Awesome Pneumatic

After nearly destroying a bowling ball cannon, How Ridiculous asked BealsScience to make a pair of air-powered cannons. To maximize their destructive power, they pointed them at each other and then fired them to collide basketballs, LEGO cannonballs, and watermelons in mid-air. It took a lot of trial and error to get them to sync up.

Using LEGO Technic components, it’s possible to build a toy weapon that fires ammunition using air pressure. After building some simpler LEGO pneumatic guns, Jamie’s Lego Jams created this impressive bit of kit that uses motors to pressurize air tanks. It fires plastic axles, knitting needles, and other skinny projectiles with a strong burst of air.

Aerospace engineer Tom Stanton has built a few R/C airplanes powered by compressed air. He’s continued to work on refining the design by reducing weight and increasing thrust. Tom’s latest pneumatic aircraft is the best yet, offering the best flight time of the bunch thanks to improved aerodynamics, a larger air chamber, and an efficient new engine,

Jamie’s LEGO Jams created this musical instrument that works sort of like a miniature pipe organ. It’s powered by compressed air stored in plastic soda bottles, which flows through plastic tubes and into a plastic pan flute. The real magic is made by the LEGO keyboard, which manages airflow by crimping and releasing the tubes. It sounds a bit like a calliope.

Brick Technology showed off some LEGO engines that run on compressed air. This time, they tested some different configurations to see which ones could achieve the highest RPM, how to minimize vibrations, and even connected one to a miniature transmission with a working gear shifter.

Player pianos have been around since the 1890s. Modern models use electronics and servos, but vintage ones use a pedal-powered pneumatic system that forces air through holes in the music roll, actuating pushrods that move its hammers. Chris Plaola shows off an example of this Victorian-era engineering genius.

Pneumatic tubes were a popular way for companies to send documents between offices. These days, the only place we still see them is at bank drive-thrus. Tom Scott visited C1 Espresso, a Christchurch, New Zealand café that uses the tubes to send orders to the kitchen, and delivers some food items to customers’ tables.

Typical LEGO machines use motors to directly drive gears or belts. Brick Technology shows us how LEGO parts can be assembled to move pistons to move a crankshaft, which spins gears attached to a wheel or propeller. They start out with a 1-cylinder engine and gradually ramp it up to a 12-cylinder radial airplane engine.

Do you use pneumatic tools in your workshop or garage? This clever storage system keeps all of your air tool heads organized and at the ready. Each tool head locks securely in place in any orientation, thanks to universal quick-connectors. Sold in packs of five, they include mounting hardware for wood or metal installations.

Despite the science that proves that wearing masks can dramatically reduce transmission of COVID-19 and other illnesses, some people are still refusing to wear them. To solve this problem, engineer Allen Pan decided to build a device that can pneumatically launch a mask onto someone else’s face from a distance.