SpudFiles

well so im trying to make my first combustion cannon.... im was messing around with some extra PVC i had lying around and i bought a grill starter....i have a 4 ft long 1.5 inch wide pipe and a cap on one end that u can screw on and off and i installed the grill started about 2 inches away from the screw cap...i loaded in a wad of cloth leaving about a foot left for a "combustion chamber" .. spritzed in 2 sprays of model nitro fuel (screwed the cap on) and when i fire it, it kinda goes FLOOMP and it onyl travels halfway down the barrel....so what am i doing wrong? i mean u guys are hurking these things a hundred yards lol dont flame me im new to this stuff

Have you tryed somthing like hairsprary of engine starter (eather)?

welcome to the forums

nitro fuel is MUCH more powerful than hairspray, its 15% model nitro from my hobby shop.......i was wondering, does it just need a better seal from the ammo to build up more pressure?

yes a tighter fit would help but not to tight
maybe you can just try hairspray or somthing like it just to see how it goes? or a chamber fan maybe

i actually did try hairspray and axe and the nitro lights better out of the three, and what is this about a chamber fan? ive heard about it but i'd liek to know more

If you can't get it started on 15% nitro just build a simple pnemutatic all you need is a tubeless tire valve a .5 inch to 2 inch pipe one end cap a ball valve either plastic or metal and you can launch things preety far, its really easy.

I just use mortein to fire my combustion it works great mines 2 inch

Good luck with your current and furture projects

why dont u use oxy-aceteline? lol 8) anyway if u use potatoes it will work much better!

Well if u have it from about 1' from the bottom the camber to barrel ratio is at 1:3,try having the rojectile about half way down because any combuston cannon with a 1:3 C:B ratio isnt going to shoot very well at all.

Leave more of a "combustion chamber", and find a tight fitting projectile.

And when it does work, don't expect too much distance because you'll only be shooting out of a ~2' barrel.

well ok one thing i discovered while i was tinkering with it was the fact that i just need to make a combustion chamber lol .... i cut the barrel down so that it was about 2.5 ft long and i just put in some wadding in the tip really tight....when it fired it actually threw the wadding about 15 ft or so and there was a loud crack from the air escaping...my next hardware store trip will be to get a reducer down to 1 inch so that my 1.5 inche chamber will work with it...hope it will work ive just been messing with it a bunch to try and make it work.....when i get some money saved up im going to make a proper cannon with a 3" x 2' chamber with a 2" x 4' barrel....... another question i have: is there another alternative to getting one of those caps you can screw on? cus on the cannon i tried making, i can hear lots of air wooshing out from there and i cant tighten it anymore by hand....oh yea and with my very first config. i found a propane bottle in the barn and i tried it and i got the same result, floomp and about halfway down the barrel....that or i hear air rushing out from where the cap is

go pneumatic, tons more accurate and alot more fun to shoot and you wont have any flames coming out that could burn you.

hey i already suggested that air is the way to go if your a newb

hey i already suggested that air is the way to go if your a newb

Hey, he was just backing up your comment.
And mark, try less fuel.

Ya, you may be putting too much fuel in, which creates a less powerful explosion.

You can put a ball valve on the back, always seals, easy to refuel.