SpudFiles

When I joined almost 6 years ago, a PVC piston barrel sealer cannon was pretty 'advanced' for the forum. Now, they're posted at almost the same rate as sprinkler valve cannons. Don't forget about the shear amount of information now available; I wish I had the same resources when I started. I remember I was only the second or so member to pass 1000 posts and when I hit ~5000, JSR had taken over but there were probably only a handful of members with 1000+ posts and now we have 76 members who've reached that milestone.

I think it was about 2008 when a bunch of people started making small burst disk hybrids from galvanised iron fittings that used volumetric metering without water. At around the same time DYI was doing 20x mixes which was unheard of until Larda came along a short time later and went a whole magnitude higher. Fnord posted a piston valved hybrid around the same time (08-09?), followed by Ramses, some other member who made a bolt action piston valved hybrid and then SB15 and me. JSR must have picked up on hybrids in about 09-10 (IIRC) and quickly started experimenting with cartridge designs and ~30x mixes. And of recent, Petitlu quickly constructed a ~40x mix hybrid after messing around with his 200 bar (IIRC) pneumatic.

Considering most people do this as a hobby and even more people are students with little cash, we've come quite far with hybrids in the last four years. It takes time for members to quell DDT fears, become comfortable with using malleable iron fittings, and the high pressures in general, while also pushing things forward. We're at a stage where a step forward is custom machined designs or expensive high pressure components that not everyone can afford. The other option is to make current designs more efficient, which again means spending a lot of money on things like digital gauges or directional valves.

Sorry for the hybrid-biased rant but that's what I'm most familiar with as the last time I spent a decent amount of money on a pneumatic was probably mid-2009.

fine maybe this post was a little miss guided but as the largest online spudding community with 10,000+ members (i realize most aren't active) I figured that some of the lower to mid level spudders would try and take the reins a little and bring some new ideas or new takes on old ideas to the table because quite frankly I've seen a lot of BV's and spray'n'prays (mine included

Mr C, yeah your a little bias but who isn't
I would love to move into hybrids once i get it all sorted out and my materials scavenged from the scrap metal bins at my college (working on my level C and then on to metal fab and possibly my level B )

Vera is freaking amazing and will hold a special place in my heart DHall and all the regulars do a hell of a job but some of the less experienced members (like me (hence my cane gun which will hopefully be posted tomorrow)) need to step up to the plate a little

spudding is a hobby, not a job and there's only so many hours in a day but again it would be nice to see that build time be spent on something a little better than somebody's 4th or 5th primer soaked Ball Valve gun that shoots nerfs 20 feet.

Anyways I didn't mean to "irk" anybody or send the wrong message, Just wanted to encourage less traditional designs and more epoxy and innovation from our end (our being low to mid level spudders)

Thanks.

edit* just for the hell of it here's some pictures of me in my pajamas with my air cane

kydavies wrote:Anyways I didn't mean to "irk" anybody or send the wrong message, Just wanted to encourage less traditional designs and more epoxy and innovation from our end (our being low to mid level spudders)

I think the point is that if you want to inspite more development, lead by example! It works better than whining about it

MrC makes a good point about progress on the knife edge, but it's worth pointing out people like wyz and pneumaticcannons who are young yet extremely innovative, churning out some brilliant projects in spite of their limited resources, and also presenting how-tos that allow anyone similarly inclined to follow in their footsteps.

Jsr I may be slightly ahead of myself but I do have a few interesting piston related projects at various stages. Also I kinda considered wyz as a higher level because of the really good work I've seen. Guess il stop being the prick I've made myself to be And catch up of all the stuff I missed.

I must say I LOVE THIS HOBBY.
So now all my money are used in to it, didn´t play anymore video games for about 1 year because I need these time for research and making.
I remember how I started 3 years ago (I was 15), a group of kids of my school built some blowguns with 1/2 pvc, me and my friends thought it looked fun and I spent 1 euro on 3m of 1/2 pvc and made my self a 6 round revolver style magazined blowgun and used it to play with my friends. But blowguns are weak, I took a look through youtube and found HOMEMADE AIRGUNS!! I had to save a little to buy a ball valve, because my mom didn´t like the idea at all...bla bla bla... Then a youtube member showed me spudfiles, the greatest site ever and I´m spending about 100 euro a month on parts, as you get more and more advanced, you will need better, less common parts, but at least my parents are ok with it now .
This site does not lack ideas at all, every time I come here I can find interesting things, not all of them are revolutionary designs, maybe just a informative text, you just have to search. It´s true that I don´t find that much now, but that´s because it´s time for me to think for my own design, do my own calculations. To be honest, the only innovative design I have is my semi blowgun, witch apparently has been thought before, just not on a blowgun (hammer valve+QEV from BTB and slide-valve from hotwires)
My point is, if your building technic is enough, there are enough designs for you to follow, as MrC said, new designs now are mostly made by custom made parts, for most people that means too much money and lack of technic.

I must say, I haven't noticed many of these "primer soaked ball valve pneumatics" or even spray'n'prays recently. Our collective build style appears to be "maturing". When was the last time anyone posted a serious large-bore plastic launcher?

I'm quite happy with the way the forum is going at the moment. There's a lot of good work being done, on almost every front I can think of. In that vein, LnL posted something on the previous page which I feel I must take issue with:

but this is a fairly limited hobby, and it does have limits to what it can achieve before turning to conventional propellent (magic powder, HE, etc.)

Much as I dislike "internet speech"; FFS man, where have you been the past few years? Limited?!? With Utron building CLGGs firing semi-auto at 4km/s running on oxy/hydrogen/helium you're claiming that there's more potential in conventional propellants?

Sure, if what you're trying to make is shaped charges or Voitenko guns. If you want to fire an INTACT projectile, gas guns are where it's at. Higher speed potential, less finicky fuels which are also MUCH more available, and I suspect less barrel erosion as well as the elimination of cartridges. Where is this "limited" you speak of? What you are doing is "fairly limited".