Catch a drone with this homemade net-shooting gun
Drones are being heralded as the next great advancement in home delivery, but these low-flying machines can pose a risk to your privacy and your sanity. YouTuber Make it Extreme has devised an ingenious way to take down these pesky aerial nuisances; he has constructed a net gun. Resembling an Acme device from an old Warner Brothers cartoon, this net-shooting gun can catch a drone in one shot. Or if taking down drones isn't your thing, you can always use the contraption to try to capture animated roadrunners.
According to Eric Limer for Popular Mechanics: "The gun has a very simple principle. Using air pressure and four barrels, the gun shoots a net that is weighted on its four corners directly at the drone in question. A direct hit tangles the drone and brings it down hard, but without completely destroying it. After all, drones are pretty tough.
Given that this design requires a lot of metal and machine work, it's not quite DIY for the average tinkerer, though it probably wouldn't be too hard to bring this design to life using materials that are easier to work with like wood and PVC. For further simplification, it need not even be a net that you fire—we've got ample proof that a cloud of streamers is more than enough to tangle any drone that gets too close. So if you're looking for an engineering project to sink your teeth into, the homemade drone chaff gun is just waiting to be invented."
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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