My idea for a pneumatic cannon

[masterelmo]

I'm currently planning on making a pneumatic cannon that will fire either tennis balls or baseballs (or anything of the same size). I'm thinking it should be a 3 foot long PVC tube that might have a bolt to insert ammo (if it's too difficult I will just force it down the tube). I think it needs to run on either an air compressor or a bike pump. I'd prefer it had an entire trigger system but if I have to I'll just use a button or something. This is my first pneumatic project that me and a couple friends are working on. I could really use some help from you guys on this forum on how I need to do all this.

[jrrdw]

I now call your attention to the Wiki, the button is at the top of the page. Search the Wiki to find things you don't understand and if you still can't get it feel free to ask. I suggest you draw out on paper what you want your launcher to look like and work off of that.

Welcome to Spudfiles.

[clemsonguy1125]

Well I suggest a 3 inch piston valve with a modded sprinkler valve for the trigger. The barrel should be 2.5 inch pipe

[Hubb]

I suggest reading up on the links in my sig (minus the paintball link).

A sprinkler valve will probably be your best choice for a first. It's a lot easier to use than a piston valve and you will not be disappointed in it's performance. Trigger it with a blowgun for that "entire trigger system" feel. Plenty of detail, several modifying techniques, and troubleshooting on this valve is located in the first link.

The second link provides details on upgrading a barrel as well as several different ways of breech loading.

As far as the air source, go with a compressor. A 3 foot long chamber is going to be a PITA to fill with a bike pump (and that's me thinking you want at least a 2" chamber for your type of ammo).

Of course, this should all be done after you've searched the site and the wiki.....

[masterelmo]

I have some plans already drawn out (crudely) of how it would look/work. I will check the wiki (thanks for the tip) along with those links. I pray this isn't too amazingly hard for a beginner. I also hope this can all be obtained at a hardware store say for a modest price (about 30$ budget here).