Hi, new guy here. How far could a home made pneumatic cannon made from schedule 40 PVC shoot a golf ball? Are there any world records?
Thanks!

Build one and tell us how far yours shoots golf balls!

Use the key words "Golf Ball Launcher" in search with out quotes.


Welcome to Spudfiles.

PVC makes me nervous now





But there is an alternative, http://www.ipexna.com/usa/products/indu ... s-airline/ Rated upto 185psi, and a full range up to 4"

Yeah, PVC is bad for anyone who's actually trying to push performance. Want to build a T-shirt cannon for a 12 year old? Great, use PVC. Want to build something that pushes engineering limits? Do NOT use PVC. It's that simple.

Realistically, golf balls are a very poor choice for distance records as a projectile fired from a barrelled launcher. A sphere has a relatively high drag coefficient and the weight is very low for the cross-sectional area. Even if you manage to push it past the speed of sound at the muzzle you're still not going to go much further past 1000 feet (assuming no wind and Magnus effect related lift) because it's going to slow down very quickly.

How far could a home made pneumatic cannon made from schedule 40 PVC shoot a golf ball?

A sufficiently long cannon with a fast valve would likely push a golf ball to 750-1000 feet with relative ease.

Are there any world records?

I'm unaware of any measured distances that exceed what has been achieved by professional golfers.

I rebuilt a gun design my Dad did years ago. I took it out in the boonies (deserts of Utah) and was getting 600-650 yards at 60 psi. I was pretty impressed, but I have no data for comparison. 650 yards is crap for all I know. I was wondering what others were getting. Couple of pics below.
A few construction details were the result of cleverly solving operational problems that didn't solve anything but created more ops for brilliant solutions that didn't work. Someone will say "What's that thing do?" I'll say 'Nothing'. "Well then what does that part do?" 'Nothing.' "How about..." 'Nothing.' Brilliant.

3fenders wrote:650 yards is crap for all I know.

At just 60 psi, that's pretty good!

Couple of pics below.

That "no bullshit" sticker is vaguely familiar... was you Dad active on these hallowed pages or spudtech before it?

Also, what the... is there a part missing in the second image? It is over/under with a sprinkler valve and ridiculously huge chamber or a coaxial with a ridiculously large pilot?

10' long, 4" PVC. Barrel is 1 1/2" schedule 40 pvc. My Dad is a retired engineer & machinist with a garage full of machine tools and too much time on his hands. He fabricated a tool that bores the barrel ID to 1.7". A real home made beauty. I'll post a pic of it when have time. Some balls won't fit, tolerances are pretty small. It originnaly had a 3/4" sprinkler valve, I up sized to 1".
We both have a proclivity to over complicate things in every way possible.
Missing parts in second pic include a control panel with enable switch, fire push button, vintage DC voltmeter and lights. 3, 9 volt batteries to power it & really BANG that sprink solenoid open. I'm an electrician by trade so any project must have lights, right? Firing recoil would bust out the lights & wrecked the voltmeter. control panel has been scrapped.
Unseen in the pics is a secondary pressure chamber on the right side. I was having trouble getting the piston to seat, so... in true over engineering problem solving, It was an attempt to blast air behind the piston to seat. It didn't work, I had piston washer issues. Most people wonder what it's for, people who are addicted to this stuff tell me right out "Well! That's useless" Part of the fun.

No bullshit sticker is mine, but the name 'DeathWhistle' came from a suggestion to another user on this board. Name is amazingly appropriate. I put 2" pipe on the valve exhaust hoping for cool noise. the chamber has way more voulumn than necessary to launch the ball, so remaining air escaping makes a wheezing, dying train whistle sound.

jackssmirkingrevenge wrote:I'm unaware of any measured distances that exceed what has been achieved by professional golfers.

I haven't bothered to measure distances, but for what it's worth I've a simple shoulder-fired pneumatic with a 6' barrel that I've measured at 600 fps (409 mph). That's about twice the "muzzle velocity" quoted in your wiki link. Of course, I've got no backspin so that doesn't help...

...Mind you, I'm sure there are others who've done better. I merely present that one as a reasonably simple gun's capabilities.

North of 1500 fps is the fastest I've gotten a golf ball up to - I imagine it would travel about as far as it could with a mean hook or slice at that point. I've never tested it back east but now that I'm a home owner I hope to get back into this sport and launch some golf balls in the deserts of west colorado!

That is so Wicked!

mobile chernobyl wrote:North of 1500 fps is the fastest I've gotten a golf ball up to - I imagine it would travel about as far as it could with a mean hook or slice at that point.

I'm quite sure it went Mach 1+. Circa 2009, I built a GB cannon. With 700psi nitrogen, the ball reached Mach 1.04, as verified with portable military radar equipment and personnel.