Simple Golf-Ball Combustion - UPDATE 7 April '09

Boom! The classic potato gun harnesses the combustion of flammable vapor. Show us your combustion spud gun and discuss fuels, ratios, safety, ignition systems, tools, and more.
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starman
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Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:50 am

Yeah that's much simplified for sure. With a well metered propane load, I'm sure you'll be satisified with the performance.

I don't begrudge you're not using camlocks, although I don't understand your statement of not being able to breach load the golf ball through the 2" camlock...they easily fit through there. Also, me being more married to the burst disk concept makes camlocks an easy choice. If you don't want to be bothered with a burst disk, camlocks while useful, aren't nearly as obvious a choice.

Actually a nice trim cannon there. I think you will like the external metering...from weight savings if nothing else.
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jook13
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Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:23 am

While I consider this a downgrade from before, I understand why you took that route you did. I love the look of ball valves and wires and tubes all over the place. It makes the launcher look like a complicated science experiment and makes it look intimidating. I think its because I remember seeing this site for the first time and I saw a metered propane setup and all I could think was "damn, that looks so complicated and hard to do."

This setup is not the best for impressing noobs, but it functions just as well and is much easier to handle.

Plus I have to give you props. I have totally disasembled a few cannons because I needed a part or two from them. You kept this one alive even after borrowing parts.
I like to play blackjack. I'm not addicted to gambling, I'm addicted to sitting in a semi-circle.
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Technician1002
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Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:17 am

starman wrote:
markfh11q wrote: So, what are you building at the moment? Is it a golfball combustion?
Noise cannons, using the burst disk barrel stumps you see in the pic. Should be ready to present here in a week or 2. Some July 4 block party gigs coming up.

I also have a 5' sleeved sdr 21 cam locked GB barrel that I'm using on my other gun....would also fit on my noise cannons as well... :wink:
If you are building for noise, use a very short barrel. The shorter the louder. The guys at Burnt Lake did some C/B tests and documented the results. They noticed the very short ones were very loud.

I'm not sure what page it is on, but their website is here;
http://www.burntlatke.com/

A quick peek found the page;
http://www.burntlatke.com/25cb-testday.html
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starman
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Wed Apr 08, 2009 8:35 am

Technician1002 wrote:If you are building for noise, use a very short barrel. The shorter the louder. The guys at Burnt Lake did some C/B tests and documented the results. They noticed the very short ones were very loud.
Sort of like these...?

Turn up your computer sound some, watch in HQ...
[youtube][/youtube]

Sorry for the brief thread hijack Mark....carry on.... 8)
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mark.f
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Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:18 am

Well, I just woke up, in case you're wondering, so it'll be a few hours. (I am a complete insomniac, and can't sleep for anything until around 1AM.)

Incidentally, I may have to take our canoe to my shooting range. :lol: Depends on how deep the water is in the field and where I see the alligator at today...
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King_TaTer
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Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:42 pm

Sounds good I'll check back later to see what you've got. :wink:
Materials links:
<a href="http://www.discounthydraulichose.com/">Discount Hydraulic Hose</a>
<a href="http://www.buyfittingswholesale.com/#">Buy fittings wholesale</a>
<a href="http://www.flexpvc.com/">Flex PVC</a>
<a href="http://www.murrayequipment.com">MEI
</a>
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mark.f
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Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:49 pm

[youtube][/youtube]

After all that talk, I barely even hit the plywood.

I'm out of golfballs at the moment. I have an entire bag somewhere in the garage, but I gave up looking for it after about thirty minutes or so.

My camera is not the best at taking video, but I am fixing to get a real camcorder, so I'm not too concerned about it.
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King_TaTer
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Wed Apr 08, 2009 6:11 pm

:D That made me laugh. haha to go there and then nearly miss is just hilarious. But in reality I can't laugh because I've missed targets 10 yards away before :x so I hear ya. It sounds powerful and clearly can penetrate plywood so good job.
Materials links:
<a href="http://www.discounthydraulichose.com/">Discount Hydraulic Hose</a>
<a href="http://www.buyfittingswholesale.com/#">Buy fittings wholesale</a>
<a href="http://www.flexpvc.com/">Flex PVC</a>
<a href="http://www.murrayequipment.com">MEI
</a>
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Technician1002
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Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:05 am

King_TaTer wrote::D That made me laugh. haha to go there and then nearly miss is just hilarious. But in reality I can't laugh because I've missed targets 10 yards away before :x so I hear ya. It sounds powerful and clearly can penetrate plywood so good job.
I did even worse. In clocking marshmallows with a wire break, I missed the second wire about 2 feet away twice in a row. :oops: Hitting soda cans at 10 feet is not easy with marshmallows. The good news is when I clocked them, I'm getting almost 600 FPS from a 20 inch long barrel :D
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