Newbie seeking intro to pneumatics

[MrCrowley]

Yup, that's pretty much it.

[Deli]

I have a feeling I won't be satisfied if I don't make a piston, even if my first try isn't up to par.

EDIT: I added a pic of a simple design of a piston, which I don't see too much difficulty in making.

[clide]

That is known as a chamber sealing valve. It will require an o-ring on the piston to seal properly. Otherwise air will leak from the exhaust area (pilot) into the barrel.

Barrel sealing valves don't require o-rings so they are typically preferred by new builders.

This may help if you haven't seen it yet
http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/piston- ... t8157.html

[jimmy101]

You might take a look at this <a href="http://members.aol.com/sph911/spud/snip ... >sprinkler valved sniper</a> for more ideas. You can omit the breech loading mechanism to start with. It can be added later. Similarly, it can be electricaly fired to start with and then mod'd to a blowgun trigger if you want better performance.

For a small bore (up to perhaps 1" diameter) gun you can use a bike pump (or shock pump) to pump it up. It's good excercise.
Ammo is cheap for small bore barrels since spuds etc will work.

For the gun linked above it is easy to swap the barrels. A 1"er for spud like stuff, a different barrel for paintballs, or AA or C batteries ....