I was wondering if any of you thought about adapting a paint ball gun to make it a confetti cannon. If anyone has done so, could you please share your findings?

Oh dear! I can just see the headlines now...

"Audience Member Dies After Being Shot Through The Head With Confetti !"

:rotf:

But seriously, I don't see why it can't be done as long as you experiment with the force produced.
They work by firing an object by using a compressed gas; so there is no technical reason why that object can't be confetti!

However, the practical point is that after you have stuffed confetti up the barrel, will it expand back to it's original "confetti cloud" or will it remain a compress and dangerous slug?

Most compressed gas confetti canons that I've seen have a lot larger barrels than found on a paintball gun, just to make sure that the confetti remains "confetti like".

If you can find a cheap paintball gun and then want to enlarge the barrel and do a lot of experimentation before killing the audience, then it might just work!

The VERY best of luck!

Chris.

Do you need this to look like a gun, or do you just want a confetti launcher?

I really like mine! Please see:

http://www.memoryelixir.com/photogallery/picture3-11.html

These are available from:

http://www.aerotechnic.com/

At these prices, why bother making one? They have all different sizes also, from derringer to SUV-mounted street sweeper for riot use (OK, they don't call it that).

Yours,

Paul

Hi,

I'm not an expert by any means on paintball guns, however I believe (could be very wrong here) that you get many "shots" off of a single cartridge. This is not the case with a confetti canon as the entire co2 cartridge is used in a single shot. The confetti load consists of, as a small load, 5 or 6 trow streamers and confetti packed tightly into the cynlinder unlike a single paintball, you need the entire co2 cartridge to fire the load. Even at that, the distance is only about 20-25 feet.
Just a thought.

All the best,

John

You are better off making a pnumatic cannon. There are some really good sites on building air powered potato guns, but they work nicely. (I built one, and wow the range you can get with them is impressive)

I have also taken a leaf blower and just attached a bag of confetti to it and had it shot up into the air. It goes up really high and floats down nicely.

Dr Wilson,

can you clarify which model do you use? Can you also confirm if this uses one cartridge per shot, or can you get a couple of shots per cartridge?

Thanks

I built one that uses compressed air (not a CO2 cartridge, but rather I fill it with an air pump.) I used PVC pipe and an automatic sprinkler valve to trigger it. The entire thing cost less than $25. I found the plans on the web -- do a search.

http://www.corin.com/bill/paintball/aircannon/index.shtml
This is where I first learned the art of pneumatic artillery.

We set up a battery of four of these with 3 inch bores loaded with large red white and blue confetti at church for a memorial day service. Poor janitor! I'd make 'em with 1 1/2 inch bores for small stageplatform.

Sammy the Kid

Carlos,

It is, in fact, one shot per CO2 cartridge. I have the handheld model (I don't know what they call it these days), not the "pocket" model. The one I have has about a 1.5" diameter barrel, about 8" - 10" long. If you shoot it off indoors (highly recommended!) it seems to fill the room with streamers and confetti. Outside, the confetti hangs in the air for what seems like a long time.

What I like about mine is that you can draw the thing out of your coat and just shoot it off; with a bit of misdirection, no one even sees the launcher. For a fixed installation where it doesn't matter if people see it, I agree that building a battery of these powered by compressed air seems like a cool way to fill a large area with confetti.

Yours,

Paul

Here ya go, good people of The Café ... I built this, and it works great.

http://home.paonline.com/joespuppets/5-airgun.htm

This one is very similar to the one posted by Sammy, but the instructions are much clearer. I think I am going to build a couple to fire off some confettii snow at my annual Christmas party. It'll make a mess out of the house, but it will be worth it!

Oh, one more question: About how long will one of these things hold a charge? Is it possible to set them up hours or even a day ahead of time?

Thanks,
Richard

If you get a good valve that doesn't leak, and make all your seals strong, it will hold up for days (how long does the air stay in your car tires?)

Thanks for sharing your plans Deke. I think I will try making one myself. It looks like a lot of fun.

Well, it's not mine, but I did build from it. Hope it works for you!

I like the plans but they look like they can be greatly simplified.

I can vouch for the PVC plans. I knew a guy who built something very similar as a potato gun (you'd be amazed at how far you can shoot a spud). The nice think about hte manual valve is you can control the release.

If you are tied to using a paintball gun I'd go with the cheapest one I could find. I've had paintballs go through my gun's hopper when fired from a high end gun that was set higher than the field allowed (but since they worked there they thought it was ok)

Why not use 12 party poppers taped together. 1 string, or do you need to repeat.