Hi All,
Who knows the best way to make a Pea-shooter? I want one for 2 !/4″ common nails and one for 1 1/2″ Blue nails?
dfc
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Replies
Go to auto parts store, find brake tubing to fit nail heads. 18" to 24" should do.
Go to stationary store, find pencil clips to fit tubing.
Find spring steel or hardened rods at welding and iron suppy to fit in rods.
#8 rebar x 4" weight/handle for common shooter, #4 for blue nails.
Drill and tap 1" deep the ends of the rebars and run a die 3/4" down the rods, Lok-Tite the threads before screwing in the rods.
Drill a 1/8 hole in the sides of the tubes just below a nail length from the ends. File the holes so the 'burr' on the end of the pencil clip fits in.
When the point of the nail is flush with the end of the tube, the head should be held in by the pencil clip.
SamT
Find spring steel or hardened rods at welding and iron suppy to fit in rods.
#8 rebar x 4" weight/handle for common shooter, #4 for blue nails.
Drill and tap 1" deep the ends of the rebars and run a die 3/4" down the rods, Lok-Tite the threads before screwing in the rods
i dont get this part. got a pic?Tmaxxx
Urban Workshop Ltd
Vancouver B.C.
cheers. Ill buy.
When DFC said "peashooter" for nails, I thought of the slidehammer type nailing device used to drive nails in hard to reach corners.
Did he mean blowgun, used to fire darts with lung power?
SamT
Edit: change pronouns to reflect who posted what. st
Edited 5/8/2005 10:25 am ET by SamT
Yeah, I guess I got confused as well. Anyhow, hope you have a good time with the blowgun.
Hi Sam,
No, You got what I meant. These other guys have probably never worked heavy construction. I worked on a multi-billion dollar job up north and the company (Bectel) used to make them in their machine shop and allot them to us. I just never took account on how they where made.
Thanks, I will build one and let you know how it goes.
dfc
Edited 5/8/2005 1:57 pm ET by dfc
I've worked many jobs in "heavy construction" but just have never seen one of these used. I'm just curious as to the advantage of them. Are they for placing the nail in hard to reach places? Perhaps it's for placing a nail right where you need it like through a hole of a hanger. I use pneumatic tools for those purposes.
Yep. In those hard-to-reach places.
Yeah, I see now from going to the website. Looks like a great tool that I suddenly feel that I need.
Hi Jer,
They are quite common. And use mostly when you are building bulkheads with massive amounts of re-reenforcement bar that you have to construct around and can't get a hammer in to nail the 1 X material to the strong back.
Edited 5/10/2005 8:19 pm ET by dfc
That would make perfect sense. See, you can teach an old dog!
I got the idea these really aren't for shooting nails with breath power--what are they for?
They are a slide hammer.
A tube to hold the nail and a weight handled rod to drive them thru the tube.
They don't need a 'keeper' (pencil clip above) but it makes them easier to use.
View Image
Basic Peashooter
View Image
Keeper detail
Oops! the rectangle above the nail head is the hole. The arrow points to the 'burr.'
If you're using brake line tubing, you can couple a nail long piece of common steel tubing to stainless, then magnetise the common steel length.
SamT
That is pretty clever! If you could find a way to feed the nails automatically, it'd be almost as good as a pneumatic gun!
Along the lines of what others were saying, when I worked at the transit (bus) company I went into the shop and grabbed a brake line off a pegboard and a cotton tipped wooden applicator ("Q-tip") out of the first aid kit and I shot the applicator quite a ways. It turned out that I picked the right length of brake line by accident; later when I tried longer or shorter they didn't work. Always the hard worker, on another job we were putting the caps very lightly on empty 2-liter plastic pop bottles and laying them on their sides. We'd jump on them and shoot the caps down the hallway. I found if you put the caps on enough to engage a couple of the threads it would make it spin and it would go farther.
A red Scotchlock, the old ones with the steel bead and thinner plastic covering, fired with a strong breath through a length of half-inch EMT will raise a welt at a distance of over thirty feet. This with the receiving part covered by heavy denim and, presumably, some sort of underwear.Learned this when an inexperience roofing crew started laying shingles as we, the electricians, were wiring a house. Someone had set the compressor pressure to high and when a nail would match up with a soft spot in the 3/8 waferboard decking, got to love dirt cheap construction, the nail would come through the deck and bombard the crew below. Not as much of a safety hazard as it would seem as the nails were traveling quite slowly after making their way through the shingle and deck. I guess if you were looking up and caught one square in the eye ... As it was none came very close but the gauntlet had been thrown down and, standing up for electricians in general, and others who get dumped on from a great height, retaliation was due.After raiding the truck for the conduit and obsolete Scotchlocks we planned out revenge. One man was sent out front to the truck. Another was stationed with the blowgun and ammunition at the back inside the drip line of the roof. When the roofers were all looking toward the truck and bent over nailing the man, while seeming to dig for tools and materials, would give a sign. The man in the back with a sight line through the back and front doors would then step backwards while facing the front. When his desired target, the backsides of the bent over roofers, was spotted above the drip edge he would fire a single wirenut and step back below the edge of the roof.A loud cry of pain proving the accuracy and effectiveness of the fire. After we had shot two we gave it a rest and stashed the weapon. The roofers had quit laying shingles, as evidenced by a lack of nailgun noises, and proceeded to loudly descend the ladder. One set to dropping his pants so the other roofers could inspect the welt. This almost giving the joke away as our crew had to stifle a laugh as the roofers started looking closely at each others bottoms. Oh but for a camera.Only after they got into the speculative phase of wondering what had inflicted the pain did one of my crew falsely note that there had been a large bee hive in a nearby tree. Immediately the roofers fell upon this as explanation. Some time was spent inspecting the welts closely for stingers. They then, trousers return to the upright position, spent some time looking for a nest and bees. I helped by falsely noting that I had seen several large bees flying around previously but they seemed to be gone now. I also noted some bees can be very territorial. After some time the roofers returned to their work and we 'stung' a couple more before the roofers stormed down and abandoned the project for the remainder of the day. We finished before the roofers returned but noted with some satisfaction that their boss made a note on following houses to search the area for bee hives. He also produced a 'sting kit' he had purchased.For over a year when it would come up those from this electrical crew would, upon hearing concerns about bees, nod and knowingly smile. It remained an inside joke for some time with our electricians who openly, and loudly, lamented the fate of the 'poor roofers who not only worked in the Florida heat but had to face persecution from the insect world'.
4LORN1,Thanks for a great post! Just out of curiousity, what is the proper blowpipe length again?Bill
Anything even loosely around 30" seems ideal both for power with average lung capacity and aiming. Too short and it seems to lose power. Too much longer and it gets unwieldy and hard to hide.Play nice and have the people wear safety glasses. One of these shot with enthusiasm will put a small but noticeable dent in a 2by4. Scary to thing about what it could do to an eye. Of course, as a friend says: 'If no one loses an eye how do you know you were having fun?' Hopefully this is more a joke.
Well, I certainly have learned a lot of new things from this thread!
One bit of useless trivia about air power--Napoleon outlawed air powered guns and I think the penalty was pretty severe for having one--maybe even death. (He outlawed them because they could kill with little sound. (Seems like bows and crossbows would be worse, but....)) I was surprised that there were air guns in the early 1800's, but there were. If I remember right, the tank was about the size and shape of a grapefruit.
Pictures and diagrams !What do you think this is ? A homebuilding forum ???We MUST have pictures and daigrams !!
A person with no sense of humor about themselves, has no sense at all.
<Pictures and diagrams !>
Forgot to look back at what I wrote--if it's the air guns outlawed by Napoleon, I don't even know where I read it! Maybe the "American Rifleman" magazine.
30" of 1/2" copper water supply pipe works really well.If you want ammunition with less potential to take out an eye why not cast your own out of plaster or mortar. Then you get slugs just small enough to slide nicely in the copper tubing. I always used plaster or drywall mud.It occurs to me that if you mixed the stuff correctly you could make "bullets" that would mostly disintigrate on impact. No evidence.
I googled.There's a whole airgun community out there !!Apparently the airguns in question were carried by the austrians against napoleon. A "cartridge", (Air tank) would be good for 10 shots. The soldier carried two extra cartridges. This was in the time of "put in da powder, put in da wad, tamp it all down, put in da lead ball, tamp again, aim, and shoot.You can imagine how devastating a gun that could be ready again as quickly as you could drop the load in and shoot, could be.Of course, the real drawback to all that was the amount of pumping it took to fill those cartridges in the first place. Once your 30 shots are gone, it could take hours to recharge with a hand pump.When we hear airguns we think of toys. BB guns. Pellet rifles at the worst. These guns were the same calibre as any other military rifle...I'm thinking that if it ever comes to it, an air powered gun would be the ideal survival gun. No need to find or make gunpowder, etc...
A person with no sense of humor about themselves, has no sense at all.
Beeman SLR-98 .22 Calibre [$1085.00] Supplied By: Beeman Precision AustraliaMethod of Propulsion: Spring pistonWeight: 3.6kg (7.9lbs)Overall Length: 99cm (39")Barrel: Break barrelSights: Simmons Whitetail ClassicMagazine: 7-shotStock: WalnutSafety: Automatic with cockingVelocity fps: 780Made in: USAScore: 18 - Highest-scoring hunting air rifle
Hammerli AR50 .177 Calibre (4.5mm) [$1750.00] Supplied By: Frontier ArmsMethod of Propulsion: Air compressedWeight: 4.3kg (9.4lbs)Overall Length: 108cm (40.9")Barrel: Barrel weight on the endSights: Precision peepStock: Laminated wood, universal colorSafety: No Velocity: 170mps Made in: SwitzerlandScore: 19.5 - Highest-scoring competition rifle
Benjamin Legacy 1000
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Made in the USA!Designed in the timeless tradition of all Benjamin rifles and proudly made in the USA, the Legacy 1000 is a gun to pass from generation to generation. This break barrel air rifle delivers superior velocity, accuracy and durability. Firing a .177 caliber pellet at up to 1000 feet per second the Legacy 1000 is a top performer in its field. The Legacy 1000 was designed with the shooter in mind. The Legacy 1000 is easier to cock, requiring considerably less effort than comparable guns in this class. Other features include a micro-adjustable, fiber optic sight system, a grooved receiver with scope stop, an adjustable two stage trigger, and a North American hardwood stock with laser engraved checkering and a ventilated rubber recoil pad. The Legacy 1000 is the most powerful airgun Benjamin has ever offered. See what 100 years of gun making experience can do for you. Overall length is 43 inches, weight 6.5 lbs, and has 28 lbs of cocking effort. .177 cal shoots 1000 fps , .22 cal shoots 800 fps.
SB1K77
Benjamin Legacy 1000
$162.00
SB8M22
Benjamin Legacy 1000 .22 cal
$162.00
For comparison, a .22 short round moves at about 750 FPS.
Wow ! Almost 2 thousand dollars for an air rifle !!But look at that design. Doesn't it just say, "don't mess with me" ???; )And you answered my question before I could ask it. Thanks for the FPS...My pellet rifle uses the .177 pellets. I have no idea what the fps is. It will only pump once. That was a dissapointment. I like the kind that you can pump up several times, to get better velocity. But it DOES put a pretty good dent in a metal door from about 20 feet away. LOL Made in china. Utilitarian looks, like the ak-47. LOL
A person with no sense of humor about themselves, has no sense at all.
Good point about air guns not needing powder and so on. With modern compressors, you could really make quite a weapon--and feeding it would be a breeze, to pardon the pun--no need to get rid of the casings. Basically a big paintball gun. Man, I bet we got lots of people thinking! So many compressors out there! (And I know you all have fertile imaginations!)
As noted by some folks air guns are a good investment as long as you get he right ones. Hunting and target shooting are potentially beneficial.Precharged guns that have a hand pump or single-pump pneumatics which include their own pump in the weapon itself are good. They are capable of thousands of shots fired with few or no expendable parts. A few drops of oil and perhaps an O-ring or two.Spring guns are even more a bargain. A good one can essentially fire shots in the thousands before even being broken in. Tens of thousands before any appreciable wear as long as reasonable care is taken. A few drops of oil for cleaning and rust prevention finish the kit.The pellets work far better than the BBs. In a pinch lead balls can be cast simply enough for extended sustainability but the commercial pellets are cheap. Tins of 250 or 500 count go for $4-$8. About as cheap as it gets for any gun. A .177 pointed hunting pellet fired by a magnum gun at around 1000fps easily takes squirrel and medium sized rabbits. The .22 at around 800fps can take large rabbits and similarly sized game including ducks and turkey or so I read.There are much larger bore models available. Wackenbush makes a fine, and pricey, series of guns in .30, .40 and .50 cal and there are other makers. The high power .50 models can take virtually every game species in North America at around 150 meters. Mostly dependent on the ability of the shooter to place the shot reliably.If you plan on installing a telescopic sight make sure it is one designed for a pellet rifle. Particularly if it is a magnum gun and absolutely if it is a spring gun of any design. The later units place unique inertial loads, a push back and sharp snap forward, on sights that will quickly destroy unhardened units. Units designed for magnum rifles may last, or not, so be sure to ask the manufacturer.Of course target shooting for fun and practice are worthy ends in themselves.
"Of course target shooting for fun and practice are worthy ends in themselves."Strangely enough, that hadn't even occurred to me. I got the pellet rifle to take care of mountain beavers, rats, mice, and the like. But with the very high ridge I have here, no reason why I shouldn't do some target plinking with my pellet gun.And will make me more likely to actually hit what I aim at with it, when it counts. LOL=0)
A person with no sense of humor about themselves, has no sense at all.
http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/cannon/air_gun.html=0)
A person with no sense of humor about themselves, has no sense at all.
Thos air guns remind me of a gun I made when I was about 14. I taped 1/2" by a foot long electrical conduit to a broken axe handle. Push homemede firecrackers (pierce and accordian roll "caps" (like toy guns use) on a pin, wrap with tape and carefully remove pin) down the muzzle to where the conduit butted against the wood of the handle and then drop in a marble or whatever.
Once for kicks I used two or three rolls of caps for the charge and a wad of aluminum foil for the projectile. Put two pieces of 3/4" Styrofoam between two bricks about six feet from the muzzle. When it fired, the Styrofoam flipped end for end out of the bricks and the foil put a 1" diameter hole through both pieces. I was lucky I never split the conduit, as in the early stages of testing I held it in my hands and closed my eyes when firing it (ears rang for several minutes afterwards!).
You should see some of the air cannons that they use for watermelon shooting contests. There is at least one out there that will throw a whole watermelon about a mile.
Yeah somewhere near where I live they have a pumpkin lobbing contest and last year's winner used compressed air. Pretty impressive!
Ahh. The good old days. Young adventurous minds, various flammables, gunpowder, fire, explosions. As natural as the sun coming up.Of course what was child's play back then has been demonized and termed 'anti-social'. As if kids aren't a little anti-social in that fire, gore and explosions are fascinating to young minds. The fact that kids have done this for hundreds of years gets overlooked.Now such activities will cause the entire 'homeland security' apparatus to activate. Alarm, disruption and, sometimes, mass evacuations, both flavors, follow. The arrival of SWAT teams and the strange sight of kids being threatened by automatic weapon toting Stormtroopers it the logical, and not uncommon, outcome. Stern looks, hairy eyeballs shaded by lowered eyebrows followed by the absurdity of kids having to explain their perfectly natural tendencies to grim and robed authority figures is the normal course these days.
Lots of times we tested various devices on the school grounds--after hours the grounds were deserted and open and we knew no one would be there to get hurt. Recently some kids tried the old 2 liter bottle with drain cleaner and aluminum pellets trick at a school and created all sorts of alarms of a terrorist threat nature. (And theirs didn't even go off.)
Sam,
That "clip" is a nice accessory! I remember a guy that had ordered a magnetic trim nail shooter that he didn't realize wouldn't hold aluminum nails, but the clip overcomes that. I'd tape it on or lose it for sure.
I'm thinking blow-gun. Or are you thinking a spring-actuated things?
Anyway, did a little empirical research on blowguns during lunch hours at an engineering office.
From firearms we know: The projectile accelerates as long as it is in the barrel. It starts to deaccelerate as soon as it leaves the barrel. This made for even longer barrels back in the days of slower-burning powder.
Your breath is VERY slow in comparison. Very long lengths help. Like 12" works nicely at 10 feet. 48" sends the same mini-marshmellow 80 feet or more!
Since that research, I've seen Nat'l Geo photos of monkey hunters with blowguns like 10-, 12-feet long. Halfway to the monkey, seemingly. But I'm sure they got great velocity and great aiming with that set-up.
For nails in a blowgun, I'd use a sabot. Mini-marshmellows might be about right in 1/2" PVC.
In a large co-op woodshop I used to work in, the home made blow guns were great after hours entertainment. A piece of half inch pvc pipe works fine or we would use electrical conduit about 36", it's more straight. Take a sheetrock nail and touch the end up on the grinder so it's pin-prick sharp. Next take masking tape, (we used the blue stuff), and about halfway down the nail wrap a piece of tape around so it's stuck on the shaft and the head with a conical tail about 1 1/2" long and so the large end is a bit larger than the circumfrence of the pipe hole. Lastly , insert the nail into the mouthpiece end of the pipe till the conical tail stops it from going any further then take a razor blade and carefully trim the tail piece so it's flush with the end of the pipe and the cone tail just slips inside the pipe so there's no air to escape as it shoots down the barrel. Make sure the nail and the tape tail are on center with eachother. Take aim and blow. Make up a bunch of these. It's surprisingly accurate.
Next, I'll tell you how to make a potato gun using pvc and propane that'll fire a potato a good 250 yards!
B-cap wire nuts in 1/2" conduit also work. (Don't ask why I know).
I had a forman years ago who could play a piece of conduit like a bugle.People's dreams are made out of what they do all day. The same way a dog that runs rabbits will dream of rabbits. It's what you do that makes your soul, not the other way around.
- Barbara Kingsolver
i knew a vegas showgirl who could do much the same thing...
m
ya, we're having fun.
bwaa!
sobriety is the root cause of dementia.
Sounds like a keeper! ;}
Geeeeeeeee.. LOL That was funny...
Gee, do you think that post will make it in the 'tips and techniques' section of the next issue?
2 !/4" common nails
Dam man, glad I ain't working on your site, them things would hurt!
sobriety is the root cause of dementia.
Try this link. renohardware