This is a firecracker cannon. All parts can be obtained from the plumbing department of your local home/hardware store. It is great fun on the 4th of July. You do have to be careful with it though, because it can shoot projectiles out the barrel fast enough to hurt someone.

This is a side view of the cannon separated from its base.

The shopping list. Your cost should be between $15 - $20.

An exploded diagram of the cannon. This was not really necessary, given the simplicity of the cannon, but exploded diagrams are just so cool! Part numbers correspond to the shopping list.

You have to drill a small hole in the end cap big enough to allow a fuse to pass through. Depending upon how thick the metal of the end cap is, you may also have to counter-sink this hole from inside the end cap.

You have to bend the copper straps around the pipe to make your makeshift mounting bracket. The mounting bracket assembly is the most difficult part of construction. You just have to work at it until it is acceptable.

The projectile of choice for me is 2 in. lengths cut from a dowel. Inside diameters of plumbing pipe are not standardized, so you will have to shop for dowel rod after you have your barrel in hand.

To load the cannon, you thread the fuse of a firecracker through the hole in the end cap, then screw the end cap on to the cannon.

This is the first cannon I made. Unfortunately, it required a lot of custom work to make the wheeled carriage.

One of the advantages of making your cannon out of plumbing is that you can change out parts. Shown here are 2 in. and 3 in. brass barrels and 3 1/2 in. and 5 in. galvanized barrels. Galvanized barrels are not machined on the inside, so you need to bore them out yourself.

The cannon fitted with the 3 1/2 in. galvanized barrel.