They'll Take My Steam-Powered Potato Gun When They Pry It From My Cold, Dead Hands

John Biggs

Biggs is the East Coast Editor of TechCrunch. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. Email him directly at... → Learn More

Monday, July 11th, 2011

If you are the kind of person who needs to shoot a little wad of potato at someone moving in slow motion, this may be the gun for you. It uses a twist of tubing, a Zippo, and some water to create the ultimate in potato-attack technology.

The full DIY appears on Instuctables, but this thing is pretty basic.


Of note: some very dire safety warnings that I don’t want you people to ignore:

I also want to start by re-iterating his safety warnings as this device has risks related to fire, steam, pressure, metal-work, and projectiles. I recommend wearing eye protection during all steps and using common sense. I accept no liability for any risk in the manufacture or use of this device. Do not attempt to use power tools if you are not familiar with them and I don’t recommend anyone under the age of 18 attempt to manufacture this device without competent adult supervision. Don’t touch the barrel for a few minutes after it has been fired as it
becomes extremely hot. Also, the soot will stain clothes/skin. Be careful with this thing guys.

Soot: the silent soiler.

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