My AT4 M136 Anti Tank Weapon

[scottcrete]

I have worked on this forever.. and 10 screwed up project later.. it still does not work.. I really need your help.. for one.. cause im stupid and cannot read electronic scematics very good and two.. what i am doing is obviously wrong.. so i need your opinion.

below is what im doing...



and here is the front.. notice this is a kodak camera



and this is how i think it works...



WHy is it that I can get an ungodly spark that sounds like a gun when i touch the leds together.. where i have pictured (spark) above.. but i cannot get them to spark from the switch.. is my switch in the wrong place? what am I doing wrong? and what do i need to do to fix this? also.. how far away from the ciruit board can you run the wires to still have a spark? 2 feet? 4 feet? 6 feet? how far? and then one more question? can you please help me..

i will show photos of my cannon once it is finished.. but i really need your help first..

[bluerussetboy]

Pretty simple solution. When you disassembled your flash there was a third wire attached to the metal shield behind the flash tube. Basically it ionized the gas in the flash tube so electricity could jump the gap. Attach the third wire, which comes from a transformer on the board, to a third terminal in your chamber. Arrange all three terminals to be roughly 1-2mm apart. Then you can press your trigger and kaboom. This type of flash trigger needs constant adjustment due to the corrosion that gets on the terminals.

[scottcrete]

okay.. thanks for the help blue russetboy..

but bad news.. i did what you said.. and whala.. it made a spark when i pressed the button.. however the spark was only minum.. not very bright.. well kinda bright.. but no sound at all... none when it gapped.. well i kept messing with it.. charging.. then emptying the charge.. (which i thought) but turns out.. my board coaught on fire....

is this cause i have 8 capcitors hooked to it?

next question.. what caught on fire on my board was the green stuff that is painted on it.. so.. how do i go about getting around this? do i need to just wire this stuff together with wires.. and skip the board totally? or what do i need to do to get this working.. cause when the spark hits at its full potentional... its like 330 volts times 8.. and is a very impressive spark.. its as loud as most tator guns normally...

so what am i to do.. can you provide me with a drawing for dummys? lol..
I was in the military as an infantryman.. so i aint skeered.. just dumbfounded.. lol

help me out here guys.

my goal is to be a finished at4 rocket launcher look alike.. paint and all.. so please help me out here..

thanks in advance.

[ghostman01]

whats wrong with a bbq igniter they work well and if you get a powerfull one you could have a 1-2 cm spark gap. or you could even go pneumatic, thats even easier. no fuel mixture, just pump load fire

[scottcrete]

here is what the end of my barrel will look like.. i did this myself with some L.e.d.'s and a 3 ohm resister.. and these light off twoo double a batterys per color.. the last picture will be the one of the gun in the (looking down the barrel view)

first pic.. red only.. with switch


sencond pic green only with swicth



third pic.. (looking down the barrel)
both switches on... (doesnt give it justice.. i had to turn the camera speed up to get a quick pic cause they are so bright..



let me know what you think.. about this.. and my delima above...

thanks in advance..
Scott

[pizlo]

Those lights are BEAST. too bad nobody will live long enough to admire them. And the green stuff that caught on fire is the photo resist, you can easily remove it with some steel wool.

[TurboSuper]

Heh, I love cannons with integrated electronics!

I wish I could give you a hand with that photoflash issue, but alas I can't since I've never done that 3-pole ignition thingamajigger. You may want to give an ignition coil a whirl if this doesn't work right.

Also, i don't think 8 caps is absolutely necessary(assuming you're using the ones that come with the boards)...usually 1 suffices. It must take forever to charge up!

[scottcrete]

will this keep the board from catching on fire rom too much voltage? cause I think this is the reason it caught on fire.. cause i have 8 capacitors (all of them from a kodak dispoable) hooked to this circuit..

I am not really sure what i am doing.. have basic knowledge., and can solder really well.. and have shot numeours real raocket launchers.. but now that i am not in the army.. (afghanistan and iraq vet.) i wanna build something that is cool.. and looks similair to what I have shot back then,,


so anyways.. i wannna hear everyones opinion..

thanks for the help and comment pizlo..

[scottcrete]

yea turbosuper.. the eight caps sounds like a real pustol when they arc.. from a screw driver grounding them out.. i just wanna make this work inside my gun.. that way even when no ammo (potato) this think will scare the dickens out of people.. lol

i can only imagine how this will sound echoing through the barrel.

[TurboSuper]

Caps won't increase voltage but they will increase current considerably, which may be your problem since the tracks aren't meant to really handle that much.

And shorting caps with a short can damage them some...be careful

[scottcrete]

how can i build this circuit with no board (tracks) as you call them.. so it doesnt blow anything?

[scottcrete]

lights not lit up in a flush reducer..



me holding the lights . kinda what it will look like.

[scottcrete]

what do you thihk of the lights.. and do you have an answer to my question>? about making circuit with no tracks

[starman]

Sooo are you building a coaxial combustion, it looks like that from your pics. Also, the LEDs look good...I guess they have no other purpose other than looks. Do those wires feed back into the combustion chamber? If so, be sure you seal the holes real well, epoxy works well.

Also, you should dump the camera flash circuit and go with a BBQ ignitor or stun gun. Much less trouble.

Do you have a side view of the gun?

EDIT: OK I just found your other post talking about your LED setup. You can do all of that in a single post, keeps everything together.

BTW, thank you for your military service!!!

[scottcrete]

my schmatic.