I just made a laser guided blowgun for under$3, but don’t let its simplicity fool you.
It’s powerful enough to break glass, andeven blast darts into concrete.
In this project we’re making a custom laser sighted blowgun, that not only looks cool, but adds another dimension to the fun you can have, in thebackyard.
Let’s start this project with a roll ofscotch tape, a stack of sticky notes, and a paper party hat.
I’m using the small 2x2squares, and if we wrap one carefully around the tip of the hat, the cone shape acts asa forming guide for making a pointy paper dart.
We’ll need a little bit of tape toreinforce the tip and hold it altogether, so when it slides off, it’ll still keepits conical shape.
Now watch what happens if we push the tip into a 1/2” PVC tubeand give it a little twist.
You can see the pressure leaves a little mark right whereit starts getting too big for the tube.
Let’s carefully trim along the inside edge of themarking, and just like that, we’ve made a mini paper dart that’ll fit perfectlyinside the blowgun barrel.
But it’s not quite ready to use yet.
We still need to addsome weight to the tips so they’ll fly straight.
I found one of the quickest and easiest waysto do that, is to squirt a little hot glue inside the cones until they’re about 1/3rdof the way full.
If you don’t have hot glue, try pulling off a little piece of poster puttyinstead, and shove it down into the tip with something like a screwdriver.
That’ll workjust as good.
Alright, we’ve got some paper darts.
All we need now is a blowgun, so let’swork on making that next.
I went to the hardware store and picked up a 2 foot length of 1/2”PVC pipe, and a reducing adaptor.
This female adaptor is 3/4” on one side, and reducesto a 1/2” slip connector on the other.
Now if we simply push the adaptor onto the tubeand give it a little tap, we’ve just created a super simple blowgun that can be used rightaway.
You can see the weighted darts fly amazingly straight, and will take out paper cups withan impressive amount of power.
They’re just strong enough to do a little damage, but stillsafe enough to shoot around the house.
Not that you should.
But you could.
Alright, let’stake this system to a whole new level with a roll of duct tape, and some wire nails.
I got this roll of camouflage tape from the hardware store, and we’ll need to startby putting a long strip on the table with the sticky side facing up.
Now watch this.
If we carefully set the pipe lengthwise in the center of the tape, then gently rock itfrom side to side, the tape will start to wrap itself around the tube.
Doing the samething with a second piece of tape will cover any gaps, and just like that, our blowgun’sgot a custom camo wrap.
Now just add some electrical tape around the tip of the barreland around the mouthpiece, to cover the rough edges and make it look a little nicer.
Atthis point, you can see our blowgun is starting to look pretty serious.
So let’s get busymaking some rounds of ammunition that are a little more serious as well.
I’m using#16 and #18 wire nails, because they’re relatively lightweight, and have a nice flathead on the top.
You can see when a nail gets pushed through an empty paper cone, it instantlytransforms into a high speed nail dart.
It’ll work fine just like this, but to make it alittle more durable, try adding a dab of hot glue on the inside of the cone, then pullingdown on the nail until the head catches firmly at the bottom.
They’ll need about 2 minutesfor the glue to cool and harden, so while we’re waiting, why don’t we try makingsomething a little different.
A stack of colored sticky notes will make different colored darts, and just for fun I snipped the tips off these purple ones and drove small screws deep intothe glue.
I call these ones my glass breakers, and you’ll see how they got that name injust a minute.
Now if you wanna experiment with different types of darts, you can reallyuse any length of nail you want.
Smaller darts will be easier to shoot, and fly faster, whileheaver darts will penetrate deeper and do more damage.
Now that we’ve got some goodammunition, we’re gonna need a way to store it.
I found a 6” length of 1/2”foam pipe insulation for a little over a dollar, and tried cutting little donut shapes offthe end, about 3/4” thick.
I used some electrical tape to reinforce the outside of the disc, then just for looks, used a black marker to color the foam a little bit darker.
The nextstep is to make another foam disc the exact same way, then slide both of them onto thebarrel of the blowgun.
At this point, we’re ready to modify the quiver so it’ll carry8 rounds of ammunition.
I found a phillips head screwdriver and carefully heated it overa flame for about 20 seconds.
That get’s it just hot enough to burn little holes intothe foam on contact.
Just make sure you’re only burning holes in the top disc becausewe’re gonna want the bottom one left intact.
You can see the 8 holes we made spacethe darts evenly, and guide the nails as they push down into the padding below.
These makeshiftquivers keep all the darts securely in place, while protecting the tips of the darts atthe same time.
Alright, our customized blowgun is looking pretty impressive, and we couldstop here.
But let’s go one step further, and give it a laser.
I picked up a red laserpointer from the dollar store and hot glued it 8-1/2” back from the tip of the barrel, then reinforced it with a couple of zip ties, for durability.
The thing I like best aboutthese $1 lasers are how one button operates an LED flashlight, while the other activatesthe laser sight, making this system operable in the dark.
Now I got a slightly better laserfrom the pet section of the grocery store and turned it into a custom laser scope thatcompliments the gun really well.
With this setup, the position of the laser can be finetuned with amazing precision, which you can see, results in surprisingly accurate shots.
Alright, now that we’ve got a custom, laser guided blowgun, let’s have some fun.
I tookmine outside and found that the darts easily penetrate into wooden posts with out eventrying.
They’ll also stick into tree trunks, or completely abuse the side of a wooden deck, like the one on my kids playhouse.
I was able to hit some targets from over 100 feet away, and if I missed, the darts just sailed right into the concrete wall behind it, which actuallyblows my mind completely.
I still don’t really know how these stick into cinderblock, but they do.
For one last experiment, I tried loading one of the glass breaker rounds, andfired at a glass full of water.
Needless to say, they do live up to their name.
Now you’veprobably realized that if you use different rolls of tape, you can customize your blowgunany way you want, and if you want a safer kind of ammo, try using colored mini marshmallows.
They’re the perfect fit for 1/2” PVC, and can be shot safely, but still with incredibleaccuracy.
Well now you know how to make an incredible, laser guided blowgun, that willrattle off nail darts with power and precision.
The best part is, if you make these in bulk, they can cost as little as $2.
50 each.
And that’s including the $1 laser.
Well that’sit for now.
If you liked this project perhaps you’ll like some of my others.
Check themout at www.
thekingofrandom.
com.
