Spud cutter

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.
neospudgunner
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Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:29 pm

My grandpa and I recently built a spud gun, the old fashioned hairspray kind, and were wondering is there any way to make a cutter for the spud other than just shoving it down the barrel? Here are some pics of the cannon...
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ammosmoke
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Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:32 pm

Holy crap! That is very cool. Yes, there is another way. Just take a section of pipe that is the width of your barrel, and sharpen it at the end. It doesn't have to be that long.

EDIT: YES! first post.
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CS
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Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:33 pm

SpudFiles Wiki - Spud Cutter

BTW, the cannon looks great! What did you make the cannon out of? Wood? Obviously the fixture, but I mean the cannon itself.[/url]
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starman
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Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:41 pm

Looks like several 2" thick foam disks sandwiched together around standard PVC to me. Very cool Neo!!! Certainly captures the cannoning spirit. A great show piece if ever I saw one.

If you had used SDR 21 1.5" pipe you could have shot golf balls instead of fooling with taters. Did you get any pics before you encased it?

Great job overall, A+.
neospudgunner
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Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:41 pm

First off thanks for the praise! Second the cannon itself is made of 2" pink insulation foam and the larger rings are made of 3/4" pink insulation foam. Third the carriage is wood...mostly redwood and pine to be exact.
neospudgunner
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Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:50 pm

Sorry no pre-foam pics we were to excited :cheers: :bom: :drunken:
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jr
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Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:01 pm

Neo- that is the coolest spray-n-pray cannon I have ever seen!! :shock:

If I were you guys I would try to add a propane system to it.... but then again its not my cannon....

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koolaidman
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Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:27 pm

NOOOO.
I was just gonna make this exact cannon. now itll look crap in comparison. Although i was gonna use propane. Props though, thats looks really bad @$$.
neospudgunner
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Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:45 pm

Oh yeahhh thanks 4 the props
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koolaidman
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Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:55 pm

I can barely see in the pics, it looks like there's a mechanism that raises/ lowers the barrel. Also what does the the cannon itself look like, is it just a length of 2 of 1.5," what are the specs?
THUNDERLORD
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Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:27 am

Great cannon there!
Is the ball on the back attached through the end cap?
Nice job. Your grandpa must be cool. 8)
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neospudgunner
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Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:38 am

Koolaidman - i think you're talking about the little wedge in the back, right? All that is is a wegde of wood with a handle on it. The actual potato cannon is 46" long consisting of 13" of 3" PVC and 30" of 1.5" and then of course the end caps and adapter adds 3".

THUNDERLORD - Yes the ball on the back is attatched to the end cap. My G-pa turned that on his lathe. Yeah, he's a pretty cool guy. And what's funny is that he suggested making the cannon inthe 1st place! :shock:
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Hotwired
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Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:43 am

This must be the most elaborate hairspray cannon I've ever seen :D

Great job on it even down to tidying the igniter away into the carriage.
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jonnyboy
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Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:53 am

Wow great cannon!
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STHORNE
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Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:26 am

Wow! You and your grandpa did a spectacular job. I love how it has almost every aspect of a real cannon (great way to throw people off if they don't know it's a spray n pray). I bookmarked this page for reference for some ideas on my T-shirt launcher I am working on for my school.

About how long do you think it took you and your grandpa to make this cannon? *Including buying and preparing supplies..
You guys are pretty smart not using Styrofoam to make the exterior shape of the cannon (that would have been my first intention) cause if you did, you would be stuck with it white cause you all know what happens when you combine Styrofoam and spray paint....

Again, very nice work. I can't wait to see your next project/s.
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