HP steam cannon

[Acdcmonkey1991]

I meant on spudfiles....

[starman]

If anyone sees any flaws in this design, for God's sake, point them out now. I don't want to die before I build a working thermonuclear warhead

No flaws really, just a real warning that you be very [to the extreme] careful working with HP steam vessels. I think you understand the danger here since your plan calls for very high strength parts. However, loss of life is a very high probability if something, even a small detail is ignored. We're not talking about a mistake causing you to be peeling shrapnel out of your backside, but rather the whole end of your house being leveled to the ground.

HP steam explosions are a very scary thing...are you sure it's worth it?

[willarddaniels]

DYI, I just thought of a possible problem:
What temperature does aluminum melt at? You might have a bit of a problem with the burst disk melting in the union and steam and molten aluminum blowing out everywhere and your union seal together…

this may be a problem- I have melted many an aluminum window frame in fires... granted, they are a low low grade of aluminum and it was pretty haot fire- but it still disintegrated the aluminum.

[Acdcmonkey1991]

I agree with starman, although from reading some of his posts he sometimes goes a bit overboard on the safety nagging

whole end of your house being leveled to the ground

(no offense intended but I dont think that could happen) Steam is probably one of the most dangerous things that can be pressurized besides propane. There are two types of explosions you really don't want to happen, a hybrid explosion, and a high pressure steam explosion. I would still build it just to see the utter chaos destruction it would cause...
***laughs like supervillan***

[starman]

I agree with starman, although from reading some of his posts he sometimes goes a bit overboard on the safety nagging

whole end of your house being leveled to the ground

(no offense intended but I dont think that could happen) Steam is probably one of the most dangerous things that can be pressurized besides propane. There are two types of explosions you really don't want to happen, a hybrid explosion, and a high pressure steam explosion. I would still build it just to see the utter chaos destruction it would cause...
***laughs like supervillan***

I don't go overboard on the safety nag dude... and you can talk to me directly without going into third person.

Here's a water heater steam explosion at around only 350 psi....

[youtube][/youtube]

Result, leveled building.

[Lentamentalisk]

granted that does contain thousands of times the water that we could ever hope to achieve, but still that is scary as hell. I think you may want some sort of remote firing device so that you can shoot from behind a really big rock...

[POLAND_SPUD]

hmmmm are you going to build a small scale prototyp or something ? bc as far as I know there were hardly any steam guns

why do you need so much power...? find youself some remote place to fire them

[judgment_arms]

If I recall right, there was a fireless (ran on superheated steam at pressures of, I think, 1000psi) steam porter (little engine used to run a few cars around in the switch yard, weighed less than 20-50 tons) that blew up.
Leveled 2-3 acres and threw a steam locomotive (weighed about 1000 tons) 30 yards.

When steam is heated it expands, when it reaches a certain PSI it turn back into water and continues to expand, when that force is released it’s “like the gates of Hades was blown open with a ton of nitro”!

Playing with superheated steam is about like playing with a hammer and a vile of nitro; i.e. a good way to level half your house...

Note: I may be incorrect on several things hear, if I am, would somebody please correct me, steam is one of my favorite power sources so I’d like to know every thing I can.

[bluerussetboy]

For example, in New Orleans, an egg boils at 105 degrees Fahrenheit and in Denver, a egg boils at 85 degrees fahrenheit. This is because New Orleans is below the sea level so there is more atmospheric pressure so the needs to be more energy to get that water to boil to overcome the pressure (energy) acting against it. In Denver, the atmospheric pressure is less because it is above sea level and therefore needs less energy to boil to overcome the pressure (energy) acting against it.

But the water boiling in New Orleans is still going to have more energy because is it at a higher temperature.

This is so wrong. If this was really the case I, who lives at 9275' above sea level, would not be able to have eggs in the spring ,summer or fall unless they were hardboiled. Temperatures are routinely above 85F. Average hot water out of your tap(not the heater) is 105F. You can not boil an egg with just tap water. The core body temperature of a healthy, resting adult human being is 98.6F. You can not cook an egg just by holding it in Denver.

Common sense should have prevented you from typing that statement.

The rest of your statement has validity. I suggest you either go back to class and pay attention or correct your temperature units.

[DYI]

The point about the aluminum disks is a good one. I could use annealed copper instead, which should eliminate any problems of the disks becoming weaker as their melting point is approached.

As I said, I'll hopefully put together a small scale prototype first, to test out the design and see what I'm dealing with. I'm not too great with electronics, but I know some people who are that could probably help me with building a heating coil.

If the small scale works really well, I might try something ridiculous like MIT's steam cannon. If anyone has figured out how their's worked yet, now is the time to tell me, and save me a lot of money.

Also, there's no way I'd do this anywhere near my or anyone else's house. The risk of damage from failure is rather extreme.

And to whoever it was warning me about the pressure rating of the fittings: The rating at 700F of the fittings and pipe I'm using is roughly 3000 psi, just what I'm aiming at.

[Velocity]

I think you should definitely get this thing welded; threaded fittings would be too weak or questionable.

[potatoflinger]

For example, in New Orleans, an egg boils at 105 degrees Fahrenheit and in Denver, a egg boils at 85 degrees fahrenheit. This is because New Orleans is below the sea level so there is more atmospheric pressure so the needs to be more energy to get that water to boil to overcome the pressure (energy) acting against it. In Denver, the atmospheric pressure is less because it is above sea level and therefore needs less energy to boil to overcome the pressure (energy) acting against it.

But the water boiling in New Orleans is still going to have more energy because is it at a higher temperature.

This is so wrong. If this was really the case I, who lives at 9275' above sea level, would not be able to have eggs in the spring ,summer or fall unless they were hardboiled. Temperatures are routinely above 85F. Average hot water out of your tap(not the heater) is 105F. You can not boil an egg with just tap water. The core body temperature of a healthy, resting adult human being is 98.6F. You can not cook an egg just by holding it in Denver.

Common sense should have prevented you from typing that statement.

The rest of your statement has validity. I suggest you either go back to class and pay attention or correct your temperature units.

Maybe he meant 205 and 185 degrees?

I won't nag about safety, I believe that you are fully aware of what you are getting into and the risks involved with it, but the only thing is how are you going to reload this thing? Once you fire the gun, there won't really be a safe way to change the burst disc until the gun has cooled down.

[Hotwired]

Of course it is always possible he meant Celsius...

[POLAND_SPUD]

he meant celcius otherwise it doen't make any sense

[D_Hall]

he meant celcius otherwise it doen't make any sense

Even then it doesn't make sense. By definition water boils at 100 C at sea level (not 105).