My first spud gun

Boom! The classic potato gun harnesses the combustion of flammable vapor. Show us your combustion spud gun and discuss fuels, ratios, safety, ignition systems, tools, and more.
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farcticox1
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Thu Oct 18, 2018 5:50 am

I'm not a combustion guy but pictures would be good :D
Potato Demon
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Sun Oct 21, 2018 3:19 pm

Sure thing I’ll post a pic of 2 of my 3 spud guns.

It might be a while because I’m currently away from a proper computer and the editor doesn’t work very well on an iPhone.
Last edited by Potato Demon on Fri Nov 02, 2018 12:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Tue Oct 23, 2018 9:49 pm

Ok here’s a picture of my first 2 potato cannons. The big one was my first one the small one was my second. They’re both solid core abs. I get my abs from home hardware, Home Depot where I live only has cellular core abs for some reason.
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Potato Demon
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Wed Oct 24, 2018 9:11 pm

The tape on the chambers is for grip.
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Thu Oct 25, 2018 7:09 am

Primitive but still fun :) what's your ignition like and are you metering your fuel in some way?
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
Potato Demon
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Thu Oct 25, 2018 9:13 am

My ignition is two small nails and the piezoelectric thing from a bbq lighter. They work pretty well and I use hairspray or deodorant in them. If anyone knows of a better fuel let me know.
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Thu Oct 25, 2018 9:16 am

I could send a picture of my third combustion and when I finish it my first pneumatic.
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Potato Demon
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Thu Oct 25, 2018 9:19 pm

First pneumatic is built I will post pictures tomorrow if anyone want me to.
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Fri Oct 26, 2018 5:13 am

Potato Demon wrote:If anyone knows of a better fuel let me know.
syringe metering ftw!

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hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
Potato Demon
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Fri Oct 26, 2018 4:41 pm

I haven’t tried syringe metering yet, I just count to 10 quickly and then stop spraying. I just made a spud gun with a 4”x1’ combustion chamber and a 1 1/2” x 3’ barrel btw.
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farcticox1
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Fri Oct 26, 2018 5:34 pm

Potato Demon wrote:First pneumatic is built I will post pictures tomorrow if anyone want me to.
Yes, I likes pneumatics :D
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Sat Oct 27, 2018 4:04 pm

Ok here is a picture. I’m waiting for the cement to set (transition cement). The only reason I built it with ABS is because I had some scrap. I know that abs isn’t the best for pneumatics but if it fails it ruptures and I could probably salvage the valve with a saw and a core drill bit (or whatever it’s called). This is solid core abs by the way. I used the valve from some scrap inner tube and drilled a hole in the chamber that was smaller than the valve, then I put the valve into my drill and held it to the hole and turned on my drill. Because of the rubber on the valve it fit perfectly. I added a ton of hot glue just to be safe.
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farcticox1
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Sat Oct 27, 2018 4:45 pm

So the ball valve is the trigger? They work really well when spring loaded, then you can have a better trigger :idea:
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Sat Oct 27, 2018 9:57 pm

I was actually trying to figure out how to spring load it. What I have done to make it easier to turn (haven’t got around to firing it yet) is I put a thin layer of Vaseline in the ball valve and that seems to help a little.
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farcticox1
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Sun Oct 28, 2018 7:55 am

You'll need to make some kind of linkage. Attach a spring to the valve handle somehow, maybe need to extend the handle? then someway of locking and releasing the handle or spring.
musket_trigger.jpg
musket_trigger.jpg (20.26 KiB) Viewed 5947 times
This is one I made but it did get complicated
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