My Hybrid Golfball Cannon

Harness the power of precision mixtures of pressurized flammable vapor. Safety first! These are advanced potato guns - not for the beginner.
iusemyopensights
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Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:20 pm

This is my first hybrid cannon! The pictures, details, and more are on the following page. Sorry about all the ads on the side of the frame. Geocities didn't do that last time I checked....

<a HREF="http://www.geocities.com/iusemyopensights/hybrid/" target="_blank">My Hybrid</a>
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MrCrowley
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Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:38 pm

Nice cannon, any idea how far it shoots?
iusemyopensights
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Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:50 pm

All I've done is simple range, (not "range" as in "distance"), testing against relatively soft targets. Plywood doesn't stand a chance, and after that I don't know how much further the balls go into the woods. I'd guess they'd get over 200 yards out in the open. No place to officially test that, though. 267 yards, (1/3 safety factor), is right smack in the middle of a highway from my house. All I can tell you is the relative power to the target's energy, ( :wink: ).

The burst disks do, however, travel about 15 yards when they shoot out the barrel. That I know.
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benstern
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Sun Jan 07, 2007 9:54 pm

WOW!
I have never seen someone post a hybrid on their first post on spudgun forums.

What is the highest mix you ever take that thing to?
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MrCrowley
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Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:05 pm

he said he wont take it over 4x
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medievalman
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Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:06 pm

looks great! only one thing i would change. i would get a stungun ignititon or at least a bbq ignitor. other than that, fantastic!
iusemyopensights
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Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:11 pm

benstern wrote: WOW!
I have never seen someone post a hybrid on their first post on spudgun forums.

What is the highest mix you ever take that thing to?
WOW! That's the same post you had on SpudTech! :P

Same answer, too. 3x mix.

And medievalman, a spark is a spark is a spark. I don't see any need for a stungun.
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medievalman
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Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:13 pm

a stungun would be more reliable, and you could make a larger spark to insure ignition 100% of the time.
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frankrede
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Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:14 pm

Ahah man your cannon is great! Now I got the inspiration to go finishmy hybrid and now I need to get some new parts.
Current project: Afghanistan deployment
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noname
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Sun Jan 07, 2007 11:32 pm

Midevilman, if you didn't know already, a BBQ igniter IS a piezoelectric igniter, just in a different form. A BBQ igniter is usually $10-15, while a long nosed lighter is $1.25. 10 bucks is a whole lot more than you need to spend. As for 100% ignition, if the igniter sparks, it ignites the mixture. A piezoelectric igniter will never fail, as long as you have a small enough gap.

As for the hybrid, very nice job. There's so many of us that think people join to post a stupid question, but I beg to differ, this being evidence. Watch out when you're shooting within 500 yards of people, you never know. A golfball, especially one going hundreds of miles per hour, can easily kill someone.
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judgment_arms
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Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:10 am

Hey iusemyopensights, this is a little off subject but judging by your screen name you shoot right? I mean firearms or pellet guns not spud guns. Anyway nice cannon.
Welcome to the forums!
Call me "Judge", it's easier to type.

Spud gun safety rules
iusemyopensights
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Mon Jan 08, 2007 6:17 am

noname wrote: Watch out when you're shooting within 500 yards of people, you never know. A golfball, especially one going hundreds of miles per hour, can easily kill someone.
Yes, I know this.
judgment_arms wrote: Hey iusemyopensights, this is a little off subject but judging by your screen name you shoot right? I mean firearms or pellet guns not spud guns.
Yes, I shoot quite a bit. Airguns mostly, (because I live in a semi-residential area), but I shoot my .30-'06 sometimes too.

Thanks for all the compliments guys. Frankrede I hope you finish your hybrid soon.

BTW, (edit), this thing broke slightly last night while filming a video to demonstrate this thing. Nothing major, just the pressure gauge is stuck at 60 and the coil going to the needle is bent outta shape. Gonna replace that today, (hopefully), with a ball valve and another gauge. I did finish the video, though. 8)

<img src="http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o242 ... xample.jpg">

<a HREF="http://s122.photobucket.com/albums/o242 ... ">Video</A>.
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experament-u2
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Mon Jan 08, 2007 6:39 am

that is a rely sick gun im amazed how big ur chamber is tho

bit off topic but would a hybrid work well with a chamber the same or slightly bigger the the barel?
iusemyopensights
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Mon Jan 08, 2007 7:19 am

I built this one at a .306:1 C:B ratio. There's no real evidence besides my own guessing to support longer or shorter barrels, though. A hybrid does have more power to support longer barrels per unit of chamber volume, but also the flame front is much more accelerated, so it takes a shorter barrel to harness all the energy available as well. So it would sort of be advantageous to make the ratio a little higher. I'm guessing that out of my 46" barrel, only about 2' is being used in serious acceleration. The rest the ball is just sort of coasting.

A 1:1 sounds good, though.
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