Building first cannon

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.
malibuninja
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Sun Nov 21, 2010 7:04 am

hi guys, i have a few questions, and my first is, is abs better than pvc for these?? i will be using deodorant (not sure how propane systems work)with bbq sparker. about 30-40cm barrel, and 20-25cm combustion chamber, about gold ball sized barrel, and double/triple that diameter for the combustion chamber. any advice on what else to do? how would i set up an electronic ignition?

oh and im in the uk, so i might have a problem finding certain things :)
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Sun Nov 21, 2010 7:34 am

There is a UK spudgun forum but it appears somewhat abandoned.

A big syringe and propane burner will be a much better bet than deodorant, and a BBQ sparker will do you just fine.
about gold ball sized barrel
If you can afford to throw gold balls around, why not invest in something from our sponsors :D
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
malibuninja
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Sun Nov 21, 2010 8:04 am

naw, its just if i wanted to do a test of damage, golf balls are damaging xDwhat would get me the most power, being no loner than 30-50cm in length? (whole thing) also, isnt propane kinda dangerous...
how would i fuel inject it??
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Technician1002
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Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:34 am

Propane works well and burns clean so the chamber does not get gummed up from hair spray.

ABS works fine for conventional launchers. It is less brittle so it is less likely to break into shards. It is slightly softer so the chances are greater than a 4 inch clean out cap my blow off.
malibuninja
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Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:59 am

how would i make a fuel injected propane spud gun?
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saefroch
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Sun Nov 21, 2010 11:41 am

Using the propane meter how-to sticky.
Or the wiki article.
Have a look around all the stickies on the forum, there's a LOT of good info on them.
malibuninja
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Sun Nov 21, 2010 11:48 am

the first link didnt work :( also, i didnt know th name! THANKS!
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saefroch
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Sun Nov 21, 2010 11:51 am

Go to the end of the thread, there is a working link on the fourth page.

Or right here is a link to the video.
Wayfast73
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Tue Dec 07, 2010 8:25 am

I'd highly reccomend putting a fan in there too. I was disappointed in the performance of mine so I pulled a CPU fan out of a old computer and it almost doubled the power.
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