I while ago, I posted a potato cannon that is very easy to make... some of you should remember. The method that I used and I'm sure a lot of you use in your potato cannon is using hair spray and igniting it with a lighter.


I am experimenting with some ideas on how to launch the potato with another force. I was thinking like something that would make steam. But the steam (just an idea) will have to come very fast.

I will also have to modify the cannon because the smaller the area that the force is working on, the greater the force. I think I will have the cannon the same way but I will have the end of it threaded so I can screw on a smaller piece while the potato is in there.

Any ideas?


EDIT: here is the link to my post about the potato launcher:
http://www.totse.com/bbs/Forum19/HTML/001656.html

[This message has been edited by DeusExMachina (edited 10-23-2002).]

A steam powered cannon would be bulky, hard to build, and inefficient.

Compressed air is a much better alternative. Look into that.

~Zero

i have been thinking of a areial air propelled cannon that will launh pumpkins it consists of a chamber a barrel a butterfly valve a pump and a few other valuves to it is a fairly simple design i was thinking of makintg a simple bb gun that you blow into a one way valve hooked up to a small chamber and a small butterfly valuve so when you blow hard it goes through the one way valve fills the chamber then you pull the lever to the butterfly valve that is connected to the barrel all that is needed is a small chunk of wadding and a bb or som other ammo

thanks for your input guys


warweed12, can you please draw a pic of what you want your gun to look like on the computer please and label it please? Because I cant quiet picture what it would look like

thanks...

Damn, a pumpkin gun. That would take a lot of pressure to get it out, and even more to get it to go anywhere.

I think the pumkin cannon would have to be a cannon that stays on the ground because it would be too heavy to lift and the chamber would have to be bigger


I think that home made cannons should be small and shoot out small stuff since the stuff that is smaller is lighter and the smaller the hole, the greater the force is going to act on the potato or whatever you are using which will send it at a greater distance and greater speed


EDIT: My 100th post

[This message has been edited by DeusExMachina (edited 10-23-2002).]

I just got my 500th post yesteday.

I got my 700th a few days ago, and i think a pumkin cannon would work just as good as a spud gun if al the ratios were the same.

CTR

Except there would be a lot more dangerous.

my 746!! a huge milestone....
i saw a pumkin gun on tlc it has huge if you were to build such a thing i cant see it being used with out a truck to go with it

ok, I have decided that my next pyrotechnic project will be a cannon after I make my AP


The way I want to make my cannon is to be like a pump-action rifle. If you know the way a pump-action rifle works, you'll understand how this will work. Lets say I am able to make pump thing on my cannon. I fill the chamber up with one substance and than fill put the potato or whatever in. I take a ping-pong ball and fill it with something that will react with the stuff thats inside the chamber. The next step is to put the ping pong ball into the hole where the pump is and then when I push the pump up, and the ping pong ball will be pushed into the chamber. The two things will have to react and create sufficient pressure to send the potato flying.


There will be a major delay because of the reaction process which will give you enough time to get into a safe place incase a malfunctioning occurs and the cannon blows up.


Oh ya, I forgot to say, at least one of the substances will have to be corrosive because it has to eat through the ping pong ball right?


this is again, just a theory that has not been tested yet. I'm also going to wait for someone that I really trust that knows their pyrotecnics "okays" this...

[This message has been edited by DeusExMachina (edited 10-24-2002).]

I'm sure you can think of a better, simpler design.

what can be better than this? I know there are better designs but as far as I'm concerned, this is a great idea...

Hello all, im new to this forum.
I made a spud gun, out of steel tube welded up nice and tight, and i used a car sparkplug tapped into the base and set it off with one of those piezo gas igniters. For the propellent i used an unburnt (duh) neutral mix of oxy/acetlyene. (Light the torch, set the mix nice and even, possibly slightly oxidising flame for a really quik burn and loadsa noise, but less power) blew the flame out(force the tip against the concrete, or for a piddly flame dip th tip into water) then filled up the tube (after waiting for 30 secs or so), ram in the potatoe, click-caboom! Yeahaa!
Wouldnt try this fuel in anything less than a steel tube tho. Packs a good punch.
(hmm, unless you want it to tho. Like the big plastic rubbish backs filled with this gas... hehehe. Get ready for a big noise if its an oxidising mix! I lit mine by a simple trail of gasoline sqirted from a sipper top bottle. Dont get too close, more for the comfort of the ears than anything else!) Its great tho cos theres no debree to hit you in the head, as you watch its mighty firball light up the night sky...

I am still brainstorming and thought of giving the cannon stars from roman candles


If it were to be made, I would have it just like my old idea of the potato cannon (it's in my old thread)

The only change that would have to be made was for it to have a smaller tube where the star would come out

If you put the hairspray in the chamber and lit it with a lighter, there would be a flame... wouldnt that set off the star? I think it would because the fire from alcohol burns much hotter than the flame from gasoline (correct me if I'm wrong)

Not plain rubbing alcohol, but some burns as hot as flash powder, but not as violent.

quote:

---

Originally posted by DeusExMachina:
thanks for your input guys


warweed12, can you please draw a pic of what you want your gun to look like on the computer please and label it please? Because I cant quiet picture what it would look like

thanks...

---

this one would have to be truck mounted or just mounted in the ground and of coarse im not going to pump it b hand it is just an example i would use a electric pump with a one way valve of some sort

i would also have a gauge hooked up the the chamber so i would know how many psi i am at and the bucket will be just the same size as the iner diameter of the barrel with some sort of lube on it to act as a sealent and a lube the peg you see is so the bcket does not sink all the way down but is about mid way the barrel should have an adjustible hieght but i am unsure on how i am going to do this the tubing will be made out of a steel or possibly even iron im thinking the height of the tip of the barrel to the ground will be about 7 1/2 to 8 feet and total length will be about 12-15 feet i will be using a iron butterfly valve and as for the pump i do not know were im going to get it but i shall shop around and the guage for measuring the psi inside the chamber was courtsy or the CPR the have a few hooked up in some areas of the station the one i got was brand new and liquid filled ... i took it down to a shop were my friends dad work he looked at it and said it was about a $90 guage so im like sweet deal ... the pupmkins are courtsy of the neigbors and sorounding places and the buckets ... well we got a shit load of em

great idea and love your MS paint skills


if only I had someone to help me make one of these cannons, it wouldve been much easier....

MS paint rulez !!! lol the original 24 bit paint is the best i started out using that back in the day my paint skills aren't to good though but yeah i am waiting till i get my butterfly valve it should be in tomorrow

LOL thats i funny picture, i love mspaint also, that must be an expensive project warweed how much is it costing you?

CTR