SpudFiles

I hereby present to you: my "Main Project 1.0", the beginning of a highly customizable gun with many upgrades to come.


I would like to thank Brian the Brain for arranging all the parts for me for a low price. If you also live in the netherlands and need parts, he's the one you're looking for.

Specs:
-Barrel: 16mm ID aluminum, perfect for 16mm marbles, the fit is so tight that only about half of em fits, and the other half won't.
-Valve: 1/2" QEV, pilotted by a blowgun
-Chamber: 1 1/4" steel, bout 42cm long for an overkill chamber volume
-Pressure: 30 bar, should handle 60 when I replace the blowgun...
-Fill mechanism: A male QD on the end of the blowgun, filled by my fridgy

It has a short (50~55cm) and a long (1 meter) barrel, for a portable and loud "shotgun" style or powerful "sniper" style.
Both barrels also have threads on their muzzle end, for either attaching a silencer or combining them for even MOAR power!


The pics!



Sorry, no feet.

And damage!
I shot through 3 water-filled energydrink cans at a time with 5 gram marbles. GGDT predicts them on going somewhere between 210-240 m/s. I will get a chrony some day.
Results:



Check out the imprint of the marble when the 3rd can was right against the backstop:


What's next?
As I said, the gun is highly customizable and upgrades will follow.
Things I will probably build:
-High-performance piston valve, completely machined out of aluminum (and nylon rod if I can get some) Valve seat diameter larger then the barrel diameter.
-Bolt action breech loader
-Silencer (or at least, "less-deafening-er")
-Something to aim. Laser, iron sights, red dot or scope.
-Stock with built in pilot valve, probably some sort of slide-check valve.
-Some nifty semi-auto mechanism or pump action
-Blow forward bolt with tubular mag
-Rig that up for full auto

Things I may try:
-"In-chamber" piston
-Brians exhaustless piston valve
-Brians QEV modding, building hammer into stock
-Clide's HEAR valve
-Paint it, but for now I like the look of steel and aluminum.
-Anything else....

So, that's about it. Leave a comment about what you think, and what the upgrades should be.

psycix

Another sawn off dutch...

Wait a second, that's Dutch sawn off isn't it?

Looks good, with a lot of potential. Like the damage shots. :thumbright: :thumbright:

Nice simple build, .... for now.

A HEAR valve on this would be interesting. Those cans look obliterated.

I wouldn't paint it, it looks awesome as it is. Also spray painting metal gives it a shiny "toy" like appearance.

nice dammage pics
I suppose you know that you could get comparable power with half that volume... once you try to implement semiauto you'll have to do something about it... ohhh and it goes without saying that I'll try to convince you to use the airram bolt


as I said earlier I'd love to get that aluminium barrel... I must find someone selling them in poland...
I have the same problem you described with my 16mm copper barrel... I've talked about it with several people here and they said that they didn't have any problems with oversized marbles so I conclude that marbles in europe have to be bigger

I hope those who live on the other side of the pond would realize that threaded fittings make life easier

Not sure I'd personally want to be messing with 60 bar in that QEV - I know it's been done before, but I seem to a mention on the UKSGC forums about the valve's "piston" giving out from it. I don't need to tell you that could be bad.

Other than that, looks like a very good start to me. My first (and personal, of course) recommendation would be to do something about the unwieldy looking trigger.

POLAND_SPUD wrote:ohhh and it goes without saying that I'll try to convince you to use the airram bolt

I've told you already, I named that exact system over two years ago!

A really stout looking gun psycix, and impressive looking damage. There aren't very many 30 bar ( ) guns out there.

Breach loading system is a must have....a CO2 or HPA power source would be a great add-on for this as well. I assume you are pumping to the top end of "fridgy's" capacity....??

Gah, BTB is responsible for another shot barreled onstrosity entering the world..

Looks great, the upgrades should make it one hell of a beast.

inonickname wrote:BTB is responsible for another short barrelled monstrosity entering the world.

Even I can see the potential for double-entendré there, so gods alone know what JSR could make of that statement...

@psycix how did you connect the barrel to the valve... a 1/2" port seems a little to small for a pipe with an ID of 16mm ?

@rag
'jackhammer system/bolt is a bit longer name than the air-ram bolt... and it doesn't tell what it really is... the idea is that names should be easy to understand.. (like blow forward bolts and blowback bolts)

I do remeber the thread you are reffering to and that you used that term to reffer to the design... but I suspect I am the only one who remebers that and I've never seen it being used - which proves my point that it isn't good as a name

well... If you really want to go into deatails...
1. You only mentioned that as an idea and you haven't built it
2. I mentioned the design before that particular thread that you are reffering to.. but that's not important here because...
3. ........the first person who proposed the desing was al-xg

@starman
paintbal isn't as popular in europe as it is in the US so naturally the price of HPA/CO2 setup would be rather expensive.. notice that the chamber has a largish volume... I suspect that the tanks won't last long if he wanted to use high pressures....
but yeah I agree it would be a nice thing to have esspecially once he upgrades it to a semi...

@POLAND_SPUD: I'm not being entirely serious, but your justification for creating that name was that no-one else had given the system a name - which I've since shown to be untrue.

Now, given you've started trying to throw various arguments at me...
First off, I don't think any name gets used for it. The fact that the name I gave it doesn't get used means nothing when no names are used.

I will slightly concede point #1, as I have not quite finished my build of it. But equally, not having built it does not rid the designer of credit.
However, the other two points... Even ignoring any references on other forums, my sister Joanna mentions it on my behalf here and even uses the Jackhammer name. Al-xg first mentions it here, over 6 months later.

Now, I'm not going to claim I invented the concept of a pneumatic ram plumbed into the chamber - although I did reach the idea independently. Firstly, I based it on things that already exist in the non-spudding world; and secondly, someone else on this forum actually did get there first.
Just going from forum post dates, they posted a launcher using it around a month before Jo first mentioned it. But the first evidence that they had used that method was added about a month after Jo's post.
I don't want to sound like a vindictive jerk, but I do still have a decent claim to the original proposal, by sibling proxy.

I'm not saying it's the best name, but please, if you're going to write it off, can you just say "I don't like it", and give up the roundabout methods you're trying to use?

Also, I feel compelled to point out that anything containing the words "air ram" sounds like some kind of disturbing inflatable animal sex toy.

I totally agree with Rag about the term "air ram" but i wasn't going to point that out

anyways great gun love the steel look

Thanks for all your replies. Im glad you guys like it too.

jonnyboy wrote:I wouldn't paint it, it looks awesome as it is. Also spray painting metal gives it a shiny "toy" like appearance.

Yep I am very happy with the raw steel and alu look.
Toy like appearance.. that surely wouldn't fit it....

POLAND_SPUD wrote:I suppose you know that you could get comparable power with half that volume... once you try to implement semiauto you'll have to do something about it...

as I said earlier I'd love to get that aluminium barrel... I must find someone selling them in poland...
I have the same problem you described with my 16mm copper barrel... I've talked about it with several people here and they said that they didn't have any problems with oversized marbles so I conclude that marbles in europe have to be bigger

When I had the choice between one or two 1 1/4" pipe nipples, I thought:
Gahh what the heck, lets just take two
I could indeed just take one off to take away almost half of the chamber volume, and still have plenty. But I just like the sound of a lot 30 bar air being vented out through a 16mm port and echoing through the neighborhood.

The barrel is a 20x2 aluminum barrel. 20mm OD, 2mm wall thickness.
Not every 16m ID pipe is 16mm ID. One of the two barrels is 16,0 and the other is 16,05 ID. Which is a very close fit.
Fit of marbles depends on brand. Higher quality marbles will deviate less from the 16mm.

POLAND_SPUD wrote:@psycix how did you connect the barrel to the valve... a 1/2" port seems a little to small for a pipe with an ID of 16mm ?

The barrel is threaded with 1/2" BSP thread. Same as the QEV.
With 2mm wall thickness there's enough meat to cut threads in and 20mm OD is a good diameter for 1/2" threads.

Ragnarok wrote:Not sure I'd personally want to be messing with 60 bar in that QEV - I know it's been done before, but I seem to a mention on the UKSGC forums about the valve's "piston" giving out from it. I don't need to tell you that could be bad.

Other than that, looks like a very good start to me. My first (and personal, of course) recommendation would be to do something about the unwieldy looking trigger.

Yep, I might rip the QEV's diaphragm/piston on 60 bar. But I can get a replacement piston for just a few bucks. And even if I couldn't, I could always just machine my own.

Trigger is not that bad but could indeed be better. I think that will be the second upgrade: a stock with built-in custom pilot valve.

starman wrote:Breach loading system is a must have....a CO2 or HPA power source would be a great add-on for this as well. I assume you are pumping to the top end of "fridgy's" capacity....??

Breechloader will come along with the piston valve, which will be the first upgrade.
No CO2 for me. It will drop the performance by a good amount. I am looking for a cheap carbon-fiber HPA tank, but that probably won't happen within a year.
30 bar is indeed the ceiling of my current fridgy, it has a small internal leak, and this leak leaks just as much air on 30 bar as the thing pumps. Built-in safety
I may construct my own HP pump and possibly connect that to an electromotor.

POLAND_SPUD wrote:airram bolt
jackhammer system/bolt
air-ram bolt

Ragnarok wrote:a pneumatic ram plumbed into the chamber
"air ram"

daniel323 wrote:"air ram"

I am not going to use an airram, air-ram or jackhammer bolt. Also this thread is not about who invented it or what the name was; this thread is about a gun that will probably not use an air-ram, ever.

Rag, Poland...get a room....
You two sound like a married couple...


I am not responsible.
This is Psysix design from top to bottom...I had no hand in any part of the design.
I just provided the stuff.

I would not have come up with his kind of design, but after testing it, ( I had to know the pressure gauge worked now didn't I?) I was very impressed.
It is the most dangerous spudcannon I've fired, before Porter.
That thing felt like a hunting rifle going off...it just oozes power..

Never had the pleasure of firing a projectile with it though..

I'll be on the edge of my seat for the upgrades.
He is going where no Dutchman has gone before...( and we went all over!!)

haha BTB I got the pleasure to shoot a projectile out of it

this thing is just one piece of incredibly well made gun.

and BTB I'll be at the edge of my seat as well

BTB wrote:Never had the pleasure of firing a projectile with it though..

Ill take it with me next week.
Make sure to have some sort of target/backstop ready. Something like sheet metal works best as it turns the marbles into dust.

I dont want another marble penetrate though 3 empty cans, penetrate a few cm into the particleboard and then bounce back right IN MY FACE.
Yep, I gave myself an headshot, right on my cheek. Luckily the ricocheted marble lost 95% of its speed, but I surely felt it bounce off.

sniper hero wrote:this thing is just one piece of incredibly well made gun.

Well thanks, but, its not that hard when using all threaded fittings is it?
Its more about making the right design, and then happen to know someone who can get it for you.


Oh and the first upgrade may take a while. University's machine shop will be overcrowded this semester. Save your seat-edge for a while.