wow, looks like some intense modding going on! Is that LRT you are using for the PC?

[mr. dude]

The PC is made up of about 40 balloons, which you can see in the earlier pictures. I haven't had any luck with balloons yet, having kinda broken my WW Lightning because of them, but I figured it'd be easier work on the HC.

[marauder]

Ah, so is the black plastic cylinder in front of the reservoir the housing for the balloon pc?

[mr. dude]

Precisely.

[mr. dude]

I felt like bumping this thread. I haven't done any work, the blaster is still in cozy hibernation next to my 2700, but I figured it'd be nice to have this thread as a bit of motivation to get me working next week. Send me your good thoughts and maybe I'll have a couple of new blasters rise from the dead!

[marauder]

Cylindrical stock PCs work excellently in the Hydrocannon. I hope you choose to go that route (or LRT). Good luck!

[mr. dude]

I may have some LRT lying around, I'll have to check it out!

[soakinader]

Time to bump this thread up!
I opened up my Hydrocannon and am preparing to give it a serious upgrade! The only stock parts I am keeping are the trigger and ball valve. It's getting a new PC and an XP 150 pump. I would like to preserve the stock look as much as possible.
Speaking of the PC, the ID of the ball valve/ tubing barb is no bigger than 9/16", and the stock rubber tubing is 3/4" ID, 1 1/4"OD, (1/4"thick) and no more than 5 inches in length. Nevermind, here are the measurements:

Barb 9/16" ID
PC: 3/4" - 1 1/4" (1/4" thick) , ~5" long
Casing: 2 1/4" diam X 5 5/8 + 2" for curve, clamp
(1" curve, 1 1/4" clamp)

While I'm at it, I wonder what the exact dimensions of the Flash Flood and Arctic Blaster PC's are? I always wondered if I could just jam a Flash Flood PC into the Hydrocannon and that would make an improvement.
So here is my plan: A new LRT PC. There is space for a 12" (foot long) piece of 3" pipe, OR a 23" long (slightly less than 2 feet) piece of 2" (up to 2 1/2") pipe. 2" would fit easily inside the whole casing ( the stock reservoir and PC are roughly 2 1/4" in diameter) while 2 1/2 would be totally possible with some cuts (since I am removing the stock tubing and reservoir anyway).

12" of 3" pipe: ~965mL (~617mL with extra LRT) Option 1
23" of 2.5" pipe: ~ 1.184 L (~695mL with extra LRT) Option 2
23" of 2" pipe: ~ 695mL (~300mL with extra LRT- No good!)
(assuming 3/16" thick LRT and 1/16" thick pipe, making the water volume diameter approximately 1/2" smaller than the pipe OD)

Basically I could order 5234K59 and use the stock barb and clamp. Will one piece of that LRT be enough to power the nozzle? If it isn't, the only thing I can do is add bike tubes over the K59. If I ordered K56 and stretched it over the HC barb, then I would have some options for adding more LRT. Of course, this would really only be for the 3" foot-long pipe, which would reduce it to around 600mL; it would about halve the capacity of either 23" long PC. Speaking of which, definitely not going with 2" pipe!

Any tips for attaching the tubing/valves from one gun to the other?

[marauder]

I'm fairly certain you can put a Flash Flood or Arctic Blast PC into the HC, you just have to cut away some of the reservoir. I mean, I know the Hydrocannon is compatible with the 2000, 2500, Monster X, Monster, 4100, 600, and both WWF PCs - again, assuming you make room. It would only make sense that you could use a Flash Flood PC. The nozzle is actually the exact same size as the Flash Flood "flood" nozzle, and the Arctic Blast's top nozzle. Can we all agree to call these 3 "flood nozzles" since they are all the same?

I'm a huge fan of so many things about the Hydrocannon, but 2 things really complicated its modding potential for me. The first was the slow ball valve. Does anyone else thinks the nozzle opens way too slow? That's not something you want with a gun like this. The Flash Flood seems to open up a lot quicker and the PC is longer so you get a more powerful shot. I don't know if it just needs to be lubed or if its something that would take a lot more to fix or can't even be fixed at all. I wonder if Duke could tell us how much his trigger rod mod increased how quick he could open the nozzle. The other major problem I had was the tiny pump volume. I took out the stock pump and installed a new pump, I think it was from an XP 110 or WWF Stone Cold, but it may have been from a Gorgon. The Oncoming Storm could tell you, but either way, it was just an average (at best) pump size, it's not like I was installing a 150's pump. Either way, there just wasn't enough room. It's like when I added that awesome conical brass nozzle to my Arctic Blast - sure, it upped the range from 36 to 42 feet, but if your shot time is half a second and it takes you 15 pumps to recharge what's the point?

[soakinader]

OK, so I add the XP 150 pump. Now I am pumping 70mL / stroke! Now it takes 3 pumps to fill the stock PC, or 6 pumps to fill the Arctic Blast/Flash Flood. If my LRT PC ends up holding 600mL, that's still only 9 pumps, for the same amount of water as your average CPS blaster (CPS 1000,1200, 2500, Monster) . I think using a nice big pump like this is going to be the deciding factor in it's success.
The ball valve on my Hydrocannon is a little slow; but this really only affects using the full power of the "flood nozzle". I plan on sticking a laminator and some kind of coupler on it so that I can snap on several different smaller nozzles or pop the nozzle off and give em' a riot! And I think I can see a way to improve the ball valve opening speed. Maybe it will involve adding a lever trigger lol. XXP 275 style!