First Gun...The Messenger

Boom! The classic potato gun harnesses the combustion of flammable vapor. Show us your combustion spud gun and discuss fuels, ratios, safety, ignition systems, tools, and more.
flamerz14
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Sun Nov 04, 2007 3:30 am

This is my first gun I FINALLY got about building :D Constructed out of 2'' pipe and fittings. Ignition is a bunsen burner lighter "borrowed"*ehmstoleehm* from my school lab.

I havent done any distance/damage shots yet, only dry fires...Which have great results.
Attachments
Ignition in drilled endcap.
Ignition in drilled endcap.
ign in end.JPG (22.43 KiB) Viewed 3645 times
Some Mac.Donald's toy. Fits A little TOO tight i the barrell.
Some Mac.Donald's toy. Fits A little TOO tight i the barrell.
ammo compare.JPG (31.85 KiB) Viewed 3645 times
Wooden pencil box that fits just nice in the barrell
Wooden pencil box that fits just nice in the barrell
wooden pencilbox.JPG (22.66 KiB) Viewed 3645 times
Flash Dash fuel.contains petroleum distillates = FIRE!
Flash Dash fuel.contains petroleum distillates = FIRE!
Coupling(left) is ghost sight. 1/2' of 2" pipe is ammo holder
Coupling(left) is ghost sight. 1/2' of 2" pipe is ammo holder
barrell down view
barrell down view
The beech loading mechanism. pretty simple,nothing much
The beech loading mechanism. pretty simple,nothing much
The whole gun
The whole gun
well, this isn't much isn't it?
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MrCrowley
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Sun Nov 04, 2007 3:37 am

Nice job, Looks fun to shoot.
Last edited by MrCrowley on Sun Nov 04, 2007 4:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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wannabie
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Sun Nov 04, 2007 3:43 am

It's a combustion....

Nice gun, i've never seen one of those bunsen lighters before, we allways use matches.
In epoxy we trust.
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MrCrowley
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Sun Nov 04, 2007 4:38 am

Ah, completely did not pick that up, I saw that he was using 2" pipe and remembered someone saying they just made a 2" piston valve, and just put the two together.

Wow, im dumbfounded, that's a first for me.
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BigGrib
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Sun Nov 04, 2007 6:14 am

wannabie wrote:It's a combustion....

Nice gun, i've never seen one of those bunsen lighters before, we allways use matches.
My God man! Are you living in the stone age?
Yea, that's definitely going to get you at least a tazer.
<a href="">DONT TAZE ME BRO.. DONT TAZE ME... AHHHH</a>
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flamerz14
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Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:49 am

my school USED to use matches to light them bunsen burners..bu then some idiots started burning their worksheets instead :lol: and i just did anaother dry shot out of my window..the blast reverberated around the whole estate.the gun kicked like mad too.
well, this isn't much isn't it?
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BigGrib
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Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:12 am

flamerz14 wrote:my school USED to use matches to light them bunsen burners..bu then some idiots started burning their worksheets instead :lol: and i just did anaother dry shot out of my window..the blast reverberated around the whole estate.the gun kicked like mad too.
Estate who are you richy rich?? Anyway nice gun.
Yea, that's definitely going to get you at least a tazer.
<a href="">DONT TAZE ME BRO.. DONT TAZE ME... AHHHH</a>
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Ragnarok
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Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:01 am

I'd advise against using anything that says "Shine" or "clean" on the can, because it often means it may contain substances bad for the PVC.
I also have to say that that breech loading looks disturbingly fragile, and quite a few fittings you have used don't appear to be pressure rated.

Sorry to make so many negative comments, but all of these things negatively impact your safety, and I'm sure you'd rather not have to make a trip to the hospital because your cannon exploded in your hands.

The school I was at before uni used matches that weren't made accessible except in practical classes.

Worked fine, but there was a weird thing that was if you couldn't find any, but said "Matches, Matches, Matches", some would suddenly appear.
One of the teachers had an alarming quality that he would physically hurl the matches straight at you to get them there before you finished the third "matches".
But that eventually stopped.
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Hotwired
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Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:29 am

Hah, matches.

The schools/colleges I've been at, the teacher/lecturer would light one bunsen with a match then you had to get a splint and use it to bring the gift of fire to your own bunsen....
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:42 am

BigGrib wrote:Estate who are you richy rich?? Anyway nice gun.
Not necessarily, perhaps it's a housing estate.
The schools/colleges I've been at, the teacher/lecturer would light one bunsen with a match then you had to get a splint and use it to bring the gift of fire to your own bunsen....
That used to be the case in earlier years but in sixth form we'd have our zippos handy :D
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
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Ragnarok
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Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:56 am

jackssmirkingrevenge wrote:That used to be the case in earlier years but in sixth form we'd have our zippos handy :D
You think I used a zippo?

If they hadn't supplied matches, there would have been some considerable danger of the room catching fire.

@Hotwired: I spent most of my time taking splints, dampening them, then re-bending them into spirals, and letting them dry into the new shape - so the pot of splints always looked very weird at the end of the term.

And no-one ever figured out that it was me doing it. Although they did catch me doing a lot of other things, so I'm quite surprised that they didn't suspect me.
flamerz14
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Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:38 pm

@ragnarok: its made to polish PVC bumpers and other plastic stuffs.

@jsr: yeah its a housing estate :lol: nearly everybody lives in them where i'm at..

oh and i did another dry shot yesterday...the shot was loud enough to scare the sh*t out of 12 year old kids who were smoking.Apparently they called the police and the cops didnt suspect them of smoking :roll: but nonetheless, i'm safe.for now.
well, this isn't much isn't it?
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Ragnarok
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Tue Nov 06, 2007 5:36 am

flamerz14 wrote:@ragnarok: its made to polish PVC bumpers and other plastic stuffs.
Then you need to stop using it immediately. Some polishes are mildly destructive to the surface they're cleaning, and I wouldn't want to take that chance.
Does that thing kinda look like a big cat to you?
Flamex
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Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:58 pm

Does anyone know where I could purchase a bunsen burner lighter like this?
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