Finally, we have an engineer who’s putting his degree to proper use! 27-year-old Londoner Alex Bygrave has used all his technical know-how to come up with the ultimate invention – an awesome Gatling water gun. Believed to be the world’s most sophisticated Gatling-style weapon of its kind, the gun features a 10-liter water tank, six barrels and a 40-foot firing range.
Alex spent 50 hours designing and building the pistol from scratch, making use of 55 separate parts made of everyday objects. “I had to first break down the mechanics of how the Gatling gun worked, and then build it up using a mix of all sorts of components,” he said.
“For example, I used a black cab’s windscreen wiper to provide the rotary motion of the pistol and laser cut mechanics to create an intermittent barrel rotation.” According to Alex the windscreen wiper motor was ideal for the project because it has a very high gearing and is easy to pick up cheaply second hand.
“Standard plumbing pipes and fittings were used wherever possible, so that as much of the pistol could be made from stuff in your local DIY store.”
Alex used a self-setting rubber called Sugru with the existing parts to make custom valves, pistons and injectors that are integral to the Gatling motion and to the coloring of the water jets. He also used a carbon dioxide welding canister to pressure two large fire extinguishers, so the water can fire out long distances. A small amount of food dye in the barrels ensures that the water shoots out in a riot of colors.
The construction of the pistol was sponsored by Sugru. Their website declares: “We love testing the limits of what Sugru can do. Which got us thinking. With all of this Sugru, and these amazing people, could we create the world’s coolest water pistol?”
Their video shows the co-founder of the company asking mischievously: “Water pistols are awesome. But what if they were even more awesome-erer?” Alex and a colleague then proceed to build the pistol and fire colored water all over their colleagues. According to Sugru production assistant Jon Radclyfe, “the pistol weighs an absolute tonne but works like a dream.”
Sources: Sugru, Daily Mail
