SpudFiles

Anyone have a link or a diagram so I can build my own igniter? I just received one I ordered from eBay and it's that typical potted waterproof AAA unit we all know and love. I want to reconfigure it to fit inside a pistol grip (ebay unit is too wide). Unit is potted so I cannot make out the parts list by reverse engineering as I had hoped.

Thanks.

MS

There is no hope of re-engineering the way you plan on mounting it? There is usually always a way around that.

Well part of it is about doing everything myself (which is how I like it) and the other is on understanding how everything works (not always quite as successful )

I can probably make the power supply and switch remote with a little modification, but then it's not exactly "purpose built" and remote location means one more thing to watch out for when transporting the cannon in the back of the RTV or whatever.

Ideally I would like all the electronics hidden behind the grip panels of a 1911 style pistol grip. And (some time down the road) I'd like to be able to swap that igniter grip to a bigger and better cannon without having to rebuild everything.

Make sense?

Thanks for the reply.

And where's the fun in that

For me it's about tinkering and inventing. I like shooting just fine, but making stuff is a life long addiction for me.

the fun, its in the wait, just like fishing

I'm not sure how successful you'd be building one of these from scratch. It is my understanding that some of the potted components are potted in a special way (in a vaccuum I believe) which forces any miniscule air bubbles out, to prevent internal arcing of the transformer. I could be very wrong though, this is just from memory.

Mountain Storm wrote:For me it's about tinkering and inventing. I like shooting just fine, but making stuff is a life long addiction for me.

It depends how far back you want to go in the "inventing" process, in the sense that I assume you bought your PVC tubing from a store, rather than synthesising vinyl chloride and polymerising the resulting monomer, then extruding it into tubes

jackssmirkingrevenge wrote:

Mountain Storm wrote:For me it's about tinkering and inventing. I like shooting just fine, but making stuff is a life long addiction for me.

It depends how far back you want to go in the "inventing" process, in the sense that I assume you bought your PVC tubing from a store, rather than synthesising vinyl chloride and polymerising the resulting monomer, then extruding it into tubes

Hold up, lets not assume things we don't know!

You guys must be bored

The transformer on the potted unit does arc. In fact unless the spark can come to earth it will arc from the (not too) dielectric battery holder to your finger...too much fun. I played with the igniter quite a bit before using it for it's intended purpose.

Did you know that if you hold a strong magnet near the prongs the arc travels across the surface of the magnet? And if you keep the arc going for a few seconds you can see a bluish haze of ionized gas forming across the surface of the magnet...

I feel a mad scientist moment coming on.

Mountain Storm wrote:You guys must be bored

...or at work

jackssmirkingrevenge wrote:

Mountain Storm wrote:You guys must be bored

...or at work

...or these are synonymous expressions

ultimatespudgun sell them

I've seen these offered on some Chinese site... they must be damn cheap when ordered in bulk from the manufacturer (though I realize that they probably ordered a special heavy duty version - not the cheapest crap)

add a couple of bucks and you can get this -> http://ultimatespudgun.com/pistol-grip- ... p-243.html
no offence but I doubt you can make something of the same quality yourself for less than 50$

JSR, thats the same thing [/quote]

You are right about the price point. The only way to even get close is VOLUME lol. I just want one. The one I make for me

For now I just made a carry type handle and stuck the typical electronic BBQ unit in it. But I am not quite satisfied with the result.

First issue is no safety (since I have the igniter directly in contact with the screws I use for the spark gap). Second is the darn thing is pretty large.

I might order another unit and chop off the battery-holder/switch and wire it up from a box I mount on the side or whatever.

Tinker tinker tinker.

I have made an ignitor from basic components before.
Are you looking for a continuos arc, or just a semi-auto version?

semi is easy. The major components you need are a few hundred feet of thin wire (around .01"), a few feet of thick wire and some iron laminations.
Everything else you probably have already.

Continuos is harder. I set up a flyback for this purpose. You can get them from CRT tvs. Generally speaking it's easier to just remove the ferrite core from the flyback and do your own windings, rather than identify the correct pins.

You'll probably want to order special transistors for driving a flyback(I recommend 2N3773 ($2-3 each)), as well as a couple beefy 22-ohm resistors. Most of the other components you can get from junk electronics.
(Do not buy transistors from ebay. You may get counterfeited versions).

If you want to know more about either of these just ask or PM me.. It'll take some time and work but it's not especially difficult.