SpudFiles

New guy here. I've been looking around here and there's a lot of info. Wanting to build my first cannon and was wondering where is a good starting place on here? Like the right materials,size.etc. Thanks in advance.

Read the wiki
make the best decsion for you
look at the showcase

Read the stickies in the how to database.

Decide what you want, for example:

• A cannon for peformance
  A cannon for aesthetics
  A cannon for plinking
  A cannon that is portable

You may want a cannon that has good power and is portable, in that case an advanced combustion would be best. If you don't feel up to it, start out with a basic combustion and then build a more advanced cannon later on.

If you want a cannon that fires small bore (say, 1" projectiles and below) but has a lot of power and is good for plinking, you might want to build a pneumatic. Sprinkler valves are very easy to mod and make a good valve for a first pneumatic.

Look through the Showcase forum sections, bookmark some cannons you like and some cannons you think you will be able to build with a little help. Then decide what type of cannon you want (pneumatic or combustion), what you want it to shoot as a projectile, the budget for the cannon, the performance you expect, the size of the cannon, the layout etc etc.

A good first cannon is generally a basic combustion (using WD40, hairspray etc as the fuel) or a sprinkler valved pneumatic.

Thanks for the responses. Not really sure about type of projectiles but would like to do t- shirts at times. Which would be best for that? ( pneumatic or combustion )? Thanks again.

KAA wrote:Thanks for the responses. Not really sure about type of projectiles but would like to do t- shirts at times. Which would be best for that? ( pneumatic or combustion )? Thanks again.

pneumatic unless you want burnt shirts

If you do shirts, most sporting events will not allow combustion due to fire and safety regulations and insurance. The liability of possibly launching something flaming into a crowd is extreme.

While you're researching a full-size design you could throw together a mini combustion. They're a lot of fun if you're just starting out and give you an idea of what to expect.
Most people just use a small pill bottle and a 1/2" or smaller barrel. Pen tubes are ok but won't give you much choice in ammo. Mine fired marbles from a piece of hulahoop.

my first cannon was a 1 inch pneumatic that was faithful untill i blew it up tuesday because of the non pressure rated parts (DWV). hehehe. i'll put pic's up sooner or later.