Piston-Valved Americannon (Contest Applicant)

Velocity · Posted: 08/28/2006 9:50 AM Post subject:

Cannon Name: Piston-Valved Americannon
Type of Cannon: Pneumatic
Chamber Size: 6" SCH 40 x 60" (1700 CI)
Barrel Size: 3" SCH 40 x 72" (510 CI)
Gas Source: 26 gallon air compressor
Valve: Barrel-sealing tee valve, 4" inlet, 3" outlet. Exhaust valve is an aluminum 3/4" Detrol quick exhaust valve actuated by a high-flow 1/4" blowgun
Special Details: Usage of 3" Aluminum Banjo Couplings (will add 2.5" SDR-21, 3" SCH 80, and 4" SCH 40 barrels in near future), heavy-duty 4" SCH 80 threaded cap for safety, spring-less piston design.

I have had this cannon done for a while, but I have just not had enough time to post it. Don't mind the crappy picture; although it appears dirty, its actually really very clean. I call it Americannon due to its patriotic colors. The chamber is 6" X 60", while the current 3" SCH 40 barrel is 72" long. I would have opted for a 10' barrel, but I really cannot store or transport it in my house right now; my parents are pissed enough that I built such a large/heavy cannon.

Side View

The cannon is mounted on a very simple stand; just a long piece of wood with two supports for the chamber.

The barrel support was cut from a piece of plywood I had lying around in my garage

The valve is a homemade barrel-sealing piston valve. The inlet is 4", and the outlet is 3". It is exhausted by a 3/4" Detrol QEV, which is hooked up to my universal fill-up and exhaust system

A few pictures of the valve:

Side view
Larger side view (better light)
Back angled
Back angled (better light)
Another back angled picture

I decided to use cam-locks for this project. The cam-locks are all 3", made by Banjo.

I have three other cam-lock fittings, which I will use on future barrels. The center cam-lock is already screwed onto a 3" male adapter which then enlarges the pipe size to 4"; perfect for a 4" barrel. The other two cam-locks will be used on a 3" SCH 80 barrel (already own it, just need to pick it up from school) and a 2.5" SDR-21 barrel (still need to buy it). When I receive these barrels, I will paint them and update this thread. In my ideal world, I will have a 3" SCH 40 X 10' barrel, a 3" SCH 80 X 10' barrel, 4" SCH 40 X 8' barrel, and 2.5" X 20' barrel (that last one will never happen...)

To pressurize this cannon, I use my 26 gallon compressor (using a bike pump would get really old, really fast).

I haven't done too much testing. So far, I shot a 20 ounce coke bottle (filled 1/5 with water) that split a 3/4" board (could be plywood or particle, not sure) at 20 PSI.