Nerf Dart Blowgun

(From The Geek Dad’s Guide to Weekend Fun )

If you take a Nerf blaster apart, you’ll learn that its propulsion system is based on a mechanical force applied to the dart, usually by a spring-loaded firing pin. A dart is loaded, the pin is cocked, trigger pulled, and the pin hits the dart and launches it down a barrel. This works pretty well. But it can work better.

Aside from mechanical force, another good way to propel something down a tube is by pneumatics. Indeed, if you think about it, that’s how real guns work: The explosion of gunpowder causes rapidly expanding gases to launch the bullet down a rifled barrel at high velocity. This project creates a blowgun that actually works better with Nerf darts than the mechanical version.

Age range: 5+

Materials

• 1/2-inch copper pipe in 20- to 24-inch sections
• Various copper pipe fittings such as T-connectors, 90-degree elbows, and reducers
• Silicone caulk
• Nerf darts

Instructions

Step 1: The Basic Blowgun

The simplest part of this project involves very little work: Go to your local hardware store and pick up a 20- to 24-inch section of 1/2-inch copper pipe—the kind that’s commonly used for water in domestic plumbing. It’ll cost about a dollar. Take a Nerf dart and insert it into one end of the pipe, with the “business” end of the dart pointing up the length of the pipe. Hold the pipe up to your face and aim it at an unsuspecting target. Put your mouth on the pipe, take a deep breath, and blow out with a short, sharp puff. Without much practice, this design can hit targets more than 60 feet away.

Step 2: Choose Your Customization Options

While you’re at the hardware store, browse through the fittings that go with the 1/2-inch copper pipe. You’ll find 90-degree elbows, 45-degree turns, T-connectors, and reducers. Use these extra parts to make your blowgun even cooler:

• Reducer: This is a fitting that’s used to connect one pipe size to another. A 3/4-to-1/2-inch reducer works nicely as a mouthpiece for the blowgun, allowing you to purse your lips and blow into the gun like a trumpet rather than wrapping your lips around the end of the pipe. It’s more sanitary and lets you build up air pressure more easily for a nice burst.
• Elbow: Taking a shot from cover can’t be any easier if you can literally shoot around corners! Link two lengths of pipe with an elbow, load a dart into the end tube, stand at a corner with the end tube directed around the corner, and shoot!
• T-connector: This allows you to branch off several barrels from one blowpipe, so you can rain down destruction with a multishot blowgun. Just keep in mind that lung capacity will be the ultimate arbiter of how many darts you can shoot and how far you can shoot them.

Step 3: Build a Better Blowgun

One thing to understand about fittings: The inside dimension of a fitting is just larger than the outside dimension of the pipe—meaning the pipe is meant to slip inside the fitting, but fittings won’t slide into each other.

• If you want to attach a series of fittings together, cut small pieces of pipe, about 1 inch in length or slightly more, to use as connectors between the fittings.
• If you’re using fittings, you’ll need to secure them so they don’t flop around. A clear silicone caulk (the kind you might use to seal around bath or kitchen fixtures) will keep the pieces connected and pretty airtight. Just run a little bead of caulk around the end of the pipe, slip it into the fitting, and let it dry. (Drying can take a couple of hours—check the instructions on the product). If you want to take your creation apart again, it’s not that hard to break the seal.
• Because of the versatility of the fittings, you can put together a series of pipe constructs that are interchangeable, depending upon need. Maybe you’ll have a mouthpiece and short pipe section that can be used as a simple single-shot device but also carry an elbow attached to another short length, which your Nerf warriors can slip on the end for an emergency corner shot.

Step 4: Blowgun War!

After you’ve built your arsenal, it’s time to play. Try some target practice and see what the accurate range of the blowguns is compared with traditional Nerf blasters. Or just go have a backyard firefight and see how well the custom blowgun stacks up.