smokestream888: how does your potato cannon work? Could you give any make-it-yourself-in-home instructions?
1st off. Potato cannons are only legal in USA and a few other country's , therefor anyone who builds one anywhere in which it is is illegal to have one, you will be breaking the law and can go to jail for a long time. i can not be held responsible for any injury/death, vandalism or any such illegal acts that may come of someone constructing this cannon. this is purely for educational purposes and anyone who builds a cannon of an sort is doing it at their own risk.
ok?
good
these are the plans for the black cannon you saw above. this cannon is probably the easiest way to build one and is a great starting point for a spudder.
also all the measurements are in metric so if you use imperial in your country just find the equivalent sized parts, or close to it, just as long as they all fit. You can pick a different sized barrel and reducer, i just use 65mm cause it fits a tennis ball perfectly.
all this can be purchased at your local hardware store.
so first drill a hole in one of the end caps big enough to fit the end of the bbq lighter in it.
Then glue together your 'T' section, your reducer and barrel. apply a layer of PVC pipe glue on both areas that will be bonding (not very thick, just enough to cover all the surface that will be bonded).
Once the glue has been apllied, let it go just a little bit 'tacky', this only takes a few seconds, about 30 or less depending on the brand of glue. then slide the parts together and hold them firmly for a minute or so.
Do the same with the other parts.
Let the glue set overnight to be safe (speaking from experience
)
now screw on the end cap with no hole onto the end of the T section, and the other end cap (the one with the hole) onto the top of the T section.
there you have it, your first cannon
The T section acts as your combustion chamber and loading section.
Now, to fire this baby, get a tennis ball or something that fits in the barrel, if its smaller that the barrel, use some scrunched up news paper for wodding. DO NOT try to shoot any thing that is to big for the barrel, tennos are a little bit bigger, but they can be compressed, a glass bottle cant (also from experience
)
open up the top cap and load in your ball, place it into the reducer and just push it a little into the barrel, just enough so it wont fall back into the chamber.
For fuel, i use Aerostart, a diesel engine starter fluid. 24% Ether and is very flammable and powerful.
But hairspray does the job.
now with the top cap open, spray about 2 seconds of hairspray into the chamber then screw the cap on quickly. Put the lighter into the hole in the cap, aim, pull the trigger then BOOOOM!!! and watch as the tenno gets to warp factor 9
fire the cannon in like a mortar position for best results.
have fun
Edit: oh and for a good source for spudding go to
http://www.spudfiles.com/
