Moonlight- Something a little different.

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.
spencetron
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:49 pm

This is my new cannon. I recently moved into an apartment for college and I wanted to make a neat looking, unique, smallish combustion to shoot airsoft bb's around indoors. originally inspired by the "micro raptor" over in the mini selection, well the use of Nalgene polycarbonate jars and the semi coax breech loading atleast. I wanted to up the scale a bit, add a few small features, and make it more ergonomic to hold and fire.

The chamber is a Nalgene 250ml polycarbonate jar (bought at http://www.usplastic.com). The barrel is a 6.03mm tightbore airsoft barrel with a length of 300mm. The barrel is supported inside the chamber using two 2" diameter acrylic discs (also bought at usplastic) and a TON of epoxy. One of the things I wanted to incorporate to this cannon is the rubber washer on the barrel at the breech. Not only does it hold the bb stcurely in place, it also grips the bb tightly, and only releases it once pressure builds inside the chamber (like a burst disk). The rubber washer increases performance significantly. Ignition is a normal piezo sparker housed inside 1/2" pipe and fittings. The spark "stick" has two spark gaps and is made out of a bic pen, 18guage copper wire, and epoxy (slightly ghetto). The fill valve on the front of the chamber was salvaged from a airsoft gas blowback gun magazine. it just so happens that the nozzle on butane cans fits the fill valve perfectly, so I epoxied the nozzle of a butane can to the end of a 12ml syringe for fueling (see video).


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And the video:
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In the video Im shooting a .20g bb through both sides of an aluminum can, through the cardboard backstop, and the bb proceeded to fly across my appartment seeming un-phased by the can and box.
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mark.f
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:55 pm

Looks good! That's one of the few well thought out minis I have seen.
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Hubb
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:56 pm

I think this is the best mini I've seen here. Good work.
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Demon
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:58 pm

Looks very clean, but its rather for destruction then aiming, because i dont know how do you aim with that thing...

The meter system is nice.
spencetron
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 2:37 pm

Demon: Yeah, aiming is a little difficult, but once I get a little extra cash, I think I'm going to mount a adjustable laser sight at the bottom of the grip. Thanks for the comments guys.
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starman
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 2:49 pm

Vera Nica! Simple, yet elegant and usable design. I'm not a mini man but this really is cool, and makes me have second thoughts.

Decent damage as well.... :wink:
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sniper hero
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:17 pm

wow I love it
you really inspired me for a new small combustion cannon :D
proud member of dutch spud clan
coming: semi auto pellet sniper:D
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Brian the brain
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:48 pm

Swan-neck....the first thing I thought of...

Nice to see a break from the norm.
It does look hard to aim though
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Oh my friggin god stop being so awesome, that thing is pure kick ass. Most innovative and creative pneumatic that the files have ever come by!

Can't ask for a better compliment!!
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JDP12
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:52 pm

Wow I like it alot...

excellent job
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psycix
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:12 pm

Innovative design, keep it up!

What are you guys bothering about the aiming? I think its very doable (better then a hipfired cannon)
Stretch out your pointing finger, align the barrel with it. Then point at your target and your gun is aimed.
Because your brains already know how to coordinate pointing to something, this is quite a nice trick to aim.
Just make sure to point "automatically".
Till the day I'm dieing, I'll keep them spuddies flying, 'cause I can!

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inonickname
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:41 pm

hubb017 wrote:I think this is the best mini I've seen here. Good work.
I feel cut :(

Good to see other people can take mini's seriously, even if it's just for plinking around..and not going supersonic. Nice work there :lol:
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spencetron
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:55 pm

UPDATE

I took another shot at a can, to see what velocity the bb's are traveling around (poor man chronograph style). If a .20g bb can go through the bottom of a can it is estimated to be going 420-450fps, through the top: 520-540fps. Well, much to my surprise, when I shot the can in the bottom, it went through the bottom of the can, through the top, bounced off two walls, then hit my girlfriend in the back of her head (big oops). What kind of velocity is that?!

Entry: Image

Exit: Image
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Fri Mar 27, 2009 3:55 am

spencetron wrote:...then hit my girlfriend in the back of her head (big oops). What kind of velocity is that?!
You're not getting any for a month velocity ;)

Sweet little launcher though, worth it :)
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inonickname
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Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:57 am

jackssmirkingrevenge wrote:
spencetron wrote:...then hit my girlfriend in the back of her head (big oops). What kind of velocity is that?!
You're not getting any for a month velocity ;)
Bah, silly people. Just do what professionals do. Before she goes to sleep tell her you want to rub lotion on her. Mix up some 5 minute epoxy and smear it on her back. She goes to sleep then bamn!

Then repeat till she cracks on.
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suburban spudgunner
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Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:57 am

inonickname wrote: Bah, silly people. Just do what professionals do. Before she goes to sleep tell her you want to rub lotion on her. Mix up some 5 minute epoxy and smear it on her back. She goes to sleep then bamn!

Then repeat till she cracks on.
I'm mildly disturbed.

Damn. I can't get that kind of power out of any of my actual airsoft guns. That's a pretty impressive mini.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
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