What to make for spud cannon #2...

[Dr meat201]

So far, i have made one cannon. I have been extremely happy with it so far, and i only had to spend $20! I want to make another 'cause I'm hooked . I wanted my next project to be a semi auto, maybe with a spring loaded bolt, maybe pneumatic pressure. it CAN NOT BE A COMBUSTION... my parents would not allow me to build it that way. I want to try to make some kind of magazine, which i wont have too much of a problem with.

My limitations are:
-Not Combustion
-Must shoot fairly far
-Semi auto/bolt (something that can be ready to shoot again fairly fast, my last one was a muzzleloader & took WAY too long to reload)
-Must be able to buy parts at Home Depot/Lowes
-Preferably below $60 MUST be below $80
-Can't have machined parts (I don't have a lathe or other ways of machining)

Other than that I can build what I please.

[SpudUke5]

well considering that youre pretty new to this, i think that you should cut down on some of the stuff that you want to add to your pneumatic cannon. I only say this beacuse you dont know enough to be making this. But im not stopping you. Plus mistakes that you may make trying to make this cannon may be costly.

But yea do some research before you want to make this, if you still are. I have only made 1 good cannon and its a simple hot glue piston. You probably are going to make a piston for what your are trying to make. When i tried to make a piston cannon, i made 3 mistakes which proved to be costly. So i am just giving you a forewarning... research alot before you are going to make this and make sure that you know everything you need to know.

[cwazy1]

well, if you had an air compressor, a semi auto would be fairly easy, a bolt action is also easy, but the easier one of the two.

you should try a piston cannon for your second pneumatic because it lets you experiment with a much better valve and give you extremely good results.

[MrCrowley]

-Not Combustion
-Must shoot fairly far
-Semi auto/bolt (something that can be ready to shoot again fairly fast, my last one was a muzzleloader & took WAY too long to reload)
-Must be able to buy parts at Home Depot/Lowes
-Preferably below $60 MUST be below $80
-Can't have machined parts (I don't have a lathe or other ways of machining)

Only having made one cannon, you're not going to get decent semi-auto unless you have a CO2 reg, sprinkler valve and a portable bottle of CO2.

Sprinkler valves can be semi-auto but you need an air supply, not bike pump.

If you don't have an air compressor or CO2, you can't really do semi-auto.

Since it's your second, making a decent semi-auto under $80 would be hard.

So scrap semi-auto for starters.

Must shoot far? How far?

You want real distance, go golf balls. Or just use paintballs.

Breech loading will be easy, search this website for some ideas, don't rely on us to give you them, there are loads on this website.

So now that we have that settled, you either looking at a cannon like*:
<A HREF="http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/viewtop ... 8">This</a>

Or

<A HREF="http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/viewtop ... ">This.</a>

The second one can be made under $60US I would think, the first one could be more.

For your first pneumaitc keep it simple, most members who have built several haven't gone semi auto yet.

Also if your making a mag, it's harder then you think. If you have a verticle mag you need something to stop multiple projectiles getting shot at the same time, since the air can suck out more then one.


* I don't mean your restricted to that desgin, but more or less that is a similar setup you would use for a basic but powerful pneumatic.