World's Largest T-Shirt Cannon (Breaks the Roof)

[00:00] And this is the cannon that just happens to shoot a T-shirt. (person cheering)

[00:12] for how I ended up here and eventually right here, 'cause that's when I was hanging out with my friend, Explain what it is you're looking for from me.

[00:27] - Well my dream is the world's most powerful T-shirt cannon. - Now to be fair, his request sort of did make sense and he didn't wanna disappoint the fans.

[00:42] was to save myself a lot of time on the design But to do that, I would need to answer one key question. Just how powerful is a real cannon?

[00:56] Six ounces of black powder behind a T-shirt Let's see what the heck happens. let's review the simple mechanics of how a cannon works.

[01:10] Then you light the gunpowder, And then the gases are like, dude, We gotta get outta here.

[01:22] the best option is down the barrel. it gets pushed along for the ride with all the escaping gas. - Fire!

[01:36] (people laughing) is gonna allow me to fire these into the crowd. So obviously an actual cannon was way too powerful.

[01:51] it was time for the most on-brand measurement device I know. It's watermelon time. (smooth music)

[02:07] (cannon whooshing) I was already thinking of a plan B, He was being interviewed by the local news,

[02:23] - Right here, there is area for a oxygen tube. - I wanna be a mechanical engineer,

[02:35] is if I would be able to do a co-op or something - [Newscaster] With who? - Oh, he's my favorite YouTube person.

[02:48] was gonna be my future boss, and his parents told him one more local news station (electronic beeping)

[03:01] I have an engineering challenge that I need some help on. they have like T-shirt cannons? to make the world's largest, most powerful T-shirt cannon

[03:18] And this was a bit of a white lie. what he thought was an ordinary football game. in front of 50,000 people.

[03:32] So, we started riffing on how he could design this thing. - And then you have a giant pressure tank back here. that held like a giant air tank in it.

[03:47] - Yeah. - Okay. all we needed was a 10 second build montage

[03:59] (smooth music)

[04:12] This is about a three pound ball of rags. And there wasn't a lot of space at this location, Three, two, one.

[04:29] Oh no, I think we killed the donkey. and retrieve this thing. (donkey braying)

[04:42] but it was time to head to a bigger field, I dare anyone to get in my way. Now I quickly wanna mention,

[04:55] you have to appreciate that SoFi, So the goal of the game was for Jimmy's sidekick, Guillermo, So this is the correctly scaled shot that we'd have to hit.

[05:11] and vertical measurements to that seat, And our goal was basically to hit that drone. I've never built anything

[05:24] Three, two, one, go. And that first shot was at about two thirds full power. and had a trajectory sort of like this.

[05:39] Oh, did we bust? That's tapeable. and cross our fingers.

[05:52] 500 PSI, eight pounds. Three, two, one, go. (Mark laughing)

[06:05] Yeah, that tape, that tape didn't do so hot. which is basically a gallon of milk, But as you can see from the viewpoint of the top seat,

[06:17] this is how far a normal wimpy T-shirt cannon the equivalent weight of 25 shirts at this trajectory, And so we stayed there the whole day,

[06:32] but the punchline was that no matter what we tried, So I had to call Anthony to give him the bad news, How's it going, buddy?

[06:45] - [Mark] And lucky for me, he'd been hard at work. and for the first issue of the bag ripping, - Kevlar.

[06:58] - Something to produce drag, like a parachute. which is why he'd spent the last two weeks after a prescribed time delay.

[07:12] sooner than I first anticipated. But before I tell you how he was exactly right, So it's the exact same principle as the real canon,

[07:27] to make it all super crowded with gas, into this accumulator tank. it's way too crowded, we gotta get outta here.

[07:41] and the T-shirt just happens to be in the way, And this is the same principle It's the same principle that powered my Nerf gun,

[07:53] that uses air to launch stuff. 'cause it would sustain the force on the T-shirt And he went on to mention his second idea.

[08:07] - [Mark Voiceover] And this is also true, And his third suggestion was to increase the size - You can just have it go straight to the final diameter.

[08:23] as the air rushes out, which means it can get out faster. all of Anthony's suggestions in some form or another. And so after another full day of testing,

[08:37] 13 pound mortar with the parachute, 500 PSI, (cannon firing) (Mark laughing)

[08:52] The big bomb. over a 30 story building, which put us way beyond the Guillermo spot.

[09:06] kicked in at just the right moment, And by the way, Well, the world's largest T-shirt cannon

[09:20] Probably. Look at this thing. and show this to the lawyers

[09:32] And right off the bat, the lawyers were like, the smaller barrel and payload, The goal is to bomb a T-shirt from right here,

[09:45] in the nosebleed section of the stadium. never again will the fine folks in the nosebleed section So we decided to start at one third power

[10:00] - But that is not what happened. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

[10:14] Out of the park, baby. we tried the same power level again, Oh, oh, oh!

[10:26] With a bank shot off the roof. we decided it was prudent to reduce the power further 'cause if they would've let us open that to full,

[10:40] we could have Uncle Rico'd it from this end zone But you know, lawyers. at that reduced 25% full pressure.

[10:54] (smooth music) of the very top row in the entire arena.

[11:07] which was a huge weight off my shoulders, And I remember my first experiences with engineering, And so after a few last minute cosmetic modifications,

[11:23] and as the team started warming up, Okay, we just received word. So, it's time for me to go incognito.

[11:36] I needed a prop borrowed from my buddy Adam Savage. Friggin' beard glasses. I look like an ice road trucker.

[11:50] I'm more nervous I think about the surprise (light upbeat music) All right, let's do this.

[12:04] He has no idea what's goin' on. I love a freaking good surprise. Here we go.

[12:19] (announcer chattering) Okay. You like my beard disguise?

[12:34] so I decided to come down and say hi. - Look, I'm shaking just as much. You know that cannon we've been designing?

[12:46] We designed it for this game, and at halftime, and we're gonna fire it in front of 50,000 people. and the game began.

[12:58] - [Interviewer] You got anything else planned for us We built the world's most powerful T-shirt canon. It is an enormous, very, very powerful projectile device,

[13:12] just around the corner, - That looks amazing. we couldn't go more than 25% pull power.

[13:25] but that's how you bomb it outta the stadium. - [Mark] You excited? (smooth music)

[13:37] (audience cheering) - All right. Just don't think about that part.

[13:53] - Mark Rober, who is a former NASA engineer, You want to show it to us, Mark? He did all the hard work and designed it.

[14:05] - Yeah, I definitely think so, but maybe not. already qualifying his statements like a true engineer. - Do not kill anyone, Mark.

[14:20] to put a T-shirt on the moon. two, - [Jimmy Kimmel] Wow!

[14:32] - Through the roof. We went out of the stadium. We did it.

[14:45] Good job. to appease the lawyers at one fourth power, So after that we went back and enjoyed the second half

[14:58] for a really long time, when I apply to work for his company. (light upbeat music)