Sunday, September 7, 2008

Marshmallow Shooter (automatic)


Hi again,

As promised, this is what I did this weekend. Well, actually, it took me about 20 minutes to do (including going to the store), but gave me much more fun. :-)
I got the plans from an instructables website... which is one of the best websites for a DIY'er.


I didn't follow the plans exactly, however, because I bought the wrong size pvc pipe (3' instead of 4'). So, I improvised. Here's the part list for mine.
  • 1/2" PVC tee (quantity: 2)
  • 1/2" PVC cap (quantity: 2)
  • 1/2" PVC elbow (quantity: 2)
  • 1/2" PVC pipe - 3" length (quantity: 3)
  • 1/2" PVC pipe - 5" length (quantity: 1) (handle)
  • 1/2" PVC pipe - 8" length (quantity: 2) (barrel and hopper)
  • 1/2" PVC pipe - 6" length (quantity: 1) (mouthpiece)
  • cotton ball, and tape (for design, etc)
  • mini marshmallows (ammo)
I cleaned out the mouthpiece first... you know, the typical soap and water thing. Here's the way its laid out.

The cotton ball is put in the 3" piece next to the handle, and it's so the air is directed straight thru to the barrel. I also add in a piece of tape so I'm sure nothing goes that way.
Anyway, put the pieces all together and you're ready to put ammo in and shoot. :-)
First remove the cap that's on the hopper. (top cap)



Load that baby up. :-) I've heard others line the inside of the pvc pipes with cornstarch for less stickage, but I didn't have that problem. I just gently rolled the ones that didn't quite fit, and they dropped in perfectly. I only tried it with about 8 marshmallows, but it was clear that you can easily load much more.



Now blow in the mouthpiece, and watch all (or at least most) of the marshmallows fly. :-) It's just great, and what distance.


Beware that it might cause a mess, and I don't think a lot of marshmallows are good for dogs, so only allow them to digest a minimum amount. I'm planning on making about 4 more of these to have a full out "war" with my friends. Should be fun.

Have a great time making the shooters, and enjoy them. Best of all, it's pretty cheap for the amount of fun you get from it. (2 guns cost me ~$3 a piece + ammo).

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

we did this but also filled the handle with marshmallows & capped it, allowing us to quickly flip down the empty hopper & flip up the 2nd loaded hopper, switching to the other one as the handle.

Anonymous said...

also, if you leave your clip turned at a 90 degree angle from the barrel, you can tip the gun to the side to load one marshmallow at a time from the hopper instead of shooting the whole clip @ once.

Fe said...

Those are excellent ideas. Thanks very much for commenting and letting us know.

Anonymous said...

pretty good but i think there should be another handle tho but over al awsome

Anonymous said...

"Check out this great vidoe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Iv_fwGGMY&feature
Do it yourself build a marshmallow gun that shoots 80 mph
Find the plans at http://nxtutorials.com/

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