My First..Working Cannon with Changable barrels

[ntiemeier]

After many many do overs I finally came up with a working model. It's a pretty basic cannon but performs exceptionally well. I realized that I was trying to get too complex too early with pistons and leaks and all that so I decided to tone it back and get a working model. This is just a basic 3/4" sprinkler valve gun with a blower trigger. I would recommend to all first timers that you create one simple working model before going overboard, just my 2 pennies.

The idea for the paint came off of this blog but can't remember who posted it in the how to's. I used 1 coat with green ripped tape all over and painted again with black. PROPS! great and easy way to paint a gun

The best ammo so far is naturally potatoes as they seal very well. At 80psi one will launch ...uh...FAR and looks really cool splattering against my trash bin

One thing I'm looking for is ammo ideas for the 1/2" and 3/4" barrels. Any ideas? What do you all think about the gun overall?

[clemsonguy1125]

Ok cool gun but I think that 45 degree elbow is dwv

[ntiemeier]

Dang it! I really tried to check everything after reading a lot of posts here, it says PVC 324 but after just checking it again it does say dwv in small letters. What does that limit me to?

[cannonmaster]

nice i relly like it but one thing to think about is makeing the screw parts bigger so more air would get through with the bigger barrel and just get a reducer for the smaller barrels but overall a great design

[clemsonguy1125]

Dang it! I really tried to check everything after reading a lot of posts here, it says PVC 324 but after just checking it again it does say dwv in small letters. What does that limit me to?

After looking again it looks like one of you bushings isnt glued all the way in either, I wouldnt use the gun at all, just remove the valve if you can and mount it on another air tank, this shouldnt be too expensive since the valves the most expensive part and its only about 13 bucks, now that you have experience with this you may be ready for a piston valve, you can use the sprinkler valve to pilot it

[spudtyrrant]

Dang it! I really tried to check everything after reading a lot of posts here, it says PVC 324 but after just checking it again it does say dwv in small letters. What does that limit me to?

a good way to check if its dwv is looking at the socket depth, if a bushing doesn't fit all the way in then its most likely dwv.

[maverik94]

Change that fitting and you've got yourself a nice gun. Good work!

[deathbyDWV]

Looks like a good gun. Scrap the dwv though...

[Marffy]

cool gun, i like the shape of it.

[ntiemeier]

Dang it! I really tried to check everything after reading a lot of posts here, it says PVC 324 but after just checking it again it does say dwv in small letters. What does that limit me to?

After looking again it looks like one of you bushings isnt glued all the way in either, I wouldnt use the gun at all, just remove the valve if you can and mount it on another air tank, this shouldnt be too expensive since the valves the most expensive part and its only about 13 bucks, now that you have experience with this you may be ready for a piston valve, you can use the sprinkler valve to pilot it

OK, The air tank is removable so that is pretty easy to replace. Since I have to do that anyway, I may try to incorporate my copper piston tee into the mix. It's set up using a drilled out propane (torch) tank as the air chamber. I used the hot glue method for making the piston. I just don't like having too much copper on a PVC gun. I would almost rather try a piston using a PVC tee but would have to think it out. The good thing is that the barrels can stay the same regardless.


Thanks for all of the comments and ideas, I'll reconfigure a little and see what I can come up with.

How much faster, really is a piston than a sprinkler valve though?

[clemsonguy1125]

You will get a large increase in power from going with a piston valve, also way make a copper piston valve just go with pvc, ive housed one in a 1 inch tee and a two inch tee, they both worked fine, good luck