Camo Golf Ball Cannon

Reactor4 · Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:13 pm

New cannon i just made. I used a 3/4" rainbird sprinkler valve, the chamber is 3" PW PVC. The thing i did different from a lot of other over/under pvc cannons, is that the "u" bend from the chamber to the valve is made from stainless steel pipe fittings and nipples. I found that last time i used pvc, that general area can take a lot of stress, and if you grab the cannon in the wrong spot, e.g. the barrel

, it will easily break. So i upgraded. The pressure gauge goes up to 500 psi

, but i don't plan on taking the needle up there. Otherwise, camo paint job, and it is a breech loader. I'll post some damage pics when the weekend comes around. Please comment as you wish!

theBOOM · Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:18 pm

WOW! very nice cannon I have to say that I love the paint job on it very much, that's what makes a cannon so much more original than just a plain white pvc cannon. good job agian

Lockednloaded · Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:20 pm

I love the camo scheme and the small pipes with the blowgun and pressure gauge, I always love cannons with lots o bits and pieces. correct me if i'm wrong, but from what i see your breech loading system is on pipe over another, from my experience, if you put an o-ring on either side of your breech, the slide the sleeve over there is not as much leaking. Great cannon though, but lets see some damage pics

Reactor4 · Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:22 pm

wow, thanks for the tip Lockednloaded, ill have to try that, and yes it is pipe over pipe. thanks for the comments guys! And yea, damage pics will be here either tomorrow or the next day.

Lockednloaded · Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:28 pm

yea, no problem glad to help, but if your sleeve is a tight fitt you'll need deep grooves which for me were a bi@tch to make with my hacksaw and pocket knife

Technician1002 · Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:56 pm

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but, there is a big restriction to flow by running through the small diameter plumbing between the chamber and valve. Vast improvements can be made by using pipe that is larger than the valve up from the chamber around the bend to prevent flow velocities near SOS to the valve that would create a huge pressure drop feeding the valve when fired.

Having high speed flow while still having high pressure will make a big difference over the low pressure this delivers to the golf ball when fired.

The sudden pressure drop into the valve when fired will tend to make the valve re-close early when fired due to the rapid loss of apparent chamber pressure into the valve. This rapid loss is often faster than the rate the pilot pressure is dropping which causes the valve to close repeatedly causing the honk this style launcher is know for. This valve close during the shot can be a performance killer. Band aid fixes are a bigger faster trigger pilot valve to reduce honking, but that doesn't fix the flow problem into the valve causing the rapid pressure drop when the valve opens and wants high flow.

Other than a design flaw, nice golfball cannon. I'm sure it launches golf balls pretty far.

If possible get as large as possible a replacement valve and plumbing from the chamber to the valve. It is limiting your power. 1 inch valves are common. 1.5 inch valves are better. Two inch valves are hard to find and massively expensive. I recommend a 1 inch to remain sane with at least 1.5 inch or 2 inch plumbing between the chamber and valve.

starman · Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:41 pm

Nice looking paint job on your cannon there. I second the flow problem Tech pointed out. Also, not sure why you felt the need to run the fill pipe all the way to the front of the air chamber.

Cool breech load, plumbing a little over concepted. Looks real tech though and that always tends to give you cool points.

rikukiakuchiki777 · Thu Oct 15, 2009 1:06 am

This probably isn't a performance cannon, but it definitely looks the part! I absolutely love the camo job, its just swell

. How did you do it? It just looks brilliant I can't get over it

.

When you get around to it, damage vids/pics please

@Lockednloaded - nice avatar picture, team fortress for the win!

Reactor4 · Thu Oct 15, 2009 7:28 pm

Thanks for the comments and tips guys. I was originally going to use a 1" valve for the cannon, but i already had a 3/4" one layin around and I had all the fittings too, so I didn't want to go out of the way to pay for the appropriate 1" fittings, money is tight, since I have to drive over 70 miles a day

.

Camo Golf Ball Cannon

Should I cut the barrel down a bit?

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