DIY Flamethrower

flame front yard

I was reading The Red Ferret Journal yesterday and thought the Ultimate Water Gun looked familiar. Well [-Pat] had sent this flamethrower build in the day before. It is the same build, but the red ferret link was to a super soaker forum, so it doesn’t shoot flames. The forum post is a little more detailed on the construction. Just read both and prepare to remove yourself from this planet. In all seriousness, please be careful if you are playing with fire or just pressure testing PVC.

19 thoughts on “DIY Flamethrower

  1. Soooo old… I think this was on SomethingAwful’s forums like 2 years ago. Still, it’s good to have it here – Hackadayers are probably significantly more careful with this sort of thing than SA goons are!

  2. if you’re going to do it, use abs pipe not pvc – you can get both in pressure rated stuff but if the abs bursts it splits relatively safely, if pvc bursts it explodes into lots of small sharp pieces which can tear thru skin etc.
    Also, the solvent for welding abs and pvc is different – make sure you get the correct one for the pipe you are using.

    Would be pretty cool running propane though! – you could run a small tapping off for the pilot light and do away with the blowtorch…..

  3. Yikes! When the fuel gets low and starts sputtering, you’re liable to get a nice, explosive air-fuel mixture in the tank and hoses. (And the pilot light would love to say hello!) Better put a flashback arrestor or two on that hose…

    Better yet, fill it with CO2, helium, nitrogen; anything but air!

  4. For the love of god, PLEASE, charge your flamethrowers with something OTHER than AIR. Air is combustible, and you’re wearing a bomb on your back. Use CO2 or Argon(readily available at welding supply shops – and capable of higher pressures- get a regulator!). It’s so much safer. Just a note from someone who builds gas and liquid flamethrowers for a living.
    I know better then to tell you not to do it at all, right!

  5. I would hate to see what happens when this kid trips and cracks the PVC in his back pack.

    I also love how he’s wearing safety glasses when he uses them. Gotta stay safe you know.

  6. I’ve done the alcohol + supersoaker flame thrower. It helps a lot to use 91% isopropyl alcohol rather than the (slightly more common) 70-some%

    It’s also good to have a supersoaker that has a fairly “rough” surface to its water jet. I’m not sure about the hydrodynamics behind that, though. I assume that the droplets light up and help the rest catch.

    I fired the supersoaker through a miniature blowtorch. It lit up pretty well, and produced about a 12′ jet of flame. Tapping the trigger produces a fireball.

    The sound it makes is great.

  7. well…i work with high pressure natural gas wells every day and this piece of crap with hose clamps and rubber hose is gonna cause somebody a couple months in a burn unit. GOOD HELL!!! use some common sense and save the pain of having dead skin scrubbed off you with a 3m pad.

  8. I would not use air to pressurize a flame thrower.
    Why because air plus fuel under pressure = a bomb I’d atleast add some sort of arrestor or check valve.
    I’d perfer to use CO2 nitrogen,or even 134a as the working gas since these do not support combustion yes 134a can burn but not very well but it lacks oxygen so you’d still would not have bomb situation.
    Though 134a is a green house gas so maybe CO2 is the best choice also it does not support combustion period.
    Also with either gas I’d use a pressure regulator to limit tank pressure to 110 PSI or agian you would have a bomb.
    Also for added safety I’d use a steel or atleast a polyelthalene weed sprayer tank vs glueing together PVC pipe as the fuel could act as a solvent and damage the PVC or the glue joints which would be very bad though lamp oil would be less likely to damage a plastic tank then denatured alcohol.

  9. flamethrowers are not regulated at all in the USA. dr faust, 134a and co2 are both greenhouse gasses, co2 is the greenhouse gas without it there is no greenhouse effect.ww2 flamethrowers used compressed air and thickened fuel to do their magic. now we use nitrogen and #2 fuel oil mixed 90% oil 10% gasoline at 250 psi for about 50 yds of burn. sam, don’t be so paranoid. this kid who built this p.o.s. is asking for trouble I know it is an old link but if you catch up to him today you’ll probably notice the scars.

  10. Superb Article, I am signing up to your RSS Feed so I can stay up to date with your articles.Although people have new consoles such as the PS3, a surprising amount of people still get their SNES Console out of the spare bedroom to play on it. I honestly think that you can never beat playing a game such as the original Mortal Combat for days on end!With the expensive prices of the Nintendo Wii you can always pick up a Cheap SNES Console!

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