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A Little Help for a Newb

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:21 pm
by surfbum
hey all, im pretty new here and i had a few questions that i hope you guys can help me with.

im throwing around the idea of creating a bazooka style cannon for scenario paintball use. I want the set up to be as small as possible, but still with a decent effective range.

the cannon will be run off regulated CO2, my main question is about valves.

before coming to this sight i thought the sprinkler valve or the manual ball valve was the only routes in terms of getting air from the compression chamber to the barrel, but ive seen a couple other systems including QEVs and piston valves here.

my main question is what type of valve system would work best for my application? and out of curiousity can someone explain how the QEV systems work? and lastly approximately what volume of gas would you need to get a standard projectile (potato, sabot of paintballs, nerf dart, etc.) to go about 100 yards assuming a regulated air pressure of about 125-140 psi?

thanks for the help all

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:24 pm
by spudthug
ur shooting this at people??? anyway a sprinkler valve would be best for a bazooka because QEVs and pistons are all 3 way valves...u want inline for a bazooka and ball valves are horrible but make sure u mod ur sprinkler....

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:24 pm
by keep_it_real
QEV's need only a small pressure difference to pilot. They have pretty good flow. A piston valve has very good flow. I would recommend it. I would make the chamber 40 cubic inches but thats a guess.

edit- spudthug- a barrel sealing coaxial is inline and I think it would look cooler than a sprinkler valve. Actually no, it would look much cooler. Anyway just a thought.

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:27 pm
by spudthug
keep it real he wants to build a bazooka that means inline so he cant use anything but sprinkler or ball valve


edit: yes but i think this is his first pneuamtic...i dont think he should be using pistons just yet

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:37 pm
by surfbum
dont underestimate my mechanical ability :D

difficulty of construction is not a factor, im a mechanical engineer with full access to a machine shop

you mentioned "barrel sealing coaxial" are you referring to this?: http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/3-piston-t313.html

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:47 pm
by spudthug
yes that is barrel sealing coaxial....although it would be cheaper and simpler to use a sprinkler valve then make a coaxial for a different design...if u want to u can do this but it may take alot of time....that is a kind of an over kill piston for a coaxial usually to be simple everyone uses endcaps and those work fine...

edit: tell me the demensions of your chamber and barrel and ill see if i cant find a piston u can use on this sight...if ur using 4 inch for the chamber, 3 inch endcaps work almost too perfect for coaxial pistons....

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:57 pm
by iPaintball
If you're planning on making a bazooka style launcher, try making a coaxial. For the chamber just use a 4' lentgh of 4" pvc, for the piston, use a 3" endcap, and for he sealing face, just attatch a rubber coupling onto the end of the barrel. You should also use a modified sprinkler valve to pilot the piston. If you want to add bazooka-style barrel flare, just attatch a 4" closet flange to the rear end,

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:59 pm
by surfbum
i just threw this diagram together using a QEV valve

would it work?

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:02 pm
by Scope
Look at judgement_arms L.A.W.

its basically the perfect paintball cannon...

im making a cannon much like that actualy
use 2 inch sch40 for a barrel because u want to use nerf rockets

if you use a 4 inch pvc as the outside peice i would recommend making it about 40 inches give or take... thats how long an AT4 is so it is a good length ergonomicaly.. it will also give you more then enough performance so you can regulate your gun down to legal usage!!

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:02 pm
by iPaintball
Actually, I like your setup better. you might want to make the chamber a little bigger though...

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:03 pm
by A-98
negatory.

the barrel needs to be at a right angle to the chamber.

upload pics in a sec, to lazy to explain now

EDIT:Image
Image

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:12 pm
by keep_it_real
You can't put the pilot valve and the co2 together like that. It might sorta work but the co2 will just go out the blow gun. Instead I would use a slide valve.

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:14 pm
by surfbum
ok, so same general design, but revised piping near the QEV (not drawn to scale)

this would be the correct layout and would function correctly?

what QEV would people suggest? with what size output/input?

thanks for all the help by the way

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:16 pm
by surfbum
keep_it_real wrote:You can't put the pilot valve and the co2 together like that. It might sorta work but the co2 will just go out the blow gun. Instead I would use a slide valve.
could i just put a ball valve inbetween the CO2 and the pilot valve that would get shutoff when the chamber filled? whats a slide valve?

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:44 pm
by keep_it_real
a slide valve will do exactly what you want. It pilots the valve when its back and lets air through to load the chamber when its forward.
go to http://www.mcmaster.com/ and look up sleeve valves (same as slide valve)