On Friday, April 29, 2011 my friend Ellery and I built a vortex cannon. We did this kind of on a whim. It was something I had been wanting to do ever since I saw this KipKay video describing how one could be made quite simply using a plastic garbage can. We were hanging out and bored and I suggested that we could probably build in just a few hours pretty inexpensively. Off to Walmart we went, looking for parts I was remembering from that KipKay video.
The primary materials list consists of:
- One plastic garbage can
- One heavy duty garbage bag
- One 36″ bungee cord
- One ping pong ball
- Two small zip ties
- Duct tape
For tools, we really only needed a box cutter and a pair of scissors.
Vortex Hole
To start the build, we first cut the hole that our vortex ring would be exiting out of. The garbage can had rings on the bottom that acted as a built in guide for our cut. One of the rings was almost exactly 6″ in diameter which is what was recommended in the KipKap video, so I just used that as my guide. I used the box cutter to cut as smooth a circle as I could. It isn’t a perfect circle, but it’s close enough.
Next, we had to cut our garbage bag to size. To do this, we first used scissors to cut the garbage bag into one large rectangular sheet. With the garbage can standing upright, we laid the center of the bag over the large opening in the garbage can. Ellery grabbed the middle and pulled it up about 1.5 feet or so above the top of the garbage bag. I don’t think the height is too critical. We needed to make sure that enough of the bag is along the sides of the can because we had to tape the bag to the can next. We also wanted to make sure that we had a large enough pocket that a good amount of air will be forced out of the small hole. While Ellery was holding the bag, I went around the can with the scissors and cut the bag so there was about 3 or 4 inches of bag dangling around the sides of the can.
Duct Tape
Next, I grabbed the trusty duct tape and started taping the bag to the outside of the can. We needed to tape all the way around. We wanted to make it so little no no air can possibly escape where the bag meets the can. We wanted all of that air to be forced out of the small 6″ hole in the can instead.
Ping Pong Ball
Once the bag is taped well all the way around, We needed to attach the ping pong ball. This acts as a small handle we can grab onto, and it also gave us a nice spot to attach the bungee cord to the bag. We put the ping pong ball inside the garbage can and tried to line it up to the center point of the garbage bag from the inside. Once we had it there, we twisted it up inside of the bag and put a zip tie around the bag just underneath the ball. This holds it in place and keep it from moving or falling out.
Bungee Cord Attached
Finally, we had to attach the bungee cord. We found that the 36″ cord was almost the perfect length for our vortex cannon. We attached one of the hooks to one of the handles of the garbage can, and the other hook to the other handle. We used the second zip tie to attach the ping pong ball to the bungee cord. The cord was just a bit too long so we had to wrap the ends of it around the garbage can handles once on each side as illustrated in the image above.
Garbage Bag Assembly
Vortex Cannon
Firing the vortex cannon is easy. We just pull back on the ping pong ball to stretch on the bungee cord. This inflates the garbage bag with air that gets sucked in through the small 6″ hole. When we let go of the ping pong ball the bag rapidly deflates and sends all of that air out through the 6″ hole. This creates a vortex effect that can send a ring of air up to 30 feet away. We could probably get it to go further but we don’t have a large indoor area to test it. When we use the cannon outside, the wind tends to destroy the vortex prematurely.