Brian the brain wrote:

Now build a remote control for the valve and you can make spudding history!

So...all in all, a great build.

Hmmm.... That's not a bad idea. I do have some spare radio control gear lying around that I'm not using. we might be on to something here.

That thing is pretty cool! I like how compact it is, but you don't need a capacitor and transformer, all you need is 3 nine volt batteries.

Thanks for the compliment. Yeah, my main objective for this cannon was to make it small and compact without sacrificing performance and ergonomics. With it ...

......Construction has begun on the prototype and things are looking promising. :o

The mechanism seems to work pretty flawlessly when operated by hand. Feeds marbles just as designed. However, I attached it to the gun for a couple test firings and I may have underestimated the force of the air ...

the dead space concerns me a bit. i think u should use a low volume cylinder.

Not exactly sure what you mean by this.

how do u plan on making the coax automatic (filling and piloting fast)? i'm trying to find a very quick way to do this. so far i think i can get 2 pilots a second. another idea ...

Hey, thanks for all the feedback. Seems I got enough positive opinions to go ahead and give it a try.

also, what r u designing it for? if it's for airsoft then it doesn't need to be super efficient. it just has to do the job it's intended. u don't wanna kill any one.

I'll be shooting 1/2 ...

Just wanted to get some opinions on this idea.
-Yes it should work
-maybe
-definitely not don't even try it

http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr182/tvouthilak/MARBLE.gif

Basically when the piston opens(brown cylinder), air enters the port and forces the bolt(red part) forward thus allowing ...

**UPDATE**

Just a quick damage photo to share. I built a pretty crude indoor shooting trap to test out the gun. The trap is just a cardboard box with layers of paper inside and a board behind to stop any stray shots. So far at 100 psi, I have been able to shoot through about 100 sheets of paper ...

looks okay by me...

what's the projectile this cannon is being designed to shoot, or did I miss that?

No you didn't miss it. My plan is to shoot marbles with it. Using a 1" barrel for large marbles and a 1/2" barrel insert for smaller marbles. So there should be no fear of shredding the ...

Here's a quick sketch of my design. The top picture is the overall concept. You can see in the blow up the valve is at the bottom. When the piston opens, the air travels through the pipe taking a 90 turn up and then through the 'T' which is plugged at the back to direct the air forward where the ...

The reason people got confused was because you kept calling the whole thing, elbows included, the barrel. Generally we think of the barrel as the part the projectile actually travels through, and any other piping attached between it and the valve is just additional piping.

Thanks for your ...

If in the contrary you just wanna do this for a design matter, it will work, but it will add dead space between the valve and the projectile. This is not bad in itself, but it will decrease the performance.

yeah, you hit the nail on the head. So the dead space between the valve and projectile is ...

I'm working on a new spud cannon design and was wondering something. Is there any disadvantage of putting bends in your barrel vs. a straight barrel? I'm planing on putting a couple 90 degree bends in my barrel and was wondering if this would decrease its performance.

the barrel will look like ...

Thanks for the comments. I know I still have a lot to learn but I'm quite happy with my first attempt at pneumatic power.

What? I bet you are happy, you made a fu#$%&* cool piston valve on you FIRST ATTEMPT!!!


Thanks for the kind words.
Yeah, I've been very satisfied with the cannon so far ...

** UPDATE **

Just thought I'd keep people posted on my progress. Last time I posted, I still needed a power source and trigger mechanism. Seems like the common thing to use are 3-9v batteries and some sort of push button switch to activate the solenoid.

After working on an unrelated project, I ...

Thanks for the comments. I know I still have a lot to learn but I'm quite happy with my first attempt at pneumatic power.

As for the 1" sprinkler valve, yeah I realize it is overkill. When I started this project I had planned on building a bigger cannon with 3" piston and 4" chamber, but thought ...