barrel length and ignition

A place for general potato gun questions and discussions.
kingvitamin
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Wed Mar 15, 2006 9:01 pm

First off please allow me to thank you for much information gained.
now my first question is instead of a bbq lighter could i instead use a long nose bbq lighter instead? i would atatch it to the end plug, by drilling a small hole and placing it in there with a snug fit.

Also if i made a cannon with a 6ft long barrel 2in in diameter and had a 2ft long 4in diameter chamber would that be a gun that would have massive firepower, like distance and stuff. or is the barrel too long?

any ideas and comments gladly taken. thanks
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Ballad_Black
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Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:03 pm

I'd stray away from the long nosed lighter. I've seen it done, just don't prefer it. You can buy lantern igniters for like 2 or 3 bucks. These are basically a metal stim and you turn a knob and it sparks.

As for you gun. That is pretty big and would require a lot of fuel. I'd cut the measurements in half prolly. 3 foot barrel, 1 foot chamber. Keep the pipes diameter though, that won't hurt you.
brumby
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Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:47 pm

Its ok to use a long nose lighter. i have. but it does reduce power a bit and if you have a big hole a flame will shoot out and burn your hand. check out my movie of it on http://web.mac.com/dbrumby1/iWeb/Site/Movies.html


as for your gun, reduce your barrel to 3 foot. That way your gun will be 1.5 CB ratio
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boilingleadbath
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Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:13 pm

"reduce your barrel to 3 feet"
I wouldn't recommend it. Muzzle energy will be reduced, and it's already going to make a fairly good pop as is.

As to how energetic the originally described cannon will be; <a href="http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/viewtop ... ">EVBEC</a> predicts a velocity of ~370 fps with a 120g projectile.

I don't have much experience with combustions, but you may have fuel mixture problems with a 2' long chamber. (the fuel not being evenly distributed) This is easily remedied by the addition of a <a href="http://www.burntlatke.com/fan.html">chamber fan</a>, though.
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