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SACG - Somewhat Advanced Combustion Gun

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 7:19 am
by psycix
SACG - Somewhat Advanced Combustion Gun

This is my first combustion cannon I built. Nothing really special, just a bunch of advanced ghettoness.
Its about one year old now though it started off as a spray and pray and ended with the following specs:

-Chamber: 110 mm diameter, about 27,5 cm long, 2600cm^3 volume.
-Barrel: 50mm barrel, ID about 43mm, perfect for golfballs. Length: 145cm, 2100cm^3 volume.
C:B ratio: about 1.2
-92mm chamber fan
-Dual spark gap, "multisparking" piezo ignition.
-Butane metering

Stuff about it:
-The metering system is quite crappy, due to the fact I couldnt find propane around, I went with butane, wich has way too low vapor pressures. The pressure from the tank differs all the time, and on top of that I couldnt find any adapter for it and had to go with some sort of crappy pressure relief valve wich further reduces pressure. But after I hammered a long nail into it and covered the hole with solder, it worked. When the pressure is too low, I just inject another shot and it became a "inject, guess and pray".
-The fan system is a 9V battery ducttaped to the chamber and to turn it on I just attach the wires to the bolts wich connect to the fan inside.
-The ignition system is a rare form of piezo sparker. On a small spark gap as it is intended to be, it gives about 10-20 sparks on both pressing and releasing the ingnitor. When enlarging the spark gap it does less sparks.
On the current setup it sparks 2 or 3 times on both the press-in and the out.
Ofcourse I only need one spark so its quite useless but its a weird thing.



When was a spray and pray and I shot onto my barn door a few times. The potatoes splattered, no damage to barn.
Then, some other day, I added the chamber fan and used the second spark gap.
I shot onto a wooden board that was in front of my barn door.
The potato went TROUGH the board and then TROUGH the barn door!
Ehmmm... dad? I got something to tell you...
I was afraid that this would be the end of my so far shortlived spudding carreer because my parents wouldnt allow any more guns.
But my dad wasnt angry, he even wanted me to fire it again because at first he didnt believe that the potato when trouough both the board and the door. He was quite impressed, and fixed the door.
And that was just a potato, now imagine a golfball, or worse...

Pictures:

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 7:23 am
by jrrdw
Dam! :shock: What else can I say. Besides, nice work!

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 7:29 am
by JDP12
nice gun and damage shots!!

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:19 am
by Tom
HMMM do you like Korsakoff her self or hardcore music :D .
Tom

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:36 am
by sniper hero
cool
but is it pressure rated ?
it looks like the ordinary pvc.
and tom I was first like huh why korsakoff but now I understand 8)

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 9:10 am
by psycix
Thanks for the replies :D

@tom and sniper hero
Hahah yeah I like hardcore music :D
And DJ korsakoff is one of my favorite artists. Also, she looks good on a poster.

@ sniper hero
Define pressure rated.
Something thats rated for 30 psi also is pressure rated.
But your right on one hand:
This is not like DWV, but also not really pressure pipe.
I googled up specs and it should be able to hold about 6.2 bar.
Its fine for combustion... I think.

Anyways it didnt explode yet, and Im not planning to do much more shots with this gun.
I built this to get some experience with combustion cannons. I will post some other cannons soon.

Though this is my first combustion, it may also be my last one. Combustions are illigal in the netherlands and pneumatics are not while having more power.
Exept one "recreational combustion" wich is designed for ease of use, all following combustions will probably be hybrids.
But I expect those projects will not yet be started before this christmas.
Im going to play around with pneumatic power this summer.