Haha glad you guys find this interesting. Avionics are being protected by encapsulation.

I think it's just for testing of the terminal phase of flight (ie. how well the UAV can transition into normal flight)

Spot on, we just want to test out the parachute/deployment mechanisms first. We are ...

No rocket, acceleration. I've been having heaps of fun designing everything to withstand ~10,000 - 15,000 g's

Gah, really sorry, make that 25-30km, no idea how 80 got in my head.

We use guns due to ease of integrating into existing defense systems. In a previous iteration I build a UAV for a Zuni rocket.

Something like that, but we are more highly constrained for size. Yeah we are going for the M777. Why doesn't that make sense?

Hey mate,

We are eventually scaling up to full sized artillery. The idea is to get the UAV 80km away near instantly. The spudgun is just for proof of concept :)


I imagine that tube launching already puts some serious constrains on the design.

You have NO idea how right you are. It's been such ...

Hahaha. Yep. If your interested in what we are doing..Basically its more like the MIT WASP (independent origination of the idea though). We are sticking a whole UAV in the shell and getting it to deploy out of the cannon. Thats the main reason I don't want it spinning, the parachute will get all ...

Brilliant! Thanks for those links. Love the idea of the mylar and wire.

Without rifling you do realise that it's just going to tumble as soon as it leaves me muzzle, right?

Yep, we have the COG far forward on the projectile (relative to the COP) and it has spring loaded deployable fins.

Hey guys,

I completely agree about the multiple run benefits of the butterfly valves. However as we will only be firing once or twice per day I was edging towards the burst disc.

Whats your thoughts on the C/B ratio for this design? Should I be edging towards 4:1?

My original design was a coaxial dual valve but I went away from that for simplicity sake, and pressure rated T bends and 90 degree bends are very expensive.

Thanks so much for the tips about the velocity cone, great idea, will get that made up.

In my head I imagine finding the right number of ...

Hey guys,

I have been working on a cannon for a few weeks and now its crunch time to get it working. Its for a university project, and I would really appreciate some guidance. Here are the requirements:

Barrel ID needs to be greater then 155mm

Needs to eject a artillery shell shaped projectile ...