The Pneumatic Takeover

[jrrdw]

We all understand that you lack sufficient intelligence to contribute anything constructive to the discussion, but I think most of the members would appreciate it if you stopped cluttering up the thread with your attempts to use others' words to exact your personal vendetta against me.

Shocking you would twist things in the wrong direction/intention when in fact I was simply agreeing with a accurate "very well said" point of interest that D_Hall pointed out.

If you want clutter to stop happening don't complain about what others are posting. In fact your opening post is really just a complaint about Spudfiles.

Question: Have you ever given open and honest credit for anything you learned here on Spudfiles and it's members?

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

First an apocalyptic thread, now this! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7951331.stm



Repent, for the end is nigh!

[PCGUY]

Alright time for me to chime in here... many of the reasons for this are expressed in this thread and have lots of merit, however...

The #1 reason that you don't see more people that are very well versed with combustion and pneumatic cannons that have moved to the point of not only building hybrids, but working on hybrid R/D... is...





****drumroll****



There will always be FAR more newer members starting off in this hobby then there are senior members who are working on bleeding edge spudding technology. The audience that spudding attracts is teenagers and young adults. People start off young, build some cannons, then the majority fall out of the hobby because LIFE happens. Some make it further than others... but LIFE always seems to happen eventually.

I've been moderating & running a spud web forum for almost 10 damn years now. (SpudTech first, then SpudFiles). Do you know how many senior members that I've watched disappear from the face of the Internet? Far too many, it kind of hurts because long ago I was very close with some of these people. Some people get older and still stay in the hobby, but eventually everyone seems to have life catch up with them. They get girlfriends, they get married, they get a job that takes up a lot of the time (my case). They buy houses, they move to a suburb where they can't shoot. Some even pass away & the community finds out or never even knows.

The point is that there will always be a much greater stream of new members who will go after the easier builds, verses the group of members whom have been around much longer. There is no way to change this. Hybrid technology has come a LONG way in just the past few years. But guess what? If you look at pneumatic technology back in say early 2000, compared to now, it's grown leaps and bounds.

We are complaining that lots of members aren't very advanced because their building small bore pneumatics with various types of valves. In 2003, that type of cannon was THE SHIT! At that time, people complained that too many people were building duct tape combustions, and we were still trying to get people to stop using BBQ ignitors drilled straight into their cannon. Using a stun gun back then was very advanced!

Now look at us today... we have indeed grown very far as a whole. The "norm" may not be what you (SB15) want it to be, but it's progressed just right for the community as a whole. There has always been a small group that is doing a big part of the new developments.

There are a few things we (I) can do to help this. The flow of members and the pace that spudding technology advances won't change too much. However, I can organize the forum in a better fashion to keep things more separate, so members can stick to areas they enjoy the most.

[warhead052]

I can guarantee you guys that if I ever move some where that has much more land, I will make a big hybrid, maybe even a normal combustion. I have to stick to mini's and pneumatics right now though due to legality and my shooting area. I only have +-75 feet of shoot area in my back yard. The rest is all fenced in and my neighbors yards. I could strike up a deal with a couple of neighbors, I mow their lawn for permission to shoot from their yard into mine possibly, but that probably won't happen.

I have to agree with some of the others, there are always going to be more new members than older members (both age and time spudding wise) and we all started with the basics.

[Technician1002]

Well put PC guy. One aspect that I hadn't covered in the small air cannon variety. They use a lot of air. Having something that sounds like a stapler or nailer in a garage is not likely to raise any eyebrows while a noisy compressor is buzzing away. A few pops sound much like many air tools. A loud shotgun blast in a quiet neighborhood on the other hand wakes up every pet for hundreds of feet. The neighbors know something exploded.

[VH_man]

I know life happened to me....

But when I have children, I will pass down the tips of the trade and they will carry on the legacy. May their cannons trump mine in every possible way

and my reason for not doing combustions? My parents are more afraid of things that emit flame. When I have my own house with somewhere I can shoot, a metered combustion and a hybrid are at the top of my list.

and the combustion will never die. Ever. It will always remain the defacto spudgun, due to its inherent simplicity. as far as I can see, we have reached as far as we can possibly go in the realms of reliability and power. I hope that in my lifetime I am proved wrong, but this is how I feel.

hybrids require math to really operate well (at least from my experience) and that can turn off younger people from attempting them. Only the devoted attempt these, as far as I can tell, and this is probably a good thing due to their enormous power.

Pneumatics are not taking over. They just lend themselves better to smaller, more reliable guns that can be used in space-restricted areas.

[velocity3x]

I don't have the building limitations that many members have to live with. I don't have to worry about neighbors complaining because I live on a farm. I don't have financial, time or equipment limitations. I live in a state where firearm ownership is not only legal.....it encouraged! I'm free to build what I want and shoot it when I want. Having total freedom to build and use whatever I choose, I overwhelming choose to build pneumatics. I feel the engineering / design and manufacturing challenge is far grater to produce a pneumatic than combustion types. For me the joy is seeing something that began as a passing thought become tangible reality and the process required to make it happen. If I wanted pure performance, I'd take a big bore riffle out of the vault.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

I don't have the building limitations that many members have to live with. I don't have to worry about neighbors complaining because I live on a farm. I don't have financial, time or equipment limitations. I live in a state where firearm ownership is not only legal.....it encouraged! I'm free to build what I want and shoot it when I want.

I'm considering giving myself up for adoption

hybrids require math to really operate well (at least from my experience) and that can turn off younger people from attempting them. Only the devoted attempt these, as far as I can tell, and this is probably a good thing due to their enormous power.

A 15 year old should have the arithmetic skills to make a hybrid work. A good number on this forum have. If anything, it's a brilliant learning tool.

If they can't be trusted with not abusing the power, they should not be building spudguns at all.

[Brian the brain]

You wouldn't guess...with me being a strict pneumatics man ( never even fired my attempt at a hybrid after deciding it's not worth breaking the law)

But...I could actually understand SB15's point of view.
I mean...I too am bored with simple cannons.
I still encourage newbs to build them but I'm really hoping to see something truely new and outstanding every time I log on.

It gets harder over time to keep that amazement.
This seems only natural.
No matter what type of propulsion you prefer.

For example: my coworker saw one of the cannons on here while I was searching the forum during my launchbreak...(hihi) and he was in awe..
I was like.."what? yeah that's just a basic combustion...just a very big one."
I'm used to seeing this stuff.
I remember staying up way too late just to read all about the early cannons back in the day.


At first...I kinda liked this discussion.
I felt people might even be inspired to start that hybrid they had planned for a long time.
Untill people started saying other people lack intelligence.
Come on!


Anyway.
I do feel we might need an advanced section.

This way senior members would have a place to compete, discuss or show off their builds on another level.

This section should be shielded from newbie posts to protect it.
It might be a good idea to have it "visible"for all, just as an inspiration.
Nothing but good stuff!
kinda what I was hoping for by starting a masterclass challenge.


But...
having it visible to only a select group of senior, mature members could open up some other possibilities for those who are included.


This would be for PCGUY to decide however.

[jrrdw]

But...
having it visible to only a select group of senior, mature members could open up some other possibilities for those who are included.

This has been discussed before. It's a good idea in my opinion accept for 1 issue. When to let members into such a section? Length on membership? Members could have joined 3 or more years ago and be absent most of the time then pop in long enough to get the needed info to really hurt themselves, know what I'm saying?

[Hubb]

It's a good idea in my opinion accept for 1 issue. When to let members into such a section?

Easy fix... Let the other members vote. The veterans of the community know who each other are. Other not-so-familiar faces can be voted in by those members.

[MrCrowley]

For me the joy is seeing something that began as a passing thought become tangible reality and the process required to make it happen.

True, but is there any reason why a hybrid can't have that joy while also being powerful? You could easily make a hybrid out of your nitrogen piston valved golf ball cannon, only a few extra modifications would be needed for the piston and pilot valve.

If I wanted pure performance, I'd take a big bore riffle out of the vault

The one thing hybrids have over large rifles is the ability to fire countless types of projectiles.

Anyway, I think this topic has almost come full circle.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/spudfil ... 22526.html

I've said it before - personally I think an "elite" section being against the spirit of this forum.

[jrrdw]

Anyway, I think this topic has almost come full circle.

It has also in a way strayed from topic...

[natas]

I am not sure if I am worthy to post in this thread at all, but I'm all new to this forum and are able to look at this forum with "fresh" eyes.

I think this forum is exelent the way it is now !!

I too notice alot of post in the air side of the forum, but that do not bother me at all, since im here for the big bangs, and are about to build my first combustion. Inside this forum there is a enourmous amount of information for a noob like me, I love it, and it would be a shame to hide all this wonderfull information for new members. I would for sure not be interrested in, and start building a more anvanced combustion cannon, was it not for this forum.

At age of 40, i might not be the average new member here. but if the majority of new members are young, and want to build pneumatics, isn't that great ? Its like a recruiting class, im sure the boys will be men later on, and start playing with fire

I think all classes are cool in different ways, its just my ADHD peronality that makes me pro. fire and explotions


there is alot of talk about expenses, stop complaining i live in norway, a banjo couppling cost 120$ in the stores lol....