Flashback: Head-Mounted Water Cannon

Fun & Games
Flashback: Head-Mounted Water Cannon
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When the fabulous Pontani Sisters engage in their covert after-hours life of fighting crime, they use a select arsenal of weaponry. Seen above are the sisters in action with the Head-Mounted Water Cannon from MAKE Volume 07. John Young shared this lively DIY with us in 2006, along with this hilarious intro:

Let’s face it: at some point this summer, you’re going to be in a water fight. Whether it’s at a family barbecue or an office picnic, some 12-year old is going to leer at you from behind 25 bucks worth of store-bought plastic, and that little punk is going to think that the orange and blue Mega Awesome Hydrolator 9000 they’re clutching is the last word, the ultima ratio regnum, in neighborhood water warfare.

Think again, punk. With about two hours of effort with the parts listed below, you can hack together a water weapon of such power, such style, such extraordinary and exuberant overkill, that you’ll be out of the store-bought leagues forever. Lock yourself in the garage, play the A-Team theme, and emerge at the end of your build montage with a pressurized, stainless steel, head-mounted water cannon that packs five gallons of icy-cold water at 100psi.

The main components in this project are a standard stainless water extinguisher, a plastic scuba backplate, and a helmet, plus a bike brake lever assembly, brake cable, and cable housing, garden hose repair fittings, a quick-coupler set for a standard garden hose, and some hardware.

Here are images of the front and back of the helmet and the backplate attached to the extinguisher:

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And here is the full article in our Digital Edition just for you.

Back issue of Volume 07, our Backyard Biology issue, are sold out, but you can have digital access to all of our volumes if you subscribe! Right now we have an awesome deal running where you get $5 off the normal year sub price plus an extra issue for free, all for just $29.95. Can’t really beat that with a stick!

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I'm a word nerd who loves to geek out on how emerging technology affects the lexicon. I was an editor on the first 40 volumes of MAKE, and I love shining light on the incredible makers in our community. In particular, covering art is my passion — after all, art is the first thing most of us ever made. When not fawning over perfect word choices, I can be found on the nearest mountain, looking for untouched powder fields and ideal alpine lakes.

Contact me at snowgoli@gmail.com or via @snowgoli.

View more articles by Goli Mohammadi

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