It’s powerful enough to break glass, and even blast darts into concrete. In this project

we’re making a custom laser sighted blowgun, that not only looks cool, but adds another

dimension to the fun you can have, in the backyard.

Let’s start this project with a roll of scotch tape, a stack of sticky notes, and

a paper party hat. I’m using the small 2x2 squares, and if we wrap one carefully around

the tip of the hat, the cone shape acts as a forming guide for making a pointy paper

dart. We’ll need a little bit of tape to reinforce the tip and hold it altogether,

so when it slides off, it’ll still keep its conical shape. Now watch what happens

if we push the tip into a 1/2” PVC tube and give it a little twist. You can see the

pressure leaves a little mark right where it starts getting too big for the tube. Let’s

carefully trim along the inside edge of the marking, and just like that, we’ve made

a mini paper dart that’ll fit perfectly inside the blowgun barrel. But it’s not

quite ready to use yet. We still need to add some weight to the tips so they’ll fly straight.

I found one of the quickest and easiest ways to do that, is to squirt a little hot glue

inside the cones until they’re about 1/3rd of the way full. If you don’t have hot glue,

try pulling off a little piece of poster putty instead, and shove it down into the tip with

something like a screwdriver. That’ll work just as good. Alright, we’ve got some paper

darts. All we need now is a blowgun, so let’s work on making that next. I went to the hardware

store and picked up a 2 foot length of 1/2” PVC pipe, and a reducing adaptor. This female

adaptor is 3/4” on one side, and reduces to a 1/2” slip connector on the other. Now

if we simply push the adaptor onto the tube and give it a little tap, we’ve just created

a super simple blowgun that can be used right away. You can see the weighted darts fly amazingly

straight, and will take out paper cups with an impressive amount of power. They’re just

strong enough to do a little damage, but still safe enough to shoot around the house. Not

that you should. But you could. Alright, let’s take this system to a whole new level with

a roll of duct tape, and some wire nails. I got this roll of camouflage tape from the

hardware store, and we’ll need to start by putting a long strip on the table with

the sticky side facing up. Now watch this. If we carefully set the pipe lengthwise in

the center of the tape, then gently rock it from side to side, the tape will start to

wrap itself around the tube. Doing the same thing with a second piece of tape will cover

any gaps, and just like that, our blowgun’s got a custom camo wrap. Now just add some

electrical tape around the tip of the barrel and around the mouthpiece, to cover the rough

edges and make it look a little nicer. At this point, you can see our blowgun is starting

to look pretty serious. So let’s get busy making some rounds of ammunition that are

a little more serious as well. I’m using #16 and #18 wire nails, because they’re

relatively lightweight, and have a nice flat head on the top. You can see when a nail gets

pushed through an empty paper cone, it instantly transforms into a high speed nail dart. It’ll

work fine just like this, but to make it a little more durable, try adding a dab of hot

glue on the inside of the cone, then pulling down on the nail until the head catches firmly

at the bottom. They’ll need about 2 minutes for the glue to cool and harden, so while

we’re waiting, why don’t we try making something a little different. A stack of colored

sticky notes will make different colored darts, and just for fun I snipped the tips off these

purple ones and drove small screws deep into the glue. I call these ones my glass breakers,

and you’ll see how they got that name in just a minute. Now if you wanna experiment

with different types of darts, you can really use any length of nail you want. Smaller darts

will be easier to shoot, and fly faster, while heaver darts will penetrate deeper and do

more damage. Now that we’ve got some good ammunition, we’re gonna need a way to

store it. I found a 6” length of 1/2” foam pipe insulation for a little over a dollar,

and tried cutting little donut shapes off the end, about 3/4” thick. I used some electrical

tape to reinforce the outside of the disc, then just for looks, used a black marker to

color the foam a little bit darker. The next step is to make another foam disc the exact

same way, then slide both of them onto the barrel of the blowgun. At this point, we’re

ready to modify the quiver so it’ll carry 8 rounds of ammunition. I found a phillips

head screwdriver and carefully heated it over a flame for about 20 seconds. That get’s

it just hot enough to burn little holes into the foam on contact. Just make sure you’re

only burning holes in the top disc because we’re gonna want the bottom one left

intact. You can see the 8 holes we made space the darts evenly, and guide the nails as they

push down into the padding below. These makeshift quivers keep all the darts securely in place,

while protecting the tips of the darts at the same time. Alright, our customized blowgun

is looking pretty impressive, and we could stop here. But let’s go one step further,

and give it a laser. I picked up a red laser pointer from the dollar store and hot glued

it 8-1/2” back from the tip of the barrel, then reinforced it with a couple of zip ties,

for durability. The thing I like best about these $1 lasers are how one button operates

an LED flashlight, while the other activates the laser sight, making this system operable

in the dark. Now I got a slightly better laser from the pet section of the grocery store

and turned it into a custom laser scope that compliments the gun really well. With this

setup, the position of the laser can be fine tuned with amazing precision, which you can

see, results in surprisingly accurate shots. Alright, now that we’ve got a custom, laser

guided blowgun, let’s have some fun. I took mine outside and found that the darts easily

penetrate into wooden posts with out even trying. They’ll also stick into tree trunks,

or completely abuse the side of a wooden deck, like the one on my kids playhouse. I was able

to hit some targets from over 100 feet away, and if I missed, the darts just sailed right

into the concrete wall behind it, which actually blows my mind completely. I still don’t

really know how these stick into cinderblock, but they do. For one last experiment, I tried

loading one of the glass breaker rounds, and fired at a glass full of water. Needless to

say, they do live up to their name. Now you’ve probably realized that if you use different

rolls of tape, you can customize your blowgun any way you want, and if you want a safer

kind of ammo, try using colored mini marshmallows. They’re the perfect fit for 1/2” PVC,

and can be shot safely, but still with incredible accuracy. Well now you know how to make an

incredible, laser guided blowgun, that will rattle off nail darts with power and precision.

The best part is, if you make these in bulk, they can cost as little as $2.50 each. And

that’s including the $1 laser. Well that’s it for now. If you liked this project perhaps

you’ll like some of my others. Check them out at www.thekingofrandom.com