Page 1 of 1

Two Very Old Cannons

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:51 pm
by mark.f
Blasts from the Past!

These are posted in the Archive, but the pictures don't work.

I've just come across a stash of old cannon pictures, and decided I'd post my third and fourth spudguns (the first and second ones I lost the pictures to long ago, but I will say that they were a DWV pneumatic and small over/under combustion).

This goes to prove that we were all n00bs at one point in time. :roll:

Cannon #1 - The PPC 600
Chamber: 3x12" SCH-40 (~89in<sup>3</sup>)
Barrels: 1.5x48" and 1.5x29" (interchangeable, muzzle-loaded)
Fuel: metered propane injected by syringe. Mixture fan (PC case fan).
Ignition: dual spark on simple piezoelectronic igniter
600chamber.jpg
600fan.jpg
600fan.jpg (33.47 KiB) Viewed 750 times
600meter.jpg
600meter.jpg (32.06 KiB) Viewed 750 times
rosebl.jpg
rosebl.jpg (12.53 KiB) Viewed 1443 times
This was my first large combustion, made from a piece of DWV 3" that I had used on my very first cannon (a pneumatic). The female adapter on the back of the cannon was an ABS adapter I found in the woods, and the rest of the parts came fresh from the hardware store. I had painted the pipe black, but I scraped it away with a screwdriver before gluing the fittings on it, then later sharpied the spots that were white. :)

This thing was powerful, though, and could send apple cores through 1/2" plywood easily.

Cannon #2 - The PPC 1000
Chamber: ? - probably 4x14"
Barrel: originally 2x54", swapped out for a breech-loaded 1.5x96" one
Ignition: handle-mounted BBQ sparker going to two spark gaps
Fuel: metered propane through super-simple propane meter. Mixture fan (PC case fan).
PPC10001.jpg
PPC10001.jpg (27.37 KiB) Viewed 750 times
fan.jpg
fan.jpg (20.96 KiB) Viewed 1443 times
meter.jpg
meter.jpg (23.1 KiB) Viewed 1443 times
8foot001.jpg
8foot001.jpg (24.25 KiB) Viewed 750 times
8foot002.jpg
8foot002.jpg (24.89 KiB) Viewed 1443 times
Built this to fire racquet balls, only to find out that I couldn't squeeze them into 2" SCH-40 like I thought I could. I swapped barrels out when I wanted more distance and the old barrel smelled like eggs (I tried to challenge myself to launch a raw one without breaking it).

Also, my first use of metered propane with a bona-fide propane meter (although performance-wise there's no difference between a syringe and meter).

This thing sent taters out of sight with the 96" barrel.


Like all good old things, these launchers were scrapped and thrown away. Pictures are below.

EDIT: CONFOUND YOU UPLOADER. I uploaded these in perfect reverse order like always, but the uploader mixed them all up. I leave it to you to figure out. :lol:

EDIT: ^-- new website, inline uploads, carry on...

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 2:05 pm
by SpudBlaster15
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras nec placerat erat. Vivamus dapibus egestas nunc, at eleifend neque. Suspendisse potenti. Sed dictum lacus eu nisl pretium vehicula. Ut faucibus hendrerit nisi. Integer ultricies orci eu ultrices malesuada. Fusce id mauris risus. Suspendisse finibus ligula et nisl rutrum efficitur. Vestibulum posuere erat pellentesque ornare venenatis. Integer commodo fermentum tortor in pharetra. Proin scelerisque consectetur posuere. Vestibulum molestie augue ac nibh feugiat scelerisque. Sed aliquet a nunc in mattis.

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 3:12 pm
by mark.f
Early 2006 is right. I made them as I was getting out of school for the year. I posted them on Spudtech, though, so I don't know if you saw them or not.

One of them is actually buried, believe it or not. I didn't know if the garbage man would take them or not. :roll:

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 8:45 pm
by mark.f
SpudBlaster15 wrote: It would be nice for everyone to keep their first launchers around, even if only for nostalgic reasons.
I found them! :D

Well, I should say, I know precisely where they are, they will just take some work recovering.

I went poking around in the general area where I knew I buried these two cannons, and smacked into something that felt suspiciously like hollow PVC pipe (no, it's not a drainage/water line... too far away from the house).

I also took a look around under the house. In a large length of 6" PVC, I found two segments, one from each launcher. One was identified by the paint, the other by the ROS EBL stenciling.

I think it would be cool as hell (if not slightly foolhardy) to rebuild one of these cannons. :) I would probably rebuild the blue one since it used all PVC (instead of PVC and ABS like the first one). What say you?

The buried parts are 4' underground, for the record, so at least a half hour dig away, being careful not to stab one too hard with the spade...

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 3:42 am
by jackssmirkingrevenge
mark.f wrote:One of them is actually buried, believe it or not.
One for the archeologists of the future, it will be like finding Tina the Tortoise :D I say let them be.

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:44 am
by mark.f
Well, PVC is cheap, but how do I make up for not having Indian spirits housed in my cannons? Can I buy those at the hardware store? :roll:
[size=0]Also, is it wrong that our old black lab was trained to sniff out and fetch turtles? We had one turtle who hung around the neighborhood, but after a few incidents of "Bingo! Find Lowis.", stopped coming around our house...[/size]