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Help with an aluminium bottle/ air chamber? Pressure rating

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 5:41 pm
by jebidi
Hey guys.

I'm a newbie here, and I've just finished building one of those beginner spud guns. lol.

You know-

Pop bottle
Schrader Tire valve
Ball valve
Length of pipe for barrel

and I got bored of it pretty soon because, well...it sucked.

And I was wondering what other things I could use for a chamber...

Then I remembered I had this aluminum drink bottle lying around, I couldn't find it though.

But then I found this:

An aluminum spray bottle, and I was wondering:

What would the pressure rating be? (roughly)
What would be a good way of testing?
Etc, Etc, Etc...

PLEASE TELL ME IF THIS WILL BE NO GOOD FOR SPUD GUNS.

BUT REMEMBER, I LIVE IN THE UK AND IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO FIND STOCKISTS OF PVC PIPE, ETC...



Here is a picture of the bottle. -

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 5:47 pm
by jackssmirkingrevenge
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

Since you're from the UK, you might want to check out the UK spun gun community too.

Regarding your query, It's hard to tell the pressure rating of something that wasn't originally meant to contain pressure - is there a way you can measure the wall thickness accurately?

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 5:55 pm
by jebidi
Hey, thanks for the welcome and the link.

I can't really accurately tell the wall thickness, but at a guess I say it's no more than 2mm thick, tops.


I just thought it could surely hold more pressure than a pop bottle.

The upside of a pop bottle though, is there is no "shrapnel" when they fail...



I'm getting frustrated at the lack of equipment/ supplies available over here.


:?

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 5:58 pm
by jackssmirkingrevenge
jebidi wrote:I'm getting frustrated at the lack of equipment/ supplies available over here.
A common issue in your part of the world apparently, however if you check out the UK forum there's some good links regarding relevant materials and suppliers.

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:02 pm
by jebidi
Thanks.


I might just drill a hole in the spray bottle, add a valve, put a cap on at see at what pressure it explodes at -.-

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:04 pm
by jackssmirkingrevenge
That'sa bit dangerous, fill it with water first and it would be a good idea to have it inside water when it ruptures. Still, I think at normal pressures (sub 150 psi) it should hold.

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:10 pm
by jebidi
lol, nice.


I'll only be filling to about 30psi...maximum.

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:38 pm
by scatdawg
that would easily hold 30 psi safely without any concerns. i sure it would hold much , much more safely. that is a one piece cyclinder (seamless) im sure and judging by the pic the bottom has some roundature which makes it exceptionally strong for holding pressure. i cant remember exactly where i saw it on spudfiles but i saw a pneumatic cannon made with an aluminum bud light bottle as the chamber. i sure the k.o.a.l.
(king of all links) jackssmirkingrevenge could hook you up with the link faster than i could.



found it! here is only thing an empty is good for!
http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/beer-gun-t9721.html

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:10 pm
by jackssmirkingrevenge
thanks for the title :lol: add "available" to the acronym and I can spend my days looking all cute and munching on eucalyptus trees :D