Heard about these in 2002 and didn't wait long to build one. These are great fun and legal almost anywhere in the US. There is an air reservoir and barrel with a valve between.
Use a $20 electronic sprinkler valve and a few batteries and a switch to trigger the valve
Cutthe PVC pipe to how you want it to look, and glue it all together
Our first attempt to make a compressed air powered cannon. It was not small, shown here with a 100+ pound Rottweiler. Made from easy to find parts from most any hardware store for between $50- $70 depending if your need to buy glue and tools
The finished cannon with and without flash to see the color better
The parts are mostly PVC pipe, some fittings a sprinkler valve, a pressure gauge (optional), an air valve and some glues
Fitted all the parts together before gluing
the sprinkler valve was the starting point. The air reservoir and barrel simply extended from it
Next step was to finish the reservoir. Drilled holes in the cap to accept a pressure gauge and an air valve to 'reload' the cannon and be safe doing it.
Cut the pipes to length, added the pressure valve and made sure to cut the barrel longer than the valve
Used hose clamps to hold the parts together while the glue dried
Glued a length of PVC to hold the batteries and trigger (switch)
Simply wired three 9 volt batteries in series to achieve 27 volts I think the sprinkler valve wanted 24 so it worked just fine for the life of the cannon
Once mocked up and tested, the connections were all soldered to ensure operation under any conditions. Wrapped the exposed wires in plastic cable wrap for looks and protection
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