How To Make A Laser Guided Blowgun for $3

WARNING: Blow guns should not be pointed at people, animals, or any living thing. Projectiles shot at high velocity may cause deep wounds leading to infection, and/or may cause loss of vision if hit in the eye. They can also break glass and cause damage to property. This project should only be attempted with adequate knowledge, training, and adult supervision. Use caution and common sense. Use of this video content is at your own risk.

Project History & More Info:

This is an original project idea which came right out of the blue a couple of weeks ago, but is among my favorites already!

The blow gun is so simple and cheap to make, anyone can do it, and the best part is it looks completely legit, and can fire with amazing precision.

When my 5 year old son pulled a piece of plastic pipe out of the garbage and asked if we could do a project I immediately thought of making a blow dart gun. But to make it safer for indoor use, I tried using paper for ammunition. I rolled up a post-it note, and shoved the tip of a crayon inside to add some weight.

When we shot the dart, it flew over 100 feet away at high velocity, making me realize there is a real project here waiting to be developed.

I spent the next 5 days evolving different prototypes, and experimenting with different types of homemade ammunition.

I let my kids try shooting darts made with nails, but their lungs weren’t powerful enough to get the darts to stick into targets, so we use marshmallows instead. The pipe is the perfect width for mini-marshmallows and can still shoot them fast enough to hurt a little, but still safe enough for indoor use.

The blow guns can be customized with different color schemes in a way that’s so simple it’s nearly mind blowing.