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, and even 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 the backyard.
Let’s start this project with a roll of scotch tape, a stack of sticky notes, and
a paper party hat. I’m using the small 2x2 squares, and if we wrap one carefully around
the tip of the hat, the cone shape acts as a forming guide for making a pointy paper
dart. We’ll need a little bit of tape to reinforce the tip and hold it altogether,
so when it slides off, it’ll still keep its conical shape. Now watch what happens
if we push the tip into a 1/2” PVC tube and give it a little twist. You can see the
pressure leaves a little mark right where it starts getting too big for the tube. Let’s
carefully trim along the inside edge of the marking, and just like that, we’ve made
a mini paper dart that’ll fit perfectly inside the blowgun barrel. But it’s not
quite ready to use yet. We still need to add some weight to the tips so they’ll fly straight.
I found one of the quickest and easiest ways to do that, is to squirt a little hot glue
inside the cones until they’re about 1/3rd of the way full. If you don’t have hot glue,
try pulling off a little piece of poster putty instead, and shove it down into the tip with
something like a screwdriver. That’ll work just as good. Alright, we’ve got some paper
darts. All we need now is a blowgun, so let’s work 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 reduces to a 1/2” slip connector on the other. Now
if we simply push the adaptor onto the tube and give it a little tap, we’ve just created
a super simple blowgun that can be used right away. You can see the weighted darts fly amazingly
straight, and will take out paper cups with an impressive amount of power. They’re just
strong enough to do a little damage, but still safe enough to shoot around the house. Not
that you should. But you could. Alright, let’s take 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 start by 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 it from side to side, the tape will start to
wrap itself around the tube. Doing the same thing with a second piece of tape will cover
any gaps, and just like that, our blowgun’s got a custom camo wrap. Now just add some
electrical tape around the tip of the barrel and around the mouthpiece, to cover the rough
edges and make it look a little nicer. At this point, you can see our blowgun is starting
to look pretty serious. So let’s get busy making 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 flat head on the top. You can see when a nail gets
pushed through an empty paper cone, it instantly transforms into a high speed nail dart. It’ll
work fine just like this, but to make it a little more durable, try adding a dab of hot
glue on the inside of the cone, then pulling down on the nail until the head catches firmly
at the bottom. They’ll need about 2 minutes for the glue to cool and harden, so while
we’re waiting, why don’t we try making something 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 into the glue. I call these ones my glass breakers,
and you’ll see how they got that name in just a minute. Now if you wanna experiment
with different types of darts, you can really use any length of nail you want. Smaller darts
will be easier to shoot, and fly faster, while heaver darts will penetrate deeper and do
more damage. Now that we’ve got some good ammunition, 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 off the 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 next step is to make another foam disc the exact
same way, then slide both of them onto the barrel of the blowgun. At this point, we’re
ready to modify the quiver so it’ll carry 8 rounds of ammunition. I found a phillips
head screwdriver and carefully heated it over a flame for about 20 seconds. That get’s
it just hot enough to burn little holes into the foam on contact. Just make sure you’re
only burning holes in the top disc because we’re gonna want the bottom one left
intact. You can see the 8 holes we made space the darts evenly, and guide the nails as they
push down into the padding below. These makeshift quivers keep all the darts securely in place,
while protecting the tips of the darts at the same time. Alright, our customized blowgun
is looking pretty impressive, and we could stop here. But let’s go one step further,
and give it a laser. I picked up a red laser pointer 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 about these $1 lasers are how one button operates
an LED flashlight, while the other activates the laser sight, making this system operable
in the dark. Now I got a slightly better laser from the pet section of the grocery store
and turned it into a custom laser scope that compliments the gun really well. With this
setup, the position of the laser can be fine tuned 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 took mine outside and found that the darts easily
penetrate into wooden posts with out even trying. 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 actually blows 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, and fired at a glass full of water. Needless to
say, they do live up to their name. Now you’ve probably realized that if you use different
rolls of tape, you can customize your blowgun any 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 incredible accuracy. Well now you know how to make an
incredible, laser guided blowgun, that will rattle 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’s it for now. If you liked this project perhaps
you’ll like some of my others. Check them out at www.thekingofrandom.com