Revolver Blowpipe

This is an Instructable as simple as can be, and with enough detail for anyone to make a Revolver Blowpipe, from PVC tubing, wood, some screws, hot glue, a rubber band or metal spring, and an O-ring.

You plug the ammo into the tubes, blow one, pull and twist the Cylinder, blow another, etc.

Easy!

Start with a couple of wood blocks, for this example, as the tubes are 20mm thick, they are wide enough for 2 of them and some space around, that's 4 by 6 Cm. They are deep enough for both of them to accommodate a portion of tube slightly longer than whatever you use for Projectiles, Paper cones, Nerfs, whatever.

You draw 2 diagonals on top...

Then, a straight line across it's length, 90º to it's face, right in the middle of it's length.

Now, you draw a circle, the size of the Tubes. Where the circle crosses the middle line, you mark two points.

Those 2 Circles will mark the two holes where the barrel and the cylinder's axis will be lodged. Notice they are adjacent, that is, touching each other.

Punch a center hole in those points, and drill a small diameter center hole, for one of the larger bits, can be for both, if you have an x and y Vise, if you have one, skip to Step 11.

If not...

If you don't have an x and y Vise, you have to just drill the first hole, all the way trough, on one of the 2 Circles marked..

The, you drill the smaller hole deeper down...

Then, you make sure the drill bit will lightly draw a circle exactly over the circle, position it so it does.

You will have this drilled, by the end of the drilling, 2 holes where 2 tubes can be lodged, only touching each other, not crossing each other, nor separated.

Just cut off the corners, round them off if you want to.

Repeat until you have 2 of these.

Here's how it will be assembled, the barrel and the cylinder have to be perfectly aligned. Mind, the barrel is the last thing to glue in place, so you use the free tubes as guides inside the wood blocks and only glue the wood blocks, yet.

The cylinder and barrel will be aligned, like this.

Time for the indexing ramp cuts on the center cylinder tube. For that, you have to mark 6 points around the end of the center cylinder tube, the easiest way is to place the tube on a circle with 6 lines drawn from it's center out. On a printer it's a cinch, if you have that, skip to step 19, if not, the old ruler and compass will do the trick. Remember how it's done?

A circle...

A line across it...

Two circles centered where the line crosses the first circle, all the same size...

Then, these points will serve to draw 2 other lines. All these lines cut a circle in 6 equidistant portions.

Just put the tube over that circle, and draw the lines, straight 90º up, on the tube, from the lines on the circle.

You will have 6 vertical lines, now just turn the tube around and the pencil set on a certain height, will draw an horizontal line all around. That's where the cuts on the tube will end.

After the cuts, you will have this.

Then, from the top of each segment to it's bottom, cut a diagonal cut, to make the ramp cuts.

Round the points a bit.

As you can see, for a better comprehension, I'm not showing the barrel, here, the indexing cuts will align the cylinder with the barrel.

You turn the cylinder, ramp-wise, and the next round will be ready to shoot.

So you draw the profile of one of those cuts, into a round piece of wood...

After cutting that profile, it should fit like this.

Time to drill a hole on the front block, this way, up, to be under the indexing tube's front.

So when you plug that piece, it will index the tube right in place.

On the back, the wood block will have a wood screw touching the top tube of the cylinder, so as to perfectly fix it in place. a good way to do that, is to push the barrel back trough the wood blocks, and set the wood screw that way.

Remember to draw the direction by witch the cylinder will turn, on top of the wood block.

The Cylinder is first made, aligning the 6 tubes, flat against a surface, around the indexing tube, but gluing ONLY those tubes together, not the indexing tube, yet!

Two rubber bands, or better still, tie strips, hold the tubes so you glue them together, around the central indexing tube, not gluing that one yet, remember.

Now, to align the cylinder and barrel...

Take a wooden dowel, longer than the cylinder's tubes, and plug that into both the top tube of the cylinder, and the barrel.

Now, mark 6 lines on the indexing tube, each line between the tubes.

Then, draw an horizontal line, across those lines, and drill some screws onto the tube.

With the cylinder and barrel aligned, again, glue some hot glue into the screw heads and onto the tubes of the cylinder, so to fix the cylinder to be indexed, and aligned to the barrel.

As the hot glue is all into those nooks between the tubes, the final touch is to have a rubber band to go trough the central tube, 2 O-rings out back, and a plate and an O-ring at front, to make the cylinder rotate, while connected to the blowpipe.

Here's how the rubber band gets set.

There! You've made a Revolver Blowpipe, 6 shots of fun.

So now, it's up to you.

Make your own.

Here's the 6 shots, by the way. My next video will be better! ;)