Confetti Cannon

An R&D to-do that's been on my plate has been to figure out a way to trigger a "party" confetti cannon remotely. Here is a video synopsis of the R&D process.

The rest of the page presents details about the build.

I bought some confetti cannons with biodegradable confetti and took the skin off of one of them to see how they were packaged. As is often the case with the things I do, I am invalidating warranties and using products for something other than their intended purpose. I don't recommend this to anyone.

The picture below shows two new cannons with one stripped of its decorative black wrapping. I'll speak in terms of that one because its parts are more obvious.

This is a brand of confetti cannon that was recommended to me.

The way these things work is you hold the cardboard barrel end in one hand and twist the metal bottom in the direction of the arrows printed on the decorative black wrapping. This releases pressurized air and results in the confetti cannon effect. To do this "remotely" — with some sort of button push that actuates the cannon — I plan to mimic those human actions:

1. Secure the cardboard barrel so it won't slip/twist/spin
2. Twist the metal end.

The photo below shows a prototype sled that holds the cannon. The cardboard barrel will be secured to the sled with some zip ties: item #1 in the list above achieved. The zip ties are not in place yet because as I test my electrical wiring I'd hate to trigger this thing in my basement. In the rig below, sans zips, when I energize the motor, the entire cannon spins. That is perfect for now.

Sled for holding a confetti cannon.

To achieve #2 in the list above, i.e., twisting the metal end, I used JB Weld to epoxy a wooden plug into the recess at the bottom of the metal pressurized air canister. Attached to the wooden plug is an 11 RPM motor which seems like it has good torque. I hope all that is secure enough and torque-y enough to turn the canister when the motor is energized.

Motor #1 at 11 W did not have enough torque to turn the pressurized air canister.

I'm planning on using a 12 V motor so I can power it from the 12 V output on my ammo box light box or from an outdoor garden lighting transformer. For a trigger mechanism, I rigged an Altoid box with an LED (to indicate the presence of power at the push button) and a push button that energizes the motor. The video below shows the motor in action. You can see the entire cannon spin since I didn't zip-tie the cardboard barrel to the sled yet. The yellow tape indicators are for when the barrel is zip-tied; I hope they will clearly indicate when the cannon's base spins in relation to the barrel. You might notice a little bit of a delay between pushing the button and the motor starting. My button is more than 20 years old and it just needed a little Deoxit spray to make it perfectly responsive. Deoxit — I love that stuff. 

I used two motors in total, with the second getting the job done.

1. Motor #1, shown above, is $15.00, pulls 11 W at 12 V, and has a ⌀6 mm shaft.
2. Motor #2, shown below, is $29.00, pulls 21 W at 12 V, and has a ⌀8 mm shaft. It is torque-y enough that the motor jerks when power is applied.

Motor #2 at 12 W was strong enough to turn the metal canister at the bottom of the cannon.