Thread: Soap Cannon or soap mold

It is official I have created the worlds first soap cannon.
I was looking for a fast easy way to make my sample sized pucks of soap.
The old method consisted of ladeling each puck into small muffin tins.
I decided that a long section of 1 1/2 inch pvc would be ideal. So I cut a 4 foot section of schedule 40, cleaned up the edges, and squeezed a cap on one end.

This worked great, but I was having trouble pushing the finished soap out the other end, so I figured what the heck, I bought another cap, drilled a hole and fitted a valve stem into it.

Now I just needed air pressure. I started with an old bicycle pump, and started pumping away. 60 PSI, 80 PSI, 100 PSI, 140 PSI nothing.
It's air compressor time.

I hooked it up to my dad's industrial giant 5 foot tall monster air compressor, pulled the trigger...


and my soap was gone.


A 1 1/2 inch by 4 foot long 3 pound tubular mortar shell...
Up into the rafters, thank god there wasn't any dry rot in their attic...
upon impact with the rafters, it broke into three large pieces and about 500 smaller ones. My dad's garage has never smelt better.


The second batch came out a bit easier, and proved the concept a viable one, you just need to be patient, and allow the pressure to move the soap slowly.

For those of you wanting to make your own home made soap, PVC pipe is an excellent mold, and a bicycle pump will remove your finished product with little or no trouble. it's then a simple matter of cutting it, I used a cheese cutter for my smaller pucks, and I think it will work fine for up to a 3 inch round.

I looks very clean, and is a lot less trouble than muffin tins.

Just use caution where you're pointing it when you unmold it.

LOL, that was a great story!

If you figure out how to aim and calibrate that thing, you could save a fortune on shipping to the central California area...

best laugh I've had all day, just glad nobody got hurt try explaining that at A&E shot by a soap cannon

Good story! I am about 90 miles from you--how about launching a bar over my way.

I made one out of 3" pvc and it works pretty well if you grease it lightly with mineral oil, vaseline or some other unsaponifiable oil.

Originally Posted by cstewart

I made one out of 3" pvc and it works pretty well if you grease it lightly with mineral oil, vaseline or some other unsaponifiable oil.

I think that's a big part of it, I use such a large amount of glycerine, I didn't think I'd need to lubricate it. Once it popped, it was like a spud gun.

That is just awesome....Thats a lot of soap, do you make it in a huge pot? Not trying to get any of your secrets just curious...

EDIT: Reread post, not as much soap as i originally thought...

That story just started my day on the right track. Wow that was funny.

Awesome tale Mike

FIRE!!!!! for effect.....
Thanks for sharing Mike, I love hearing others whoops moments, trust me I've had a few of my own where ya just shrug the shoulders and gotta say "Whoops"