Powershot DG25: An epic Lego dart gun

Sneak peek

Recently I was working the sound at the Vacation Bible School (VBS) at my church when I noticed that two of the Mylar balloon sea creatures that were decorating the sanctuary escaped and floated up to the ceiling. Being an expert at Lego weaponry, this was a great opportunity for me to put my skills to good use. To take down the balloons I built a simple Lego gun that launches darts primarily made of mechanical pencils. With its simple but strong structure and large rubber bands stretched to the limit it can launch those darts hard enough to punch right through a Mylar balloon after flying 20 feet straight up. Presenting the Powershot DG25:

Main video

And here's the best part: I made instructions for my blog viewers!

Here they are:

First off, you will need to actually build the gun. Here's how to use the building instructions:

1: Click this link to see the YouTube video.

2: Put it in full screen mode so you can see all the details.

3: Pause the video on each picture so you can follow the instructions.

If you don't actually want to build the gun and just want to watch it build itself in fast motion, watch this:

Next, you will need to get rubber bands. I got my rubber bands in an assorted pack of rubber bands (you can buy these at most office supply stores). Next, I measured them to make sure all the ones I used were about the same size. My measuring tool was a 13 hole Lego beam with a peg on each end (12 units apart, 11 holes in between), and a peg 9 units from one end (8 holes in between, 3 units/2 holes from the other end). Rubber bands that I used with this gun were loose when strung along the 9 unit section but were tight along the 12 unit section. Here's a demo:

Now you need to make the darts. The video explains it pretty well, so here it is:

Once you've done all that, you're ready to load and fire the gun:

NOTE: This gun is very powerful and potentially dangerous/destructive. BE CAREFUL!