SpudFiles

Hey there all. Trying to figure out the best way to design and build a wearable (ideally using a shoulder mounted motorized turret), quick re-firing vortex smoke ring generator. This is to be part of a "costume" that my son and I are putting together for the Maker Faire in May 2014, San Mateo, CA. http://makerfaire.com

The idea is that we will be walking around the Maker Faire fairgrounds, stopping in different places to do demonstrations of the device. We'd like to be able to hit objects and/or people with air blasts (Vortex). and hopefully shoot smoke rings. It would be great to be able to reach a distance of about 20ft away. A hand-held controller for firing and aiming would be ideal. The portable smoke generator for the smoke rings is for a later discussion.

We can wear support components in a backpack, and/or have them hung from a belt. We'd like the rig to be self-contained and light-weight as possible so that we have the ability to easily roam the fairgrounds.

I have someone helping us with the motorized turret part. But it's trying to figure out what system works the best for the shooter, reliably (over a 2 day event), safely, cleanly, as light-weight as possible, and with the least amount of effort for resetting to fire again.

I've investigated a variety of options, and still aren't quite sure what makes the most sense.

I've researched a variety of concepts but aren't quite sure what makes the most sense. Here's a sample of what we've investigated for creating the air-blast portion:

Small Motorized Pistons
Mini Electric Air Pumps
Hand Pumped systems
CO2 Cartridge systems
12V Mini Air Compressors
Woofer Speakers using sine waves
Automotive Air-Horn Mechanism
Guerrilla Air 13ci 3000psi M3 MYTH 3 HPA Tank

So whoever would can offer advice or meet up with us (we are in So Cal) I am open for suggestions and guidance....

BTW: We are not new to custom builds, here's our CO2 Steampunk Gatling Gun (we built this 3 years ago)

[youtube][/youtube]

The 10 lb tank of CO2 was a bit limiting, but we had a quick disconnect. The rotating barrels were battery operated so that we could walk around and use it sans CO2. It's been a big hit in many different venues.

Thanks. I look forward to your input.

Welcome to Spudfiles! You can look around, here's a vortex gun that a member here built http://www.spudfiles.com/pneumatic-cann ... 24874.html

Guerrilla Air 13ci 3000psi M3 MYTH 3 HPA Tank

This would seem to be your best option.

Given the fact that you want to mount this on a motorized turret, I would say the vortex cannon itself is the least of your worries.

The effectiveness of these devices does seem to depend very much on its size.

Instead of a pneumatic cannon, you might want to consider motorizing one of these:



This would avoid the inconvenience of having both electrical and pneumatic systems.

Using say an electric airsoft gun gearbox would enable a high "rate of fire".

As to smoke generation, there are several tutorials online, for example: http://wmunderway.8m.com/cont/smoke/smoke.htm - these usually involve some sort of oil and heating element.

I could see it working if you could have it so one ball valve opens to fill the chamber and then closes the have one that will open fast for firing.