Everything You Need For A DIY Ryobi Train Horn

When it comes to making yourself heard over the crowd, the classic way to do it is with a handheld air horn. Nothing says, “Hey, pay attention to me,” like a quick blast of sound from the palm of your hand. Regular air horns use cans of compressed air, and if you’re using them a lot, the air eventually runs out, rendering the horn useless. If you need a noisemaker that you can make regular, consistent use of, such as for sporting events, conventions, or annoying your friends for TikTok videos, it might be to your benefit to have something that can be used effectively, nearly endlessly.

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If you’ve got a head for tinkering, you can actually make use of a few composite parts and tools to make a powerful handheld horn. With the mount from a power drill from a brand like Ryobi or Milwaukee and a simple air compressor horn kit available online, you can make a 100-decibel horn that not only fits comfortably in your hand but can be reused by simply recharging the drill’s attached battery pack. Technically, you could also purchase power drill horn premade from online stores like Impact Train Horns, but doing it yourself will save you some cash, and it’s a fun little project that only takes around 1 to 1.5 hours.

The two most important things you’ll need to create a Ryobi train horn are an air horn installation kit and a Ryobi power drill. The former can be obtained on Amazon for around $30 –- this kit contains just about everything you need, including the horns themselves, an electric air compressor, power wires, and some extra nuts and screws for setting up the mount. Ryobi products aren’t available on Amazon, at least not with first-party guarantees, but you can find a good drill just as easily from your local Home Depot. If you prefer to shop online, there’s a good bundle you can grab, including the power drill, a 1.5Ah battery pack, and a charger.

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Besides the drill and the air horn kit, you’ll also want either a separate power drill or, if that’s not available, a sturdy screwdriver to unscrew the fasteners on the main drill’s casing. You’ll want a small grinding tool as well, like a small handheld rotary tool, as you’ll likely need to file down the internals of the drill casing to actually fit the compressor. Finally, you’ll want some wire working tools, including a pair of wire cutters, a soldering iron to connect the power wires together, and some soldering wire to facilitate the connection. Ryobi also makes soldering tools, by the way.

To start, completely disconnect the drill’s battery and use your secondary power drill or screwdriver to remove all of the screws from the Ryobi drill’s casing. Make sure you get all of them, as the whole thing needs to come apart. Once you’ve opened it up, remove the motor and drill mechanism from the top. You’ll also need to use your wire cutters to snip the power wires off of the motor. These loose ends will need to be connected to the air compressor later.

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Take the air compressor and place it inside the casing where the motor was previously. Odds are the compressor will be too large to close the casing. This is where the grinder comes in. Use the grinder to carefully sand down the internal ridges of the casing. Only go a couple of millimeters at a time, testing the compressor in the casing after each filing, as you want to get as close to a flush fit as you can.

Once you’ve got the compressor satisfactorily fitted to the casing, you’ll need to connect the drill’s power wires to it via the wires included in the horn kit. Using your soldering iron, connect the red wire from the drill to the positive terminal on the back of the compressor and the black wire to the negative terminal.

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Once everything’s wired up, close up the drill casing and connect the compressor to the horns via the included air tubing. Attach the battery and squeeze the trigger, and you should get a burst of sound. The horn is already usable in this state, but if you like, you can mount the horns to the drill by drilling a couple of holes in the back of the casing and attaching them with the included brackets.