Cleaning an over/under combustion...

Boom! The classic potato gun harnesses the combustion of flammable vapor. Show us your combustion spud gun and discuss fuels, ratios, safety, ignition systems, tools, and more.
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wangpushups
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Thu Nov 22, 2007 9:59 am

I made a big mistake of shooting spuds outta my new combustion. After shootin spuds all day, I let it sit in my basement for a few days and when i went to take it out again i noticed there was a huge chunk of a slimy rotted potato inside of my hard to reach 90 degree elbos. I really dont want to take this apart to clean it out with water but i might have to. Any ideas? A squeegy of some sort maybe?
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psycix
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Thu Nov 22, 2007 1:09 pm

Maybe fill it with water and throw in some random chemicals? :roll: :violent3:
Maybe use NaOH (drain cleaner) to dissolve all the stuff and kill everything that lives.
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f.c
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Thu Nov 22, 2007 6:22 pm

a stick with an old cloth on the end. should work a treat. :wink:
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Thursto
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Fri Nov 23, 2007 2:10 am

have u tried firing it out? fill it with some water fire it out, just try random things :P

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TheTrooper
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Fri Nov 23, 2007 2:15 am

You could use one of those snake things that clean toilets :lol:
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The Kid
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Fri Nov 23, 2007 6:59 pm

connect a male and female threaded adapters between the elbows and/or where they connect to the chamber, just an idea.
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mopherman
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Fri Nov 23, 2007 7:02 pm

why not just fire it out? or just shove some stiff rope down the barrel and swab it out?
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Eddbot
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Fri Nov 23, 2007 7:28 pm

try pipe cleaner, i would elaborate but it's kinda self explanatory
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mark.f
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Fri Nov 23, 2007 8:48 pm

I go with the suggestions above about firing it out. If your chamber has a cleanout, reach in there with your hand or a stick, (if it's a 3" chamber your arm might not fit all the way down to the end), and put a wad of paper towels just before the elbow. Fire that out. It will travel through the elbows, (hopefully deforming to the shape slightly and not just ripping to shreds. You might have to try soaking it or using a rag...), and clean the old potato out of there.

At least you don't have to deal with egg smell for the rest of your cannons life. That's what I got for trying to design a sabot that could fire raw eggs without breaking them. Naturally, the first few designs didn't work...
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TheTrooper
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Fri Nov 23, 2007 8:55 pm

Ew, that would be nasty, the smell of rotten eggs. Mark., was it a combustion or a pneumatic because if it was combustion you could cook the eggs :)
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Thursto
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Sat Nov 24, 2007 1:40 am

mopherman wrote:why not just fire it out? or just shove some stiff rope down the barrel and swab it out?
Thats what i said :lol: (well the first part anyway) I think by now he should of gotten it out, other wise it would smell like 1 million dead fish by now :P

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wangpushups
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Sat Nov 24, 2007 9:05 am

The Kid wrote:connect a male and female threaded adapters between the elbows and/or where they connect to the chamber, just an idea.
TheTrooper wrote:You could use one of those snake things that clean toilets :lol:
2 Great ideas. Thanks guys. By the way i think some of you may have got the impression that i got the potato lodged in there...I got it out but theres potato baked on the inside of my pipe and its attracting the fruit flies...
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MikeNice
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Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:10 pm

All my guns are over / unders and what I've done for spud chunks in the elbow is: When you're done shooting for the day, blast out as much as you can. I like 2 or 3 layers of duct tape over the barrel to help build a bit of pressure. After 2 or 3 blasts like that, FILL the elbow with water, leave the cleanout open, gun standing up. Wait 20 - 30 minutes, you can either blast out the water, way messy but fun, or just dump it out, leaving the cap and barrel off so it can dry out. I've always found with my guns they just need a major cleaning, complete disassembly, 2-3 times a year.
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The Kid
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Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:23 pm

MikeNice wrote:All my guns are over / unders and what I've done for spud chunks in the elbow is: When you're done shooting for the day, blast out as much as you can. I like 2 or 3 layers of duct tape over the barrel to help build a bit of pressure. After 2 or 3 blasts like that, FILL the elbow with water, leave the cleanout open, gun standing up. Wait 20 - 30 minutes, you can either blast out the water, way messy but fun, or just dump it out, leaving the cap and barrel off so it can dry out. I've always found with my guns they just need a major cleaning, complete disassembly, 2-3 times a year.
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MikeNice
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Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:20 am

Nice, kid. What was that we were saying in the other thread about spudbux? :) just another thought Wang, is Simple Green and other citrus based cleaners clean like a freaking tornado but don't hurt anything. And I lied, not ALL my guns are over unders, I have 1 straight zooka style that is way easier to clean but not as much fun as my over unders.
Kid - I STILL like spudbux.
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