My apologies if this doesn't count as a homemade, but I did create everything but the tanks and check valves.
Here’s what we’re making:
Pick your jaw off the desk, scroll down, and enjoy the writeup.
First off, Here’s what you will need:
Buzzbee Panther x8
Pipe that you can slide your hand into comfortably (I used 3” PEX)
Tape
¼” vinyl tubing (lots)
½” PVC endcap x4
½”PVC
½”CPVC
Dowel that will fit inside CPVC
Two part epoxy (lots)
Hotglue gun
Hotglue
Connecting t’s for tubing x7
Electrical tape
½” PVC coupler x4
Bike pump
Thick metal rod
Conical sealing bit
Small springs
Sharpie
Dremel with assorted bits
Drill
Pliers
Sidecutters
First off, we will be making the part that holds the panthers together and on your arm. To make this, I used 3” PEX pipe to create a nice solid mount for the tanks. I would recommend that you use whatever size pipe is most comfortable.
Start by cutting the pipe to your preferred length, most of this is preference based, but I cut mine down to this length:
Now mark out where you want to cut the pipe so that your hand will fit on the handle:
Cut out the marked areas
And sand down the edges nice and smooth:
Now for the handle.
I did this by drilling a hole through the pipe big enough for a dowel to fit into, and then fit cpvc on top of the dowel.
It turned out like this:
To evenly space the tanks, I wrapped tape around the base pipe once like so:
Took it off, marked eight evenly spaced lines, and then transferred those lines to the base pipe:
Your arm mount is finished for now, lets move on to the tanks.
First, separate the tank and pump from the trigger like so:
Save this piece from each tank:
As well as two of the pumps you cut off.
Mod the tank however you want, though I would recommend keeping that ring for use as a spacer when you attach the tank to the arm mount.
Glue your tanks on like so, and epoxy a length of tubing into the back of each one:
(Yes this is only four. It’s a lot easier to see than with eight.)
In order to allow the tanks to be fired off of one trigger, we’ll need to create some air splitters.
Cut off all of the ends of two tees, like this:
(You only need to do this for one if you are only using four tanks)
Just cut off the botton end of four others,
and epoxy them all together like so:
Glue four tanks to each end of the splitter. If you plan on using eight tanks like I did, you'll need to make two splitters.
Now it’s time to rig up the check valves.
Take one of your tees and attach a length of cpvc to both ends of the tee.
Now cut off the check valves from two panther pumps.
Wrap the two lengths of cpvc in electrical tape:
And glue on the two check valves:
Because the original Panther triggers didn’t provide enough airflow to vent four tanks at once, I made my own backpressure triggers that could handle the large amount of air.
First, drill a hole in one end cap like so:
Be sure that it allows your metal rod to slide freely.
Now cut a length of PVC long enough to seal one end cap on either end, and epoxy the recently drilled cap to one end.
Once the epoxy has cured, drill four ¼” holes in the attached cap, making sure to go through the PVC as well:
Ream out the end of the PVC just a little to create a better seal:
E-tape and glue a piece of brass just inside the PVC to prevent your seal from popping through the pipe:
Take the second end cap and drill two ¼” holes in it as shown.
Epoxy in some tubing and add a spring to the bottom:
Please wait for part two.
Edited by nine, 02 January 2013 - 11:55 PM.
