31 replies to this topic

[uberninja333]

I'm sorry if this isn't the place to post this, but I'm running out of options.
My shop teacher wants us to creat a tee shirt launcher for the principal. It can use any propulsion method, but must launch a rolled up tee shirt at least 30 feet and be hand held. Can anyone think of a design that can be easily altered to shoot teeshirts? It is preferable to have multiple shots, or easy loading, and I would like to be abled to convert it to a nerd gun when I'm done. I was thinking along the lines of a giant snap, but I'm realy stuck. I'm mostly looking fore some inspiration. Any ideas?

[BAMNerf]

I'm sorry if this isn't the place to post this, but I'm running out of options.
My shop teacher wants us to creat a tee shirt launcher for the principal. It can use any propulsion method, but must launch a rolled up tee shirt at least 30 feet and be hand held. Can anyone think of a design that can be easily altered to shoot teeshirts? It is preferable to have multiple shots, or easy loading, and I would like to be abled to convert it to a nerd gun when I'm done. I was thinking along the lines of a giant snap, but I'm realy stuck. I'm mostly looking fore some inspiration. Any ideas?

I was kind of thinking like get a big blast or some high powered air blaster and coupler it. Then get the half inch pvc to like 1 or 1 1/2 to 2 inch pvc depending on the size of the rolled up tee shirt.

[rego]

I doubt that a big blast will have enough air to launch a t-shirt. Its not a exactly a great projectile. A sabot could help, but you would still need something with a crapton of air. Something large enough to fire rockets sixty feet should work if your shooting them angled.

[KaptainKrazy]

You could just coupler one of those air powered plumbing cleaners. Those would probably be the only thing that could launch a tee shirt that far.

[BritNerfMogul]

A modified Titan, Jobar, or Cobra should work well. And a coupler and a reducer, and preload the t-shirts into sections of PVC you then load into the reducer.

[Langley]

Moved to off topic.

I think this is a project that is going to require a little more power than a nerf gun, even a nerf gun that is banned at wars. If you have access to an air compressor, I would build a pneumatic potato cannon. Google spud gun sprinkler valve and you'll get the idea.

[Daniel Beaver]

Moved to off topic.

I think this is a project that is going to require a little more power than a nerf gun, even a nerf gun that is banned at wars. If you have access to an air compressor, I would build a pneumatic potato cannon. Google spud gun sprinkler valve and you'll get the idea.

Spudfiles is probably the place to go for high-powered pneumatic guns. They might even have a topic about T Shirt launchers on their forums.

[MrPzowned]

Just make a pvc air tank connected to an irrigation (sprinkler valve) or ball valve.

[Draconis]

A modified Titan, Jobar, or Cobra should work well. And a coupler and a reducer, and preload the t-shirts into sections of PVC you then load into the reducer.

No, no they wouldn't. Not even the Cobra has enough volume, let alone the tiny valve diameter. Sprinkler valves are definitely the valve of choice here. The shirt I just massed came in at 250g, which is a little over six times that of one of my rockets, so in comparison to the rocket contest entries, that should give you an estimate of the kind of setup you'll need.

[uberninja333]

Thank you for weighing in. I'm thinking about going two different routes. I'm going to build as compact a pneumatic launcher as I can, and I'm going to build a giant snaplike gun. If I find one that works good, I'll post again, maby people could use it as a big bore ammo nerd gun.

[XproXglassX]

A giant HAMP maybe? Or plug an HPA Rig into a highly modified Titan...?

[uberninja333]

A giant HAMP maybe? Or plug an HPA Rig into a highly modified Titan...?

I'd prefer not to buy a gun. I need to build one as cheaply and cost effective as possible. That is a nice suggestion though.

I've decided to make a giant hamp instead of the pneumatic cannon. Anyone got a clue how big pie can come in?

Edited by uberninja333, 31 October 2012 - 11:56 PM.

[XproXglassX]

I'd prefer not to buy a gun. I need to build one as cheaply and cost effective as possible. That is a nice suggestion though.

I've decided to make a giant hamp instead of the pneumatic cannon. Anyone got a clue how big pie can come in?

To get the biggest inner-diameter try to get thin wall PVC, that way you have more room inside the pipe for the T-Shirts. And I suggest putting scotch tape to hold the T-shirt in a roll because that tape will move smoothly through the PVC, versus lets say a rubber band which will rub and slow down, if not stop the shirt from shooting out.

[ShaNayNay]

I was kind of thinking like get a big blast or some high powered air blaster and coupler it.

This made me laugh very hard.

Like the mods said, there is no Nerf gun tank that could launch a shirt a considerable distance.
I have not yet worked with combustion or potato launchers, but that route may be your best bet, despite the possibility of the shirt having singe marks. Not positive if that would be the case however.

Have you researched how real tshirt launchers work? I found this, which looks like what you aim to build. It is a PVC air tank powered one that can work with multiple shots, which looks like the road to take.

I don't mean to start up an argument, but there has been discussions of large PVC tanks and the possibility of them fracturing, so just be sure you know your setup is safe before maxing out its performance or whatever. Hopefully some of this helps.

[ThatBritishGuy]

Have you researched how real tshirt launchers work? I found this, which looks like what you aim to build. It is a PVC air tank powered one that can work with multiple shots, which looks like the road to take.

I don't mean to start up an argument, but there has been discussions of large PVC tanks and the possibility of them fracturing, so just be sure you know your setup is safe before maxing out its performance or whatever. Hopefully some of this helps.

That document suggests pressurising the whole setup to 70PSI before firing. I know there are many threads discussing PVC airtanks and I wont go into that amount of detail, just please don't take regular SCH40 PVC to 70PSI without some protection i.e. wrapping the whole tank in material such as denim to limit shrapnel. FYI when PVC tanks fail, they don't slowly leak, they explode akin to a bomb and the PVC turns into shrapnel shards. However don't be discouraged, large volume tanks at lower pressures such as 30PSI should also work at shooting large projectiles at least some distance. Take the advice of the article though and ball the T-Shirt up using bands/tape etc otherwise it will be a nightmare to launch.

[ShaNayNay]

That document suggests pressurising the whole setup to 70PSI before firing. I know there are many threads discussing PVC airtanks and I wont go into that amount of detail, just please don't take regular SCH40 PVC to 70PSI without some protection i.e. wrapping the whole tank in material such as denim to limit shrapnel. FYI when PVC tanks fail, they don't slowly leak, they explode akin to a bomb and the PVC turns into shrapnel shards. However don't be discouraged, large volume tanks at lower pressures such as 30PSI should also work at shooting large projectiles at least some distance. Take the advice of the article though and ball the T-Shirt up using bands/tape etc otherwise it will be a nightmare to launch.

Note, denim probably won't block shrapnel. If you are looking to be safe and don't want to start up an argument, go metal. If you are on budget and know that your PVC tank can take what you are putting into it, then do what you want to do.

[Crater]

I have two suggestions to offer for the launcher design:

• A custom air tank with a high-performance piston (backpressure) valve, somewhat like some pneumatic potato cannons. Specifically, I'm thinking of torukmakto4 (of the HvZ forums)'s designs, though he said his larger tank barely shoots a sock 50 feet.
• A spring plunger pushing directly on the shirt. It would be like a large-diameter SNAP, but it wouldn't need a seal on the plunger head, obviously, so the large diameter poses less of a problem.

For making the shirts easier to launch, can you bundle them with rubber bands or string? If you use rubber bands, wrapping some paper over them might help with friction.

[HasreadCoC]

Why the heck not just use a large slingshot? Think like the kinds used for large water balloons, anything from hand-held, up to 2-3 person super launchers. You can just buy stretchy rubber surgical tubing type stuff and make the frame from PVC (you'll need to put screws in the connection points though if you use elbows and such). For the actual part that the T-shirt sits in, just use a thick square of fabric, like from an old pair of jeans, with a loop sown to the back to prime by. Alternatively to sowing a loop, just put a wad of extra fabric in the center of the main fabric square, twist that part of the main square off, and put a zip tie around it, so you have a "nipple", if you will, to pull the whole thing back by. Giggity.

Seriously, why mess around with air cannons and such when you can just slingshot the shirts far more safely, and just farther altogether?

[Goldie]

SLINGSHOTS MOTHER TRUCKERS!

Have one of those water balloon slingshots tried it with a tee shirt...worked well I guess, granted I'm 180 pounds and used to using a water balloon slingshot so your mileage my vary. If your 80 pounds soaking wet your fucked. Your better off with your big blast idea.

[uberninja333]

I am defiantly not using a slingshot. I'm also not going pneumatic, because I'd get pricy and we have a budget. I have a prototype hamp design im testing at the moment. If small scale works well, I'll make a full scale one.

[Super0dp]

For Shiggles I made a tennis ball launcher out of 3 titan tanks. Hooked all three to a single pipe and made it front loading. Air compressor with a splitter to all three tanks and it shot tennis balls 150 feet flat. If you have the time and the resorces you could build one.

Edited by Super0dp, 08 November 2012 - 09:59 AM.

[uberninja333]

The hamp design should work well, if I scale it up quite a bit. Small scale shoots markers 65 feet. Now to figure out a way to spring load it. Bungie cords should work nicely.

Edited by uberninja333, 12 November 2012 - 01:22 AM.

[Daniel Beaver]

The hamp design should work well, if I scale it up quite a bit. Small scale shoots markers 65 feet. Now to figure out a way to spring load it. Bungie cords should work nicely.

As long as you're using bungies, why not make a big slingshot? It's a lot more straightforward.

[uberninja333]

My teacher wants a gun. That's why.

[HasreadCoC]

My teacher wants a gun. That's why.

Then make a slingshot contained inside a black-painted PVC gun-looking shell.