This rocket launcher made from PVC and a bungee cord can launch rockets made from pool noodles up to 50 feet
To start this build you'll need to head to your local hardware store to grab some PVC pipe and to pick up some ABS and
PVC fittings. To start off we'll want a length of 2-inch diameter PVC a two
Inch slip to thread adapter and a two inch to 1/2 inch
Adapter all in PVC. The projectiles for this whole contraption will be made of pool noodles
So we've got a couple of those lying around
I have a two inch by two inch by one and a half inch by one and a half inch ABS cross piece
Let's start by cutting our 2 inch diameter PVC pipe to 1 foot in length using some ABS to PVC cement
We'll attach our cross onto our 2 inch diameter pipe use some paper towel to wipe off any excess glue
next we have a 2 inch to 1/2 inch adapter which will fit into the other side of our ABS tube
At the other end of our 2 inch diameter PVC pipe. We want to add the 2 inch slip to thread adapter
This piece is smooth on one side and will fit right over our pipe and on the other side is designed to take a 2
inch threaded pipe our green glue is specifically meant for
Combining the 2 different materials of our ABS and our PVC pipe when we're combining PVC to other PVC
We want to use glue specifically made for that
These 4 pieces will make up part of the main body and the air chamber where pressure is built to launch our rocket
Using these 2 side pieces off of our ABS cross. Let's add a handle for ease of use
we have two one and a half inch to
3/4 inch adapters which will allow us to go from the ABS plastic down to some standard 3/4 inch PVC pipe
We also have these for PVC
3/4 inch elbows, which will let us build a handle that wraps around our ABS cross piece
Once again using our ABS to PVC cement, let's attach our two adapters
On both sides of this cross we'll use some 3/4 inch PVC to connect our pieces together
short ones
Connecting onto the sides and one long piece that will act as our handle going across
I need four pieces of the 3/4 inch PVC just over 2 inches long
We want to cut the PVC handle at about 9 and 1/4 inches long
To be able to attach all of these pieces we're going to do things in a bit of a strange order
I'll put the elbow on one side of our large handle and then I´ll fix that with the two small pieces of the
3/4 inch pipe on one end
Another piece of 3/4 inch pipe will be attached to the bottom and
An additional piece will be used to connect two of our elbows into a sort of u-shape
The u-shape will go on last fitting over both the long and the short pieces of the 3/4 inch pipe at the same time
With the handle glued in place, we now have the main body of our pool noodle rocket launcher assembled
Let's move on to the plunger. The main body of our plunger will be one in a quarter inch PVC
There are two different lengths that we need to cut off of our one and a quarter inch pipe
One is 1 foot long and the other is two and a half inches
We have the PVC cut into two separate pieces because we're going to use a coupler and a cap as part of the plunger design
this plunger design is borrowed from
youtuber Nighthawk and Light who has a similar pool noodle rocket launcher design. When I was trying to come up with a design for a
Large pool noodle rocket launcher his design popped up and I was amazed at how similarly our ideas
coincided. This rubber o-ring has a one and a half inch inner diameter and a one and seven eighths inch outer diameter
We're using this rubber o-ring because when it's pulled over a one and a quarter inch piece of PVC pipe
It makes a diameter that almost
Perfectly fits inside of a two inch pipe the coupler and the cap will be used to hold it in place on
the section of one and a quarter inch PVC
using our PVC glue
Let's attach first the coupler and then the cap to our small section of pipe with the o-ring in between them
With our coupler and cap attached around our o-ring we can now attach that whole piece
Onto our one foot section of one and a quarter inch pipe
We've now made a plunger that fits very snugly into our two-inch PVC body
We only want our plunger to go to about the end of the 2-inch piece of PVC
Not entering the ABS cross piece
Let's grab a piece of our pool noodle and make a stopper that will remain inside the interior of our launcher
Our pool noodle is cut to the right length, but it's still a little bit too wide to fit nicely into the PVC
let's cut out a small section of the middle that should still allow the two round pieces to fit together and be inserted into the
tube
The two sections now have a much smaller
Diameter and still have enough of a hole down the middle that air should be able to flow easily
To ensure that air really can travel all the way down the length of this without being slowed down
Let's use our exacto knife and hollow this out just a bit more
Nighthawk and Light had a really cool design on his channel and I liked it a lot but there were a couple things that I
Wanted to change for this adaption one is I wanted it to fire automatically
So I wanted to make this whole thing
Spring-loaded the other change I wanted to make is that on his device you had to draw back the plunger add the pool noodle
Ammunition and then fire it by pushing the plunger down
I wanted to be able to have the pool noodle on drop back and fire all in one go to do that
We need to allow the air to flow in when we're pulling back but be stopped when it's moving forward
So we need to have the air travel through the plunger and then be stopped by a one-way valve at the back
The design for this one-way valve is extremely similar to something Grant has made previously. We have a three quarter inch male adapter
Which on one side is a press fitting for three-quarter inch PVC and then reduces down in diameter
So that it's narrower on the bottom than it is at the top
This O ring fits perfectly down into the wider end of our adapter
This rubber stopper is wider than the o-ring at the top but narrower at the bottom
Which means it can fit about halfway down into it
the result is that any pressure coming from the wide end will push the stopper down into the o-ring and
Restrict the flow of the gas pressure coming from the narrow end will move the stopper away from the o-ring
Allowing the gas to flow around it and into the system if I try and blow into the narrow end the air travels easily
But if I try and blow into the wide end the stopper is forced up against the o-ring and doesn't go anywhere
Our connecting piece of 3/4 inch PVC
Needs to be close enough that it will prevent the rubber stopper from moving far
But leave enough space that it can still move to let air through
Let's cut a two-inch section of our PVC to complete our one-way valve
By itself the PVC pipe may prevent the stopper from moving
But the stopper is actually able to fit into a piece of 3/4 inch PVC with a little bit of pressure
So let's add another barrier onto the bottom of this piece of PVC in the form of a segment of nail
Crossing through from one side to the other. I've selected a nail and a drill bit that are the same diameter
So we'll drill a hole through our PVC and then fit our nail through trimming off the excess
Our nail is almost the perfect width
Well, let's use a file to take down the sharp edges to be sure that it will really easily fit inside the adapter
Now even with the nail in place our PVC pipe should fit smoothly into the adapter
Just like that, we have a one-way valve that only cost about a dollar fifty to build
now, of course
Our one-way valve is only going to make any difference if air can get down to it currently our plunger is all stopped up
So that no air can get past the o-ring
Let's drill a hole into the tip of our plunger so that air will travel down inside it and reach our air valve
We're going to want the elastic that powers our whole rocket launcher to pass behind the tee and stay in place
Let's drill a small hole into the back of the tee and install an eye bolt that will fit inside
That we can let our elastic pass through to keep it from sliding off either side
We can now begin assembling the back end of our plunger
we'll also need one small section of
3/4 inch PVC to connect our T to our adapter the back of our plunger will have a one and a quarter inch coupler
Attaching to a 1 and 1/4 to 3/4 inch reducer a small piece of 3/4 inch PVC
Will attach a T. The T will be stopped on one side by a plug and on the other side
We can add our one-way valve at this point
We should be able to attach our entire plunger assembly onto the body of our launcher
but before we do it's still a little tough to
Slide this thing inside the launcher the rubber grips the inside walls of the PVC pretty well
So let's add an oil as a lubricant
This liquid silicone should prevent it from binding
if you don't have silicone you can use things like cooking oil or
Wd-40 but be aware that some oils will degrade the rubber seal overtime
We can now thread our two adaptors together locking our plunger in place
The plunger moves easily and air is definitely pushed out the front. I have here a three-foot bungee cord
Let's adapt this to give our launcher some spring power
Our elastic will wrap down through the I bolt and then hook around both sides of our plastic tee using a couple of zip ties
The last step to make it functional is to add a small piece of one-half inch PVC
Onto the very front our pool noodle will fit over that and help guide our Rockets
Let's cut a piece about 15 inches long off of this 1/2 inch PVC pipe
Our elastic powered PVC pool noodle launcher is built and at this point what we need is some ammunition
We've got a few colors of pool noodles a couple of sheets of craft foam a foam
Football this and our glue gun is all we're going to need to make our missiles to start
Let's grab a pool noodle and cut off a length 15 inches long
At this point our tube is hollow and air can pass right through it
So we need a way to stop that up. Once again borrowing from Nighthawk and light and his design of these similar noodles
Let's cut off a strip of this craft foam roll it up and use that as a plug in our pool noodle
To add a little bit of weight and shape to our missile
Let's cut off the front of this foam football where it has a circular diameter. That's the same as our pool noodle
We can then glue that on to give it a nice point and some weight at the other end of our missile
We're going to want to add some fins and we want them evenly spaced out
We can use more of our craft foam to make those fins
Adding a little bit of a twist into our fins should help stabilize our missiles in flight
With the fins attached our missile is ready to fly. We now have our launcher in a few different missiles
And of course both of those also can have a little bit of decoration done
I hit the tree
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