ME1-05H Stand w/ elevation adjustment.

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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McCoytheGreater
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Tue Dec 22, 2009 2:11 am

Cerberus, Guardian of Hell, was the legendary three headed dog from Greek Mythology. Cerberus is also the name given to our 3" barreled ME 1-05H (Howitzer).

The pipe comes in today for our largest build. theLesser and I have been designing a howitzer type gun for the past few years and have just now accumulated the resources to build it due largely in part by NGO's (such as friends and relatives sending Christmas gift cards to home improvement stores and such). The massive 6" switchback design chamber has a tremendous 1494 cu. in. volume. Combine that with a 10' long 3" barrel and you have a gun with roughly a 1.6:1 C:B Ratio. 500,000 volt stun gun ignition using a quite similar spark strip design Starman used in Triple Thunder. Using propane and/or MAPPro as fuel, and having dual chamber fans, we hope to fling water filled coke bottles and sabot ammunition as far as we can. Breech loading seemed necessary for a switchback design. We've sketched things out, made scaled down mock ups, gathered scaled down recoil data (for which we've accommodated), and have tested the 12v switch box and ignition system. Pics to come later today of designs, specs, switch box, and of the gun's chamber pieced together.

Here's an an early scale drawing.
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Comped Howitzer.jpg
Last edited by McCoytheGreater on Fri Feb 05, 2010 3:24 am, edited 8 times in total.
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Joshatdot
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:57 am

Holly cow! a ~1500 in^3 chamber! I thought mine was huge (213 in^3). Cant wait to see the WIP pics & finished product.
Potato Cannon V3 - Spray & Pray .. soon to be converted to metered propane & chamber fan.
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Hubb
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:59 am

Bigger is not always better...but this may be an exception.
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 12:27 pm

Hubb wrote:...but this may be an exception.
Once we see photos, otherwise it didn't happen :)
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
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Hubb
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 1:34 pm

Like I said, it MAY be an exception. :wink:
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McCoytheGreater
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 1:34 pm

Pics coming of the chamber being assembled. Just gotta find the camera
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McCoytheGreater
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:26 pm

So here are some pics for your spudding enjoyment. We haven't got the spark gap in yet because we're letting the epoxy cure before we do any kind of machining to the gap. The "T" is also not connected for this reason. Does anyone know of an easy place to resize images online? The one I use takes a long time and I can't do multiple pictures.
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Putting a face to the name (and scale to the pipe).  I'm 6'2.
Putting a face to the name (and scale to the pipe). I'm 6'2.
Switch box.  The switches are as follows:<br /><br />Main Power (with the blue LED), Chamber Fans, Arm switch (with cover), and Fire button.
Switch box. The switches are as follows:

Main Power (with the blue LED), Chamber Fans, Arm switch (with cover), and Fire button.
Starman-esque spark gap.  Waiting on epoxy to set.
Starman-esque spark gap. Waiting on epoxy to set.
12&amp;quot; ruler sitting on top of the chamber for scale.
12&quot; ruler sitting on top of the chamber for scale.
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:36 pm

Looking good, the switch box is a particularly nice touch :)
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
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McCoytheGreater
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:39 pm

Thanks! We're using RCA jacks to hook everything up. theLesser hooked everything up inside the box. There's a relay that powers the stun gun so we don't get any feedback into the box itself. Also, if anything shorts out inside the box, the relay won't work and the gun won't fire. It's pretty nifty.
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:44 pm

I'm 6'2
Is "the lesser" 3'1" :D
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
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McCoytheGreater
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:47 pm

No. I think he's just 6'. However 6' > 6'2, and I can deal with that.
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:52 pm

Surely then "the slightly lesser" :)

About uploading pictures, surely after the effort that's gone into the launcher it's a small chore to post some photos. You can set your camera to take smaller images so you don't need to resize.

As to videos (which I hope you'll be presenting with this monster), you'll need a youtube account.
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
SpudBlaster15
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:56 pm

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artillerycreations
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:57 pm

I was just wondering what you planned on using to seal the chamber off. It looks like you have a female adapter on the end and i was wondering if you planned to use a cleanout plug or what.

edit:went back and checked drawing and it looks to be so. I was just wondering how thick it would be, if you planned on reinforceing it with epoxy and a strong filler, or you werent worried about it blowing off.
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 3:09 pm

Yes the LED in the toggle switch really stands out. Will be looking forward to see this finished and blowing holes in what ever...with what ever...
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