Ping-pong launcher your wife can’t know about

posted Nov 2nd 2009 10:00am by
filed under: misc hacks

ping-pong-ball-launcher

Sometime the projects you see at the local hacker space are better left a secret when you return home for the evening. Case in point, this ping-pong ball launcher that can put holes in a sheet of OSB. The projectile is made more lethal because the ball has been injected with water to dramatically increase the density. Compressed air is used to propel it from the 14 round magazine with devastating effect.

We’ve embedded a video of the gun being fired after the break. The creator, [Ron Kessinger], demonstrated this at a Denver hacker space called Club Workshop. We’re hoping there’s no plans for turret automation because this thing’s dangerous! Either way, the significant other who usually watches out for our safety would never approve.



26 Responses to Ping-pong launcher your wife can’t know about

  • jrw says:
    November 2, 2009 at 10:32 am

    Want…

    This is a completely pointless hack but a completely awesome one.

    Reply Report comment
  • M4CGYV3R says:
    November 2, 2009 at 10:56 am

    That is insane…

    Reply Report comment
  • sly says:
    November 2, 2009 at 11:05 am

    that is a ping pong ball launcher turned up to 13 (forget 11, that was passed)

    Reply Report comment
  • Alex Dodge says:
    November 2, 2009 at 11:42 am

    I like the guy walking up to see the damage before the gun has been powered down. 14-round magazine you say?

    Reply Report comment
  • vidiot bod says:
    November 2, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    i can think of another ping pong ball launcher i wouldnt want the wife to know about…

    Reply Report comment
  • polymath says:
    November 2, 2009 at 12:14 pm

    this could revolutionize paint ball… and give me one more reason to build a carbon fiber Master Chief costume.

    Reply Report comment
  • joe says:
    November 2, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    Here’s a parade that needs some rain. If I put some lead shot in a pillow, I didn’t make a lethal pillow. This is just a complicated water gun.

    Reply Report comment
    • Caleb Kraft says:
      November 2, 2009 at 12:36 pm

      I dunno, if you put lead shot in a pillow, then shoot that pillow at someone with enough force, it could be lethal. Anyone want to check to see what the penetrating ability of his gun is?

      Reply Report comment
      • Black Soap says:
        February 8, 2012 at 9:50 am

        By definition, if it is full of lead shot, it is no longer a pillow. It is a sack of shot.

        I am pretty sure that once you fill it with water, it is no longer a ping pong ball.

  • eric says:
    November 2, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    you beat me to it vidiot !!!! was thinking the same thing when i read the headline

    Reply Report comment
  • vidiot bod says:
    November 2, 2009 at 1:03 pm

    i’m glad i’m not the only one with a warped mind eric!

    Reply Report comment
  • joben says:
    November 2, 2009 at 1:37 pm

    “this could revolutionize paint ball… and give me one more reason to build a carbon fiber Master Chief costume.”

    wow thats fucking lame.

    Reply Report comment
  • joben says:
    November 2, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    HAHAHA DISREGARD THAT, I SUCK CAWKS.

    Reply Report comment
  • smilr says:
    November 2, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    Hell – fire a pillow fast enough, no lead shot needed, and you’d have enough energy to kill something. (whether you can achieve such velocity outside of a vacuum is another matter entirely)

    Calling this a “water gun” is like calling the Columbia River a “slight trickle”

    Reply Report comment
  • some faggot says:
    November 2, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    you guys are belittling homosexuals here, please change ‘wife’ to ‘spouse’.This is very offensive.

    Reply Report comment
  • canbot says:
    November 2, 2009 at 9:26 pm

    Maybe his wife helped him build it; you don’t know.

    /s

    Reply Report comment
  • Mike Szczys says:
    November 2, 2009 at 9:45 pm

    OK, everyone whose ‘significant other’ would be fine with you bringing this home please raise your hand.

    I thought so.

    Reply Report comment
  • James says:
    November 3, 2009 at 2:40 am

    (Though I’m not sure I quite follow the innuendos here, so may have missed the joke!)

    Reply Report comment
  • James says:
    November 3, 2009 at 2:41 am

    Ooh, that was meant to be a raised hand but the script seems to have stripped out anything between my > and <'s :)

    Reply Report comment
  • Andy says:
    November 3, 2009 at 6:45 am

    I don’t see why everyone is so stunned that ~30g of water moving at a few hundred FPS will go through common building materials…..

    Reply Report comment
  • Richard says:
    November 3, 2009 at 2:13 pm

    @ Mike Szczys, my wife would cheerfully help me build something like this – or more likely build a ‘rival’ one of her own to compete in destroying things.

    Geek wives FTW!

    Reply Report comment
  • srilyk says:
    November 5, 2009 at 12:54 pm

    Like a few others – filling a ping pong ball with water to make it lethal means it’s no longer just a ping pong ball.

    If you can fire a regular ping pong ball through OSB then I’ll be interested. Shooting something with the approximate mass of a golf ball through OSB is not so impressive.

    Reply Report comment
  • Riley says:
    December 12, 2009 at 11:15 am

    It may no longer be just a ping pong ball, but I think the point is that the gun IS “just a ping pong ball launcher”. IE, your light cannon is going to be found technically legal, unless loaded and used in a less than legal manner. Great for all those high-powered weaponry nuts. ^_^

    I somehow think a vehicle mount would get you pulled over though.

    Reply Report comment
  • Schilcote says:
    December 14, 2009 at 7:09 pm

    @Riley

    Yeah, anything attatched to a car that can move off of the car is illegal. Google McMissile, where a woman was charged with firing a missile from her vehicle (said missile was a McDonalds cup).

    Apparently, no one around here knows how to make a tennis ball incendiary grenade. Fire one of those babies out of that thing and you’ve got artillery!

    Reply Report comment
  • Martainn says:
    April 9, 2010 at 6:42 pm

    Your thoughtfulness shows in everything you do.

    Reply Report comment

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