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My potato cannons, my evolution from not so good to awesome.

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:39 pm
by TheBuG
Hey everyone.
I thought i might spread my work a bit more around on the internet so i registered here :)

My interest with potato cannon started summer 2006. I went to a friend of mine 200 km from home and he showed me his metal-welded combustion cannon with a 70mm barrel and a combustion tank that was between 15-20 liters. he shot cabbage heads through walls inside a house in really bad shape. and from there on ive been hooked :)

I first bought plumbing parts like 50 mm pp and 110 mm pp to try and make something that would actually shoot. i only had a bbq lighter and some random spray boxes as combustion gas. i started off with startgas but it came out as too much liquid but my second choice was a cheap hairspray that my brother just tossed in the shopping basket, it worked like a charm once i found the right dosage to use.

Ive buildt about 10 cannons, starting with a straight forward setup with the barrel attached onto the combustion chamber. the first one was a disaster actually, it shot like 2-3 good shots outta 10 attempts.

Once i got it working with the right amount of hairspray and 2 ventilation holes and a good spark igniter the potatoes went from 150-200 m.

Then i came up with the idea to bend the barrel aloingside the chamber so it still was the same length in total but still shorter and then it just evolved to a rifle look. but once i made cannons that where a bit uncomfertable to hold riflestyle i worked out a way to hold them on the side of my body.

So with some story im gonna just paste links to my videos on youtube and to my homepage.

(If im in violation of any rules on the forum, pm me and i`ll remove the videos that are in violation)
Videos with gasoline exploding ammo removed but links are still there :) I guess its the same thing but now it aint the flame explotion pics\icons from the video all over the post :)


This is my friends cannon which started it all:
[youtube][/youtube]

This is my second version of my first cannon with the rifle look: (50mm barrel 160cm long, 110mm chamber 55cm long)
[youtube][/youtube]

This is my second biggest cannon: (16cm chamber and 2.5m / 75 mm barrel)
[youtube][/youtube]

This is also my second biggest cannon, i did this test to win a bet at work. a guy didnt believe i could shoot a potato through a wall :) :
[youtube][/youtube]

This is my second biggest cannon shooting coca cola tin cans with gasoline at a fire:
(Check out http://www.themonkeybase.com for the video or http://www.youtube.com/MushiYoshi)

And my latest and biggest cannon (20cm chamber, 1m long. 2.5m \ 110mm barrel:

My biggest cannon shooting tinned fishballs that weights 800 grams:
[youtube][/youtube]

My biggest cannon shooting tin cans with gasoline with steelwool attached to the back for ignition of the gasoline when i hit what im shooting at:
(Check out http://www.themonkeybase.com for the video or http://www.youtube.com/MushiYoshi)

So there you go, hope for some feedback :) its the best and also check out my website - http://www.themonkeybase.com for info of all my cannons and me.

Image Image

Thomas :twisted:

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:44 pm
by jackssmirkingrevenge
welcome to the forum, your videos have been linked from here in the past, great to have you on board :)

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:46 pm
by Hubb
Insanity.





Welcome to Spudfiles...

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:47 pm
by hi
that is a very large cannon. its also very powerful. i dont think its smart to shoot a can of gas, it looks cool, yes, but if it went off in the barrel i dont think that would be much fun. also, i think that is considered an explosive round, so its against rules ( i may be wrong).

anyway, you still did a pretty good job on that cannon(s).

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:05 pm
by Dornep
Your my hero!

I've seen your videos on youtube but I didn't know you had a website. It's nice to get a closer look at your cannons.

The coolest thing about the firebombs is the tracer smoke effect... Maybe we could get this effect with water or flour?

Awesome cannons and Welcome to Spudfiles!

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:18 pm
by SpudUke5
You got some power in those cannons there. Now you need to begin working with pneumatic guns. Once you gain enought experiance (which i think there is more to learn about oneumatic than there is to combustion) then you can begin creating hybrids which it looks like with your power of your combustion cannons with some psi added to that, it looks like you can go supersonic. Welcome and enjoy.

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:28 pm
by mark.f
hi touched in a good point. Although I'm quite a pyro myself, you keep that sort of stuff to yourself, since it is against this forum's rules. May not seem like much, but here in the U.S.A., the addition of a flammable and self-igniting projectile is what gets an innocent "recreational device" classified as a "destructive device", (weapon with a bore larger than 50 calibers).

I can't do anything, though. You'll have to wait for one of the mods to come along to see if they'll make an exception or not.

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:44 pm
by TheBuG
markfh11q wrote:hi touched in a good point. Although I'm quite a pyro myself, you keep that sort of stuff to yourself, since it is against this forum's rules. May not seem like much, but here in the U.S.A., the addition of a flammable and self-igniting projectile is what gets an innocent "recreational device" classified as a "destructive device", (weapon with a bore larger than 50 calibers).

I can't do anything, though. You'll have to wait for one of the mods to come along to see if they'll make an exception or not.
Yeah ok i hear you :) i`ll just see if it can stay or not, if not.. then i`ll just edit and remove the videos with gasoline. no problem. i got the link to my website anyway so the people seeking for more action than the non-flamable could just go through there or youtube :)

And thanks to everyone else for the welcome, fun to see that some people allready have seen some of my videos \o/

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:01 pm
by spanerman
I love still remains!!! WHITE WALLS first video and lovely cannons

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 9:08 pm
by drac
Oh my god. That is a huge cannon. Props for making such a monster!

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:15 am
by Fnord
I knew you'd show up here eventually!

Yes, your "bosen" gun video is somewhat of a legend around here. It inspired me to create a similar gun with a 3" x 10' barrel, still being constructed (It should be finished in a week or two).

The firebomb things are definitely illegal, but kinda brilliant actually. I've found that just shooting a big glob of weighted steel wool gives a nice effect without the danger/expense of gasoline. And its technically not a flaming/explosive projectile, so much as just a "really hot" projectile.

You should consider making a hybrid eventually.

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 10:42 am
by dauphinoise potato
That's huge :shock: nice music, I see you have good taste

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:53 am
by TheBuG
dauphinoise potato wrote:That's huge :shock: nice music, I see you have good taste
H E L L yeah :twisted: Thrash, Death, Melodic and Hardcore Metal ftw \m/

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:24 pm
by dauphinoise potato
TheBuG wrote:
dauphinoise potato wrote:That's huge :shock: nice music, I see you have good taste
H E L L yeah :twisted: Thrash, Death, Melodic and Hardcore Metal ftw \m/

Y E A H :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :twisted: :twisted: :headbang: :headbang:

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:50 pm
by TheBuG
New Video of some "potato" cannon action up at my <a href="http://www.themonkeybase.com">website</a> or my <a href="http://www.youtube.com/MushiYoshi">YouTube Channel</a> :twisted: