SpudFiles

Versatile Antenna Launcher

Specifications:

• 800mm long 50mm barrel
  1200mm long 40mm golfball barrel
  1000mm long 50mm chamber
  25mm pneumatically actuated sprinkler valve pilot
  Male quick-connect for the fill valve
  50mm plywood o-ringed piston machined down on a lathe and water sealed.
  50mm female threaded port
  45mm seat
  40mm piston travel

Versatile Antenna Launcher or VAL for short, is a 2" piston valve pneumatic I made for a school project. It's main function was to shoot a fishing cable attached to a pocket nerf but i've also made it very versatile.

How-To: Build the V.A.L Cannon
http://www.instructables.com/id/Golfbal ... That-Shoo/

NEW PICTURES:
Well here's the cannon after a new upgrade/downgrade as i've removed the stock. Paintjob has suffered a bit and I just realised it has almost been two years since I posted the cannon.
Over View
Close up of piston housing, pilot setup and removed stock

Pictures:
Close Up of Piston Housing and Pilot Valve
View through Barrel Support
View through Barrel Port
Close Up of back of Piston Housing, Fill Valve and Pressure Gauge
Over view of Cannon with 50mm Barrel and fishing line fitting
Close Up of Breech Loading Mechanism with Nerf
Over view of Cannon with Golfball Barrel
Breech Loading Golfball Barrel
Piston with Bumper and Threaded Adapter
Sealing Face of Piston
Piston size comparison

It can shoot golfballs, potatoes, pocket nerfs, deodorant cans or anything else that fits in a golfball or 2" barrel. One of my main features I wanted this gun to have was breech loading. I learned from the <A HREF="http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/viewtop ... 16">SGA</a> that having to unthread the barrel from the adapter to load a potato, clean the barrel or having to use a ram rod to get a projectile to the bottom, was taking a toll on me.

But I wanted it to be able to have interchangeable barrels while keeping the breech loading mechanism simple. I got the idea from a nerf launcher posted on Youtube that we had a discussion about. The main goal was to build a cannon that would pass me the assignment but still be powerful so I didn't waste my money.

For the assignment the operating pressures will be 30psi max, which sends the nerf with cable attached, about 70m. I've taken this up to 90psi so far, hopefully more but it drains my compressor fast. Everything seems to work perfectly as well, I learned from my mistakes with the SGA. This works first time, every time and seems a lot more powerful.

I documented the building process with pictures so I can replace my old piston how-to. It may take me a few days to write it up. If you're wondering how the breech loading works, I just bored out two 50mm PVC tee's so they slide over 50mm pipe. I then joined them with an adapter and made the right height adjustments. The barrel simply slides through the top tee and locks into the coupler attached to the female threaded adapter.

To load, simply pull the barrel out of the coupler, load your projectile and close it.

Videos:
[youtube][/youtube]
[youtube][/youtube]
New video [12/02/2010]:
[youtube][/youtube]
New Video [10/05/2010]:
[youtube][/youtube]

very clean, i like it,the breach loading is especially good. did you get an A on this?

WOW, this is such a beautiful launcher, looks ergonomic to hold, I love it, bless us with a vid:D , good job again.

Thanks, and yeah it is quite ergnomic to hold, the pressure gauge doesn't get in the way and is in a good position.

Working on the video now

Awesome!

Love the paint job, are you planning on giving the barrels one too?

Great job on the stock. I can't wait to see the vid.

All you'll need to do is let your teacher shoot it and you'll have a guaranteed A.

Nice Versatile Antenna Launcher you've got there MrCrowley, you did a good job.
Looks nicer then the SGA too.
p.s its good that you posted images with photobucket, because the one you posted using the sites unloader doesn't work for me (as always)

Cheers, i'm not painting the 2" barrel for the reason that it wont slide so well in the tee, later on I could always sand the tee down a bit more and leave the barrel to dry for about a week. Then it shouldn't scratch the paint job too badly.

I clean it with CRC every now and then and it gets really white and doesn't look so bad.

I hope he wants to shoot it, then he spreads the word to other teachers and they might stop hassling me

Versatile indeed!! Beautiful, well designed and balanced gun. That pilot looks alot like the one on your SGA...I can tell it's a solid design.

My only complaint (if you can call it that) is the beige color doesn't really do it for me. However, very clean, A+.

Thanks starman, I know you like your clean cannons too.

The beige colour was unfortunate, I was looking for a colour similar to the green from the SGA, but they only had dark green (which i've tried beofre and hated) and a very light sand colour. So I settled for what i've nicknamed 'Iraqi Freedom'.

Not sure why, but as soon as I saw this colour I just thought of George Bush saying 'Operation Iraqi Freedom'
And since I wanted a colour from the camo spectrum, I had to settle for this.

And yeah the pilot is very similar, I bought a bunch of those 3 way galv fittings and they work perfect for this. Very ergonomic design for my application I thought.

Video is coming very, very shortly. Just waiting on YouTube.

MrCrowley wrote:and a very light sand colour.....

Now that you mention it....that sand color will work well as a base for a real camo job on there. Not sure how you could accomplish it but that new digital camo would really set that gun off.... Even a simpler one would too I believe.

Just a thought.

I was going to do camo but since it's for school my teacher was adamant about a non-threatening colour.

Maybe when the assignment is over I'll repaint it


Update: Video

Nice vid crowley. its got good power and that piston looks really good. Now unleash hell with 120 psi...

nice cannon ! was that an attempt to make a "flying V" that you were shooting ..... Lol

Haha yes it was. I was like 12 or something when I tried too. Wasn't that bad except for the fact that all I had was a hand saw to make it.

Ran out of targets and then I found it hiding away

what did you make the Piston Valve out of ???
like the wood part ??