spark strip question....

Boom! The classic potato gun harnesses the combustion of flammable vapor.
hoarp001
Private 4
Private 4
Posts: 79
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:09 pm

Hi,

I have just finished making two spark strips for a combustion gun. each spark strip looks like this:

http://www.peter-hoare.co.uk/sparkstrip.jpg

It has three 1mm gaps, and i am powering both of them from my 100,000v spark generator (stungun basically) and I am worried the sparks wont be big enough to ignite the gas in the chamber. I had a breif go, using the strips to ignite the blowtorch and nothing happend.

They will be about 25cm apart in a 50cm long chamber, firing on either mapp or propane.

Any help would be great.

Thanks.
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iPaintball
Corporal 2
Corporal 2
Posts: 695
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2007 8:37 pm

With a regular combustion, you could increase the total gap size to an inch. Probabaly more effective...
Summer Projects:
CO2 tank hybrid: Gotta fix the meter :(
Cane gun: Needs a pilot/fill setup
1.5" piston valve gun: Almost done
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Pete Zaria
Corporal 5
Corporal 5
Posts: 954
Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2006 6:04 pm
Location: Near Seattle, WA

My combustion gun has a spark strip with five, 2.5mm gaps, for a total of just under half an inch. Works excellently. If you have the resources to make a longer spark strip (to cover more chamber area) with more, slightly larger gaps, I'd recommend doing so.

However, your strip should work. A hot enough spark, regardless of size, should ignite a near-stoichiometric propane mixture.

Peace,
Pete Zaria.
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noname
First Sergeant 4
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Posts: 2698
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 9:19 pm
Location: Bay Area, CA

It'll work just fine, although as Pete stated, larger strips for bigger chambers will be more effective. I have 4 sparks each about a millimeter long because I'm using a BBQ igniter in a huge cannon, and they ignite the fuel just as well as any other spark.
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