Pete Zaria's Almost Done "Advanced" Combustion

[Pete Zaria]

Thats a really nice cannon Pete... correction, its a f*ckin nice cannon.
Been a while since I've seen you put anything up here cannon wise, but I'm glad you did.

I've drawn up pretty decent CAD drawings (Visio and Solidworks) for both a high(ish) pressure copper marble "sniper", and a steel-fittings (spudblaster15 style) oxy/propane hybrid (which would probably also fire marbles, with the intention of getting them supersonic).
I've been wanting to embark on one of these projects, and in fact, money's not really the problem, time is.
I generally take a couple weeks off around Christmas and have been thinking about undertaking one of those two projects then. I'm kind of leaning towards the hybrid. There are a few unique things I'd like to do to it.

But I did find time to rebuild and repaint my over/under combustion (obviously.... ) so I thought I'd post it.

I'm going to re-work the Visio drawings and plans I have posted in the How-To section to reflect the changes. I think a lot of n00bs will find those plans very useful, seeing as they're pretty start-to-finish step-by-step complete.

Any thoughts besides saddle T's for a barrel support? I might try that, but, other ideas are welcome too.

Peace,
Pete Zaria.

[Novacastrian]

How many times can you skip a rock across a lake with a human arm and hand? Your gun is probly throwing that projectile at approx 4 or 5 times faster and more than a hand - try a bigger lake

[mark.f]

Looks good Pete. Does it still have the same modular design?, (i.e. it's held together with bolts through the outside of the fitting going into a "bushing" in the pipe)?

[Pete Zaria]

Looks good Pete. Does it still have the same modular design?, (i.e. it's held together with bolts through the outside of the fitting going into a "bushing" in the pipe)?

Yep. There are six threaded helical inserts in the chamber wall, installed FROM the inside (so that when you put the bolts in, it pulls them down tight). The six carriage bolts go through the vent-side 4"-2" reducer and bolt it down tight. The fan uses two bolts and the ignition circuit uses two bolts for the wiring so that no holes are required in the chamber for wires It works excellently, it's just a pain in the @$$ to open the chamber to tinker with things, but I shouldn't ever need to do so again until the fan dies.

Peace,
Pete Zaria.

[Flamex]

Pete, is the ball valve you used made from PVC? I've only been able to find PVC ball valves at my Home Depot. Are ABS ball balves available?

[BigGrib]

Lovin the breech. Awesome job!

You know, I was going to use camlocks but decided not to because it was going to be over $30 for a male and female 1.5", and it would also make interchangeable barrels more difficult.

Any suggestions on that barrel support, guys?

Peace,
Pete Zaria.

Man I don't know where you guys are getting your camlocks and maybe i'm just lucky that i live very near a farming community, but I just went down to Irrigation Specialists and it was like 3 or 4 bucks for a male with female threads and like 6 or 7 for a female with male threads aluminum. the poly was more expensive. I could probably ship some if you guys want. cost plus shipping. let me know

Edit--Flamex you will probably have to find a way to adapt using threads. is really the only way if you're building an ABS gun.

[xequa]

Golly Pete, this thing is great! Nice work!

[xequa]

Pete, I have a question about that ball valve at the end of the chamber. I plan on making a gun very similar to yours, but I'm uneasy about doing the 6 bolt thing. I still want access to the chamber, but I had thought of using a coupler, then a female threaded adapter. That way I could screw on a cleanout cap, if nothing else.

Does anyone know of a way I could attach a ball valve to something that would screw into a female threaded adapter? I could see valve > bell > glued-on male adapter but am I overcomplicating the idea?

Thanks!
Chris

[gwoloshyn]

GREAT job man. I'm impressed.

[pm]

nice i like big weapons

[octane89]

Very nice and clean. Your tutorial is very helpful to me. I thought at first one may need pressure rated pvc for a advance combustion, but i guess it is not needed. Great job!

[freder]

sweet gun!!!

I have a question to the fan. (I havn´t done somthing with one before so sry for asking) Doesn´t the fan get destroyed or somthin like that in the chamber? Or how long does the fan last. because its plastic nad I´d think it melts.

Peace, Freder

[xequa]

I've got one in my spudgun and oddly enough it doesn't really seem to notice! Depending on the propellant you use, you could coat it with residue or ash or whatever, but the heat evidently isn't enough to kill it. I've probably shot mine 100 or so times with the fan so far and no problems.

[Pete Zaria]

Pete, I have a question about that ball valve at the end of the chamber. I plan on making a gun very similar to yours, but I'm uneasy about doing the 6 bolt thing. I still want access to the chamber, but I had thought of using a coupler, then a female threaded adapter. That way I could screw on a cleanout cap, if nothing else.

Does anyone know of a way I could attach a ball valve to something that would screw into a female threaded adapter? I could see valve > bell > glued-on male adapter but am I overcomplicating the idea?

Thanks!
Chris

I'm sorry it took me so long to answer these posts.

You could use a coupler and male/female adapters, but I wouldn't really trust it. My bolt-on method using the helical inserts is a bit of a pain in the arse, but once it's built, it works great.

The other thing you can do is just make SURE you do everything right the first time, and seal it up. But I don't really like that idea.

sweet gun!!!

I have a question to the fan. (I havn´t done somthing with one before so sry for asking) Doesn´t the fan get destroyed or somthin like that in the chamber? Or how long does the fan last. because its plastic nad I´d think it melts.

Peace, Freder

Although the combustion temperature is pretty high, it's only for a fraction of a second. The paper label on the fan is still nicely intact after 300-400 shots, I can see it with a flashlight through the vent valve. I'd say it will last a good long time.
Just remember to position the fan at the "back" of the chamber, farthest away from the barrel, and oriented to blow air towards the barrel end.

I'll try to update this thread sometime soon.

Peace,
Pete Zaria.