Potato Guns

3393RP said:
Where did these alleged fatalities occur? There is no record of them occurring on the internet.
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I was misinformed. Delaware. Air cannon exploded, woman sustained critical injuries, not fatalities, another serious but not critical. Sorry, no death.
 
MuseChaser said:
I've ALWAYS wanted to do that. I was the kid who always drooled over the hovercraft/"Bartlett Flying Saucer" plans in the back of comic books. A Jr. High school friend of mine, Seth, actually built one back in the day, but got as far as the wood/plywood stuff. When we found out how expensive the prop was, we gave up.
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It certainly wasn't beautiful, but our group won the contest. The class was split into 3 groups and we got to design it within certain materials and constraints. It had to hold one person, be maneuverable, and was in a race around a short course. Two of our leaf blowers provided the lift, the 3rd was on a pivot at the gear just like an outboard motor. The physics class was taught exactly the way it should be done. Practical applications of scientific models and laws of physics.

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As the unofficial PoA spokesman for flying Rednecks, allow me to offer some things I've learned in tater gub makin'.

Materials
At least schedule 40 PVC. Schedule 80 is preferred, but not necessary if you stick to less volatile propellants. Stay away from standard wall PVC.

Trigger Mechanisms
Generally speaking, any gas grill igniter will work fine. I find the battery powered ones offer more reliable spark, but the piezo igniters do offer a somewhat more satisfying spring resistence followed by a nice *click* whe it goes bang. The very best trigger is a stun gun with the leads positioned do the spark goes across the diameter of the combustion chamber.

Propellant
For recreational use, hairspray is quite adequate, readily available, and inexpensive. I prefer Aquanet.
*Do not, I repeat, do not use propane or acetylene! Even schedule 80 can't handle the pressures. Please allow my own independent research be a warning.

Projectiles
Taters work really well, offer a very tight seal, and provide a satisfying splatter, and can be bought cheaply and in large quantity. These are short range projectiles with unpredictable accuracy, and offen come from together in flight.
Epoxy castings are efficient, offer heavier weight and higher impact energy, and can be easily shaped to provide a low ballistics coefficient. The weight does affect trajectory, but hits hard.
Golf balls. They are made to fly efficiently, and offer the greatest range of any projectiles I've tried. Care must be taken to select an appropriate barrell diameter, as the projectile cannot be modified to fit your barrell. Also, you can close your stance and roll your right hand slightly over the top to achieve a draw if you need to bend the trajectory.

Specialty Projectiles
For indoor fun, marshmollows may be used.

Hope this was helpful.
 
OkieFlyer said:
As the unofficial PoA spokesman for flying Rednecks, allow me to offer some things I've learned in tater gub makin'.

Materials
At least schedule 40 PVC. Schedule 80 is preferred, but not necessary if you stick to less volatile propellants. Stay away from standard wall PVC.

Trigger Mechanisms
Generally speaking, any gas grill igniter will work fine. I find the battery powered ones offer more reliable spark, but the piezo igniters do offer a somewhat more satisfying spring resistence followed by a nice *click* whe it goes bang. The very best trigger is a stun gun with the leads positioned do the spark goes across the diameter of the combustion chamber.

Propellant
For recreational use, hairspray is quite adequate, readily available, and inexpensive. I prefer Aquanet.
*Do not, I repeat, do not use propane or acetylene! Even schedule 80 can't handle the pressures. Please allow my own independent research be a warning.

Projectiles
Taters work really well, offer a very tight seal, and provide a satisfying splatter, and can be bought cheaply and in large quantity. These are short range projectiles with unpredictable accuracy, and offen come from together in flight.
Epoxy castings are efficient, offer heavier weight and higher impact energy, and can be easily shaped to provide a low ballistics coefficient. The weight does affect trajectory, but hits hard.
Golf balls. They are made to fly efficiently, and offer the greatest range of any projectiles I've tried. Care must be taken to select an appropriate barrell diameter, as the projectile cannot be modified to fit your barrell. Also, you can close your stance and roll your right hand slightly over the top to achieve a draw if you need to bend the trajectory.

Specialty Projectiles
For indoor fun, marshmollows may be used.

Hope this was helpful.
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I’ve shot hundreds out of mine using propane and map gas. Hairspray burns so dirty you spend too much time cleaning.


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Years ago we (a group of submarine vets) made a "torpedo tube" out of PVC during an attempt to audition for Junkyard Wars. The tube filled with water, then shot a slightly smaller PVC torpedo out. No, we didn't make it, yes, it failed at a seam on about the 3rd or 4th launch.

In retrospect, we should have tried to use more junk and less off the shelf components, but it was still a lot of fun.
 
I've got a book called "Vegetable artillery for fun and for revolution." It has plans for a couple of different spudzookas using different fuels, a "gatling gun" that shoots 6 carrots at once, incendiary potatoes (use your imagination but it involves something that is "for motor fuel only") and a cannon that can lob heads of cabbage. The guy who wrote the book put on an armor vest and had his kid shoot him with one of the potato guns. He said that he doesn't know if a potato gun would actually be lethal without the armor vest, but based on how much it hurt, if you shoot somebody with a potato gun and they get back up you'd better have a real gun because they're going to be mad.
 
Peter Anderson said:
I’ve shot hundreds out of mine using propane and map gas. Hairspray burns so dirty you spend too much time cleaning.


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Interesting. We tried propane once and the resulting shrapnel nearly disembowelled my bro-in-law. What is your secret?
 
OkieFlyer said:
Interesting. We tried propane once and the resulting shrapnel nearly disembowelled my bro-in-law. What is your secret?
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I know PVC has been successfully used in a LOT of potato guns, but it still makes me nervous because it tends to fail by shattering into fragments. I just retired after 20 years of a one-day-a-year side gig as a crew chief for a major fireworks company, and PVC is never, ever used for firework mortar tubes. They're either high-density polyethylene or fiberglass, or occasionally steel for the really big ones that must be partially buried for use.

We had a 3" titanium salute (the noisy flash-bangs of the pyro shows) explode in a tube some years ago. It splintered three mortar racks, and threw mortar tubes as far as 170' away, but the HDPE tube that had held the exploding shell was still in one piece. One burst-open and horribly misshapen piece. No fragments. It was pretty impressive.
 
OkieFlyer said:
Interesting. We tried propane once and the resulting shrapnel nearly disembowelled my bro-in-law. What is your secret?
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The secret I think is I assembled mine with ABS plastic which is much more shock resistant and will stand up to higher pressures.


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Potato gun, hairspray, at night, a little steel wool behind the potato for a tracer. (But only into a non-flammable range under proper adult supervision, a permit from the fire department, no alcohol and offsetting donations to the local food bank.) Could be fun.
 
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