Search found 386 matches

by btrettel
Tue Sep 09, 2025 8:31 am
Forum: General How-To & Discussion
Topic: Spudder's Design Tool (SDT)
Replies: 27
Views: 16163

Re: Spudder's Design Tool (SDT)

To get more specific, static friction matters when the projectile mass is low (like with Nerf darts) because it allows the pressure to build up before the projectile moves. If the projectile mass is low, then the projectile might move a lot initially, which would keep pressure lower for the duration...
by btrettel
Mon Sep 08, 2025 7:24 am
Forum: SpudFiles Discussion
Topic: Is the forum under attack by bots?
Replies: 3
Views: 60592

Re: Is the forum under attack by bots?

There definitely are a lot of bots on SpudFiles, though few seem to be posting anything at this point. They seem to mostly be accessing the forum, slowing it down a lot if not bringing it down entirely over the past few days. PCGUY, I'd recommend blocking many of the worse behaving bots with robots....
by btrettel
Mon Sep 08, 2025 7:19 am
Forum: General How-To & Discussion
Topic: Spudder's Design Tool (SDT)
Replies: 27
Views: 16163

Re: Spudder's Design Tool (SDT)

Thanks for making the new tool. I haven't had much of a chance to look at it yet, but I wanted to make a quick comment as SpudFiles has been down more often than not lately. On that note, it might be worth putting some contact information in the spreadsheet itself so that you're not so reliant on Sp...
by btrettel
Fri Jun 28, 2024 9:24 pm
Forum: General How-To & Discussion
Topic: GGDT/HGDT Request Thread
Replies: 120
Views: 390196

Re: GGDT/HGDT Request Thread

You can definitely run JavaScript in a web browser locally without a web server. Many programs today also are written in JavaScript but basically embed an entire browser with the program, so the user doesn't notice that it's not native. I'm not so sure about WebAssembly. I think Chrome doesn't like ...
by btrettel
Fri Jun 28, 2024 6:07 pm
Forum: General How-To & Discussion
Topic: GGDT/HGDT Request Thread
Replies: 120
Views: 390196

Re: GGDT/HGDT Request Thread

Good points. If you want something that doesn't require installing any extra software, JavaScript or WebAssembly would be better choices than a spreadsheet. It would be neat to have a webpage that does the simulation. It would be completely cross-platform. You could even run on your phone! It would ...
by btrettel
Fri Jun 28, 2024 1:23 pm
Forum: General How-To & Discussion
Topic: GGDT/HGDT Request Thread
Replies: 120
Views: 390196

Re: GGDT/HGDT Request Thread

It's your choice, but I'd recommend against using a spreadsheet for anything nontrivial. Debugging and testing spreadsheets is far too difficult. Actual code is a much better option. I might make a prototype of something in a spreadsheet, but for any "production" software, code is a better choice. I...
by btrettel
Sat Oct 24, 2015 1:15 pm
Forum: Pneumatic Cannons
Topic: Survey to help make better homemade water guns
Replies: 0
Views: 5134

Survey to help make better homemade water guns

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cd9N9VPBIBtLxRCRNrI1BYXyQaKlYbyiW5ZkRDAVtMw/viewform All, I haven't participated in this community for a while due to other time commitments. But I know there are a number of people who build water guns here, and I'm running a survey for one of my websites about what...
by btrettel
Sat Mar 07, 2015 6:50 pm
Forum: General How-To & Discussion
Topic: Full Simulation of Gas Gun Systems
Replies: 5
Views: 6805

Re: Full Simulation of Gas Gun Systems

Nice work. What is GALE? I'm assuming it's a code you wrote, but I could be mistaken. How do the various codes compare against any measurements you've made? This sort of validation is really important if we want to understand how to make better launchers. I think if this comparison was done, you mig...
by btrettel
Wed Feb 06, 2013 2:14 pm
Forum: Pneumatic Cannons
Topic: The supersonic ping pong gun
Replies: 17
Views: 7691

The professor replied back to my email: Ben, I have to admit that I have some of the same questions. We're in the process of doing a straight connector with no convergent section. I'm very eager to see what happens. Eventually, I'll need to do a CFD analysis as well. Mark So, it seems that we're on ...
by btrettel
Wed Feb 06, 2013 8:57 am
Forum: Pneumatic Cannons
Topic: The supersonic ping pong gun
Replies: 17
Views: 7691

I emailed the professor. I'll post any response I get. My email is below. Hello Prof. French, I am a graduate student working in computational fluid dynamics who is also interested in the internal ballistics of compressed gas guns. I recently saw you and your students' supersonic ping-pong ball gun ...
by btrettel
Tue Feb 05, 2013 10:14 pm
Forum: Pneumatic Cannons
Topic: The supersonic ping pong gun
Replies: 17
Views: 7691

I didn't watch the video before. I watched most of it now, and I only saw one test. If anyone could point out specifically where they did an otherwise equivalent test (e.g., with the vacuum) without the nozzle, I'd be interested in knowing. It's also worth noting that the professor in the video says...
by btrettel
Mon Feb 04, 2013 9:53 pm
Forum: Pneumatic Cannons
Topic: The supersonic ping pong gun
Replies: 17
Views: 7691

As I said in the off-topic thread, I am skeptical the converging-diverging nozzle helped here. They didn't do a test without it best I can tell, so there's no solid way to know if it helped. These nozzles are mainly used when the inlet air is extremely hot to convert the heat into gas kinetic energy...
by btrettel
Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:04 pm
Forum: Off-Topic Hobbies
Topic: "Offtopic-posts-topic" NSFW
Replies: 6637
Views: 2568027

I'm skeptical the convergent-divergent nozzle is necessarily helping here. They did no tests without it best I can tell. For all we know the gun would have performed better without it.
by btrettel
Wed Jan 23, 2013 8:23 pm
Forum: General How-To & Discussion
Topic: Spring Gun Design Tool Thread
Replies: 15
Views: 7631

Also what could be worth considering is forming a design programme that is made entirely from experimental data, have you ever considered such an idea yourself? It is certainly possible and attractive for the reasons you detail. However, it would be difficult even for simple low-speed pneumatics if...
by btrettel
Tue Jan 22, 2013 9:18 pm
Forum: General How-To & Discussion
Topic: Spring Gun Design Tool Thread
Replies: 15
Views: 7631

Your graph, have you tested + recorded (or similar) where an actual pressure reading of the system would be taken at? I wonder how close it would lie to the two lines. Also your equation it's perplexing me what law/scientist/rule/parrot you got it from, I will definitely use it in future but I like...