Foam "PIAT" round launcher with Paintball tank

[reenact12321]

Hi all,

I'm a WWII reenactor and have been toying with the idea of how to create a safe demonstration round for our group's PIAT. For anyone not in the know, it was a spigot mortar that worked by cocking a big spring, an 8" piston went back inside. A bomb (think a big vortex football with a hollow tail) was put in the tray with a retaining disc at the back to line it up. When the trigger was pulled, the piston rammed up the tail and set off a charge that would send the bomb flying, the seal of the tail over piston acting as a "barrel in reverse"

Obviously anything close to an original concept would be prohibitively dangerous. I wanted to launch a foam football with a 3D printed tail segment. My original idea was to use a CO2 cartridge up in the nose in place of the original "charge" and a push pin to activate it when it gets smacked by the piston. https://imgur.com/a/mRgY6Dv However, I've run into some trouble getting the CO2 cartridge to activate and the rocket staying put long enough for the piston to slam home.

There is also the potential for that CO2 cart to become a wacky missile should this thing break up. AskEngineers over on Reddit suggested removing the piston from the equation and using something like a spud gun to launch it, put the hollow tail over the mini spud gun like a nerf dart and PEW.

The bottom of the PIAT tray has a window that I could run a hose or tubing up to a "barrel" pipe (after the PIAT is cocked an attached fin could sit in the slot for the original tail retainer. You "fire" the PIAT but actually just open a valve on the spud gun. The idea of PVC pressure chambers makes me very uncomfortable, I'd rather make it out of metal and weight and portability isn't really an issue. Is there a resource here for metal valves and tubing rated for the 800PSI a Paintball tank regulator puts out?

[Sear]

Hi there,

What you are trying to achieve is very difficult, almost impossible to make. 88/87 mm foam/3D printed projectile would need to be quite heavy to fly at least 40 meters, if not further. It could be unsafe at close distances. Moreover spud gun principle for PIAT is incredibly difficult to make.

I considered basically very similar PIAT project and put I to sleep. And I've done some stuff, including working with paintball-compatible 50/60 bar systems and paintball cannons.

This project is not worth it.

Cheers!

[lyly19]

Hi there,

What you are trying to achieve is very difficult, almost impossible to make. 88/87 mm foam/3D printed projectile would need to be quite heavy to fly at least 40 meters, if not further. It could be unsafe at close distances. Moreover spud gun principle for PIAT is incredibly difficult to make. Crazy Cattle 3D

I considered basically very similar PIAT project and put I to sleep. And I've done some stuff, including working with paintball-compatible 50/60 bar systems and paintball cannons.

This project is not worth it.

Cheers!

Thanks for your input, Sear! Out of curiosity, you mentioned working with paintball-compatible 50/60 bar systems—do you know of any off-the-shelf components (valves, regulators, fittings) that could handle that pressure safely in a compact launcher setup? I’m open to scaling down range/performance if it improves safety and reliability. Any tips on where to source that kind of hardware in Europe or the U.S.?

[Sear]

[/quote]
Thanks for your input, Sear! Out of curiosity, you mentioned working with paintball-compatible 50/60 bar systems—do you know of any off-the-shelf components (valves, regulators, fittings) that could handle that pressure safely in a compact launcher setup? I’m open to scaling down range/performance if it improves safety and reliability. Any tips on where to source that kind of hardware in Europe or the U.S.?
[/quote]

I know about valves handling 20-25 bar easily, as well as regulators and fittings and air reservoirs. PM if you need more info.

[noahscott]

You're right to be cautious about CO2 cartridges in the projectile itself; even with proper containment, they pose fragmentation risks if anything fails under stress. Going the route of a static spud gun-style launcher (with the PIAT acting as the trigger facade) sounds like a smart workaround.

[sophia2005]

Hi there,

What you are trying to achieve is very difficult, almost impossible to make. 88/87 mm foam/3D printed projectile would need to be quite heavy to fly at least 40 meters, if not further. It could be unsafe at close distances. Moreover spud gun principle for PIAT is incredibly difficult to make.

I considered basically very similar PIAT project and put I to sleep. And I've done some stuff, including working with paintball-compatible 50/60 bar systems and paintball cannons.

This project is not worth it.

Cheers!

Thanks, Sear— In your experience, is there any safer alternative way to simulate firing the PIAT for demos without actually launching a projectile?

[cenat]

Using a CO₂ cartridge for something PIAT-style sounds clever, but I think getting consistent pressure and safety will be the hardest parts. Foam rounds at that size usually need more stability than raw power, so maybe focus on the projectile design before pushing higher pressure.nulls brawl indir

[marryhile]

I considered basically very similar PIAT project and put I to sleep. And I've done some stuff, including working with paintball-compatible 50/60 bar systems and paintball cannons.

[VirginnGrace]

Cool build! Love the ingenuity using a paintball tank for pressure. More details on the foam round construction would be awesome.

[Theonepbs]

i made a 2" barreled advanced combustion 12v with stun gun ignition propane or 4 Mapp as fuel with two ball valves metering device 12v 120mm pc fan for mixing its not small about 5 total feet but the mini nerf footballs with a tail that whistle go out of sight aimed straight up with little to no noise unmodified and you can even hear the whistle on the way down its badass so i believe you could easily do that i will try to post the vid if i can find it to show the noise of it firing vey quite poof and then its gone many hundreds of feet or more and the if you listen you will very distinctly hear the awesome whistle sound also i cant remember for sure but the hangtime had to be like 9-15 seconds maybe more

im not exactly sure what the piat is etc but i do believe you could make it with co2 ,hpa, or metered combustion
.

[Theonepbs]

just looked it up if you went combustion or allowed to for your purpose you could def hide the smaller 2" -2.5" barrel in a shroud to make it look exactly like one it may not function as the original but would for sure launce finned mini nerf football rocket mujigs many football fields