SpudFiles

Hello.
Things have been a bit hectic on my side and I have been overloaded with work. Thankfully, I have found some time to start planning on building a new cannon. I wanted to build something simple but still pretty awesome, and I decoded I wanted to build one in likeness to the Shattered Angels Paintball Launcher.
During the Weekend, I was able to pick up a bit of brass from the hardware store to begin my construction. I picked up a quick connect system and a small ball valve for the fill mechanism.






I was also able to find this pressure gauge courtesy of my Grandpa.


I also have two questions for the spudding community.
The first is: I am planning on getting a safety pop-off valve through McMaster. Because I am getting it through McMaster, I have a bit of freedom on what I wasn't the release pressure to be. I was planning on 85-90 psi range, but what are your thoughts?

Second: Can anybody refer me to a place where I can get a relatively low priced electronic paintball trigger and frame/"trigger frame with a microswitch"? I looked online through Google and found that most were around the $90 range. I was wondering if any paintball players would know where I could find a cheaper one.

Thanks for reading and don't expect too many updates really quickly. Like I said, I don't have a lot of free time at the moment. Also, I do realize I should save build logs for more spectacular projects, but I wanted to ask my questions appropriately as well as show what I have been doing since I haven't posted in a while.

Happy Spudding and Good Day.

If you're going for the paintball launcher, that psi shoud suffice. Just to be safe, though, you may want to purchase one that has a little more limit, say 125psi. As far as finging a cheap switch, I wouldn't know where to find one that is not of that price range, but there are a few options;

1) you could purchase a standard grip, say an Tippmann A-5 replacement grip (~$15) and add a smallswitch to it.
2) my local Wal-Mart sells electronic markers for about the same price you mentioned. You may can save up to buy one, and then have extra parts that you may can use.

Ha I actually had planned to build a replica of that cannon. Then it turned into a project for a class at school, and now it's turned into a larger 2" piston valved cannon...

It's a nice cannon to build though, has many possibilities.

Does that cannon have one of those strange 90 degree sprinkler valves? my sense is that those aren't as good as regular sprinkler valves, but i'm not sure.

Yes it does.

Is it better? Well, that's opinion.

Thank you hubb for your input, I think I will try the alternative you suggested. Also, in regards to the valve, it is indeed a U-bend valve and thus not as good because modding it isn't as simple. I considered this and decided I just wanted to build an electric cannon for now. Maybe when summer rolls by I'll have enough time to build a piston gun.

The rest sounds good, but on the safety valve front:
I've always been a proponent of using a rupture disk safety valve. You can adjust the thickness to burst at the right pressure, and it would likely have the flow rate necessary to cope with any situation, even dumping liquid CO₂ into the chamber directly. Also, it's a lot cheaper

That's true. But, all my parts have arrived already. Perhaps next time.
On a related note: it's picture time!
Here are the pictures for all the dandy parts I just got and effectivly completing the fill mechanism.

Pop-off valve is set to 90 psi (A good round number )





(It's an odd angle I know)

And thus, all the brass I need for the cannon is here. I now just need to get the PVC from a local supplier and I will be ready to start putting everything together.