A water gun is great for kids who love to play with water outside. In order not to have to spend huge sums of money on such a piece of play equipment, you can also build a water syringe yourself. With a little skill and a few utensils from the hardware store, production is no problem.
What you need:
- Version 1:
- empty, thick-walled 1.5 liter plastic bottle
- bicycle air pump
- Aluminum tube with an outside diameter of approx. six millimeters and a length of a good one meter
- Plastic hose with an outer diameter of approx. eight millimeters
- tubes of silicone
- tube of superglue
- bicycle valve
- two hose valves suitable for the plastic hose
- Spray nozzle with valve and anti-drip device
- roll of tape
- Variant 2:
- spray bottle or pump spray bottle
- small hose clamp
- plastic stick
- drill
- Styled plastic ring (made from a bubble tube)
- Candle
- file
- polymer clay
- double-sided tape
- waterproof felt-tip pen
How to build your water gun yourself
Once you’ve gotten all the parts for your spray gun, you’re ready to start designing. Follow the instructions step by step.
Drill three holes in the bottom of the bottle to accommodate the aluminum tubes. You have to pull the plastic hoses on both sides onto the aluminum tubes, which protrude about eight centimeters from the bottom of the bottle and from the bottle.
Now cut two plastic hoses at a length of 25 centimeters, shorten the third hose at about ten centimeters. Seal the drill holes on the bottom of the bottle with silicone and let it dry.
Next, attach a five centimeter long piece of aluminum tube to the seal of the air outlet of the bicycle pump, fix it with adhesive tape and put the air outlet back on the pump.
- Push the short tube on the bottom of the bottle onto the aluminum tube and then fix the air pump to the bottle with adhesive tape. Cut this pressure hose in half and insert the bicycle valve into the hose so that the thread points in the opposite direction of the bottle. Seal the valve with super glue.
- Now attach the valves to the two free hose ends and glue them to the bottle.
- Also fix the remaining aluminum tube to the bottle with adhesive tape and connect it with two short pieces of hose to a valve and to the spray nozzle. Finally, connect the last valve to the spray nozzle and then fix the interfering hoses well with adhesive tape.
- Now the water gun is ready and you can make your child very happy with a play device you have built yourself.
Make a spray gun with a target from a spray bottle
You can also build water spray guns yourself from spray bottles. The following instructions refer to a pump spray bottle, which is inflated via a device in the middle of the bottle and is triggered via a button on the handle. It shouldn’t hold more than a liter of water.
- Drill a hole in the plastic stick and insert the bubble ring stick. Fix the whole thing by holding a candle flame to it for a very short time. Adhesives do not hold well with the material and would not survive use in the water.
- File a small notch on top of the nozzle. The notch should run outwards from the center of the bottle. Now fasten the plastic tube by fixing it in this groove with the hose clamp. Now that you have a well-functioning water spray gun with a sight,
- To make the whole thing look better, paint the pistol with waterproof felt-tipped pens and attach matching polymer clay fairing pieces with double-sided tape. Make sure that the fairing does not prevent you from filling or pumping up the gun or even pulling the trigger.
Such a water spray gun is far superior to any conventional model and building it yourself can be a nice pastime for the whole family on a rainy day.
