The price of competition...

[mark.f]

Well, I'll get it out.

When I build cannons, I really don't intend for them to impress a group of people I don't even know in real life. I build them to shoot, and to show my friends, and to show my other IRL spudding acquaintance.

When it really comes down to it, it shouldn't matter to a cannon builder how popular his or her cannon is on this site.

Now comments on a showcase cannon... it's not like a regular thread elsewhere in the forum. In a normal thread, it's generally not a good idea to echo an idea that's been stated earlier on. But, I also think it would be pretty stupid if only one post in a showcase thread praised a cannon, don't you? I agree that multiple one-liners are annoying, but come on, the original poster usually has spent a good deal of time building the cannon, and I have no qualms about multiple posts complimenting the build.

While a community is good to share your creations with and get advice from, just stop and consider who you're building cannons for. This hobby eats up a lot of time and a good bit of money. Are you using up all of that because you enjoy the hobby, or because you want to impress a bunch of people on the internet? Kind of a waste to do the latter, if you ask me... almost as bad as really-hardcore WoW enthusiasts...

[Ragnarok]

When it really comes down to it, it shouldn't matter to a cannon builder how popular his or her cannon is on this site.

Perhaps not, but it's nice to know you've built something which people (who know the subject) like, are impressed by or perhaps even are inspired by, or aspire to.

No, I don't build cannons to impress people on the internet. However, it is largely through the forum that members decide what is possible and therefore what they consider good. Hence, there is frequently overlap between impressing the forum and what you build, because people don't tend to invest money in building cannons that they don't feel are good in some way.

Of course, if you've built a cannon you feel is good, but the forum doesn't like - given the forum's opinions are often what you've based your own on... that's going to be a fairly unpleasant feeling.

And in the end, it's always nice to be told you've done well.

Now, I have an important question to answer about why I've got the same thought of someone with an assault rifle jumping off the north side of the bridge that crosses Hollybush Road in Bridgnorth running through my head over and over - that's nearly a hundred and twenty miles from here.
Evidently, I am going mad.

[Moonbogg]

I think competition, even if indirect, is critical for the rapid advancement of most technologies. I know that when I see high end cannons built by others, I know that it is possible because they achieved it. That makes me want to take that level of success and try to build upon it. This is evolution. People have been doing this since they figured out how to chuck spears at animals for food. Started with wood, then added stone tips etc.

[Davidvaini]

Spudfiles is the leading Spudding Forum. With the leading spudding forum, you are gonna have a higher "bar" when it comes to launchers being appreciated or liked. The members of a leading website for a hobby are not going to be impressed with something maindain or amateurish.

The cannons on this site that are in the showcase section are to be showed off. People show off the different cannons for different reasons:

1.some people show off their cannons to get tips on how to make it better,
2.some showcase it to show that things can be done in a different way.
3.Some people showcase because they are proud of their build.

The people who comment on the showcase are there to respond to the poster and give their opinions on the cannon.


A plain PVC cannon with a sprinkler valve is obviously not being posted to show things can be done in a different ways(#2), and most people would assume to not comment on it being a "cool cannon"(#3), so the only thing they are left to comment on is #1. And looking at a plain cannon, it would be hard not to comment on how you could make it better.

[jrrdw]

@JSR: I give you the completely comprehensive list of people who have used those two spellings of awesome on this forum:

- jackssmirkingrevenge (7 uses, including the post above)
- jrrdw (6 uses)
- Ragnarok (2 uses)
- MrCrowley (1 use)
- SpudMonster (1 use)
- sinper2006 [sic] (1 use)

That says a lot. I don't know exactly what it says, but it's a lot.

Actually, what it actually boils down to is that those spellings are almost exclusively used in parody of n00b spelling and attitudes.

@Solar: Oh yes, I am certainly a person of many useless talents.

Dam Rag, I think it's just allsome you've taken the time to compile that allsome information!

[sinper2006]

- sinper2006 [sic] (1 use)

I think I forgot to press the "k" key on my keyboard. :'(

edit: note to self refresh page before posting.

[Technician1002]

Well, I'll get it out.

While a community is good to share your creations with and get advice from, just stop and consider who you're building cannons for. This hobby eats up a lot of time and a good bit of money. Are you using up all of that because you enjoy the hobby, or because you want to impress a bunch of people on the internet? Kind of a waste to do the latter, if you ask me... almost as bad as really-hardcore WoW enthusiasts...

I think you figured it out. I'm a science junkie. How it works and can be made better is of interest. How it can be made cheaper is important. Most of my "Advanced" cannons are right out of "Junkyard Wars" Tools bought from Goodwill, used golfball for the trigger knob, old fireplace poker for the main shaft, dented disposable freon bottle for the tank, Goodwill cutting board for the HDPE sheet to laminate into a piston, 30 cent kitchen faucet o rings, etc. My cannons while high performance are low budget.

The single most expensive item in the creation of this cannon was the 2 inch nipple 16 inches long. This used less material cost than many 1.5 inch sprinkler valve cannons. (not counting the large barrel selection)

[john bunsenburner]

Well, i do have to, to a degree or another agree to mark. Of coarse the point of spudgunning is not to show things of on this site. Nor is it just a simple past time. It is, as mark said, a money and time eating hobby, not free of dangers.
Every so often i ask my self why I started spudgunning, i always recall seing a spring powered rifle in a store, and thinking DAMN thats a turn on. Then experimenting with solid propellent guns and nearly loosing my ability to hear(which has fully regenerated, thank god!). Perhaps i am a special case but my motivation really is the safety aspect of spudding.
Another thing mentioned is the whole showing off business. As most of you know i have been lurking this forum,a nd made nearly 1000posts but have not acctually built a single cannon. And there is a reason for this, it being that, i was once told by rag not to jump into the deep end of a the pool, as i was, no, as i AM just a kid. I told my self that i'd play safe, but that id present a cannon that gets a "jaw drop", a "how the hell is this your first cannon" and i am, my self being extremely full of my self, pretty sure I will. My point however is that really i could build a pvc potato cannon and shoot a spud across a field to impress my friends, but i want to impress some one who really knows what their doing.

To conclude id say that eventhough the main motivation of building spudguns should not be to be praised by some one who lives in epoxy, or who called him self after the celtish end of the world(fight of the gods= Ragnarök) there is still a very big influence on the ambitious gun builder if these kinds of people compliment him, far larger than if most his friends do, who mostly are clueless and would compliment a DWV ball valve spud gun.

[jrrdw]

Well to sum it all up, "Your a Spudgunner If ?".

Sounds about like it.

[jook13]

I know I had a point when I started this thread, but I had been drinking quite a bit when I started it and so I forgot what that point was. I think it had to do with all these advancements in things like semi auto and high end hybrids and the like. I was getting the feeling that the basics are being left in the dust.

I read a lot of threads of people who never really have built a spud gun and their plans for their first is something like "I am planning to have a multiple shot hybrid". Or "My first cannon will use 1000 psi and shoot marbles". Johns signature above is another example. I think that every spudder should have a spray and pray in their garage (probably their first buld) as they are the most basic form of spudding fun and a good place to start the learning process. Its like someone who wants to learn to paint, so they start out saying their first painting will rival Rembrandt.

There is another side to this sword though. I am having plenty fun trying new things, and I think my competition gun will be fairly fresh, though propably not revolutionary.