SpudFiles

Here is a nice solid cannon I made, its quite powerful. Its a basic peizo ignition with hairspray propellent. Chamber is 4" diameter with a 1 1/2" barrel.

Nice setup?

nice and clean, there are two cannons in the second picture, which one is this? the one on the right is the best for obvious reasons.

Yes, very nice cannon. Very simple.
Maybe you could figure out a breech loader of some type?

Also, i noticed that you have quite a nice little shop. I saw the mortar launcher in the corner of picture #2

Thanks for the nice replies. There is actually three cannons in the picture, try and locate the third . It's a smaller one. Thats a good idea incorporating a breech loading system but unfortunatly I gotta wait till school starts so I can use the lathe. I should have made the barrel threaded so I could interchange them, but I was in a hurry to get it together for the fourth of july. The 30 shot mortar rack was sweeeeet!

Nice cannons. Is the third on the shelf thing in the middle of the picture and it has a stock?

I likes. The ignition trigger on the handle looks pretty easy to work. You got a range estimation for us? Oh, and don't use hairspray, it's nasty after a while. Switch to a spray deodorant or Static Guard. I prefer Static Guard myself, but that's just me.

Yeah, I need to try some different propellant.
Yes, the gun is sitting in front of the toolbox and it has the stock on it. Lol.

On the fourth, it was dark out so I couldnt get a range estimation, however, we shot a potato straight up and the airtime was like 15 seconds or something (cant remember exactly i was drunk, but it was quite a long time, everybody was impressed)

Well I might do soem calculations to estimate the approximate initial velocity, but I hate calculus and don't feel like doing it in the summertime, haha. But that is a pretty good hangtime.

EDIT: OK, I got bored. Approximate initial velocity was 243.5 feet per second. That gives us an approximate vertical peak of 909 feet. I don't feel like calculating the obtainable distance at an optimum launch angle so figure that one out on your own. Oh, and that is assuming your 15 second hangtime.

@gwoloshyn
Do you make your own shells?

You could use a butane can for the portable camping stoves. The can doesn't come with a nozzle, but you can use one from a can of cheap hairspray. I use this setup, and I usually get consistent shots almost every time. You'll probably flood the gun a few times when first using it, but once you figure out exactly how much to spray into the chamber, it's quite powerful. The cans are usually quite large, so they should last you quite a while, and they are dirt cheap too, I picked up mine for $3.99.

Starter fluid also works well too, but it stinks up your gun after a few shots.

All I can say is thats some nice work. Use butane like Flamex said and wait for that lovely BOOM

nice simple spray and pray, even if not meterd i'd go for a propane setup maybe just a simple benzo torch with no pushbutton ignitor 12 bucks at home depot. youpainted the barrel right thats now abs is it. anyway good job

Tom wrote:@gwoloshyn
Do you make your own shells?

I make a few different types of ammo such as cement slugs for my pneumatic launchers.. why do you ask?

I have a few other propane powered launchers but I built this for simplicity.

I think he was referring to fireworks (ala the morter tubes)

Ahh, no, i just load them with black mambas or excals!