High pressure golf ball barrel
- D_Hall
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I've always wanted to design a supersonic golf ball gun. But what to make the barrel out of? Honestly, I wouldn't trust PVC for the kinds of pressures that would be needed, so periodically I've looked for hydraulic tubing or whatever. I think I found it. Not hydrualic tubing but...
Schedule 160 steel pipe. 2" diameter (nominal).
ID = 1.689"
Golf balls are 1.68"
Thoughts?
Schedule 160 steel pipe. 2" diameter (nominal).
ID = 1.689"
Golf balls are 1.68"
Thoughts?
- noob of noobs
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Sounds amazing! I assume there aren't any welds?
- Lentamentalisk
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either you will need an insanely high pressure hybrid, or a shit load of helium, but either way, that would be absolutely incredible. I for one, am going to have way more helium than I will ever need, so I may just want to try that. Where did you find this? Or is it just your standard SCH 120 2" pipe?
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- D_Hall
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Sch 160, not 120.
It's at McMaster.
Bad news is that 36" is the longest stick they sell. But knowing the size, I could probably get longer from another vendor.
Right now I'm toying with the idea of....
5" x 12" chamber. (I've got some 5" ID pipe rated to 10,000 psi.)
sch 160 barrel. 6' would be magnificent.
edit: Of course, I've already got my hands full... But hey, it's fun to dream, right?
It's at McMaster.

Bad news is that 36" is the longest stick they sell. But knowing the size, I could probably get longer from another vendor.
Right now I'm toying with the idea of....
5" x 12" chamber. (I've got some 5" ID pipe rated to 10,000 psi.)
sch 160 barrel. 6' would be magnificent.
edit: Of course, I've already got my hands full... But hey, it's fun to dream, right?
sounds awesome....but man that sucker is gonna be HEAVY! Pneumatic I presume?
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ok, thought so but wasn't sure....
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- Lentamentalisk
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Its not that tough at smaller sizes at least, with helium, though as I said above, you would need a ton of helium to get it to work. A high-X hybrid definitely sounds like the way to go, probably best would be a Hydro-Oxy mix, as its only product is H2O, which has a much faster speed of sound than CO2.
Mayhaps you could try for DDT, to get faster combustion ^_^
Mayhaps you could try for DDT, to get faster combustion ^_^
Do not look back, and grieve over the past, for it is gone;
Do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come;
Live life in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering.
Do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come;
Live life in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering.
- Lentamentalisk
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Would you mind posting it or if you already have, linking it to us?
Do not look back, and grieve over the past, for it is gone;
Do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come;
Live life in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering.
Do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come;
Live life in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering.
Hi,
I can get some lovely 50 mm OD aluminium tubes. They are, like 43.6 ID. I found them at a truck body workshop, but they are available from any metals wholesaler also.
They can take any pressure that will ever come out of a spud gun.
I don't know if you have them over there in non-Metric land.
They are a little larger than the GB, but guess what: I have just wrapped a little sticky tape around my tube, and wedged it into a slip coupler on the front of the valve. When I fire blank (air) shots, it stays on. When I fire frozen eggs, it stays on. When I fire GBs, it blows off. As if it gets pulled off by the GB.
Golf balls deform under acceleration. The barrel should accommodate for that. I don't know exactly how much, though.
Regards
Soren
I can get some lovely 50 mm OD aluminium tubes. They are, like 43.6 ID. I found them at a truck body workshop, but they are available from any metals wholesaler also.
They can take any pressure that will ever come out of a spud gun.
I don't know if you have them over there in non-Metric land.
They are a little larger than the GB, but guess what: I have just wrapped a little sticky tape around my tube, and wedged it into a slip coupler on the front of the valve. When I fire blank (air) shots, it stays on. When I fire frozen eggs, it stays on. When I fire GBs, it blows off. As if it gets pulled off by the GB.
Golf balls deform under acceleration. The barrel should accommodate for that. I don't know exactly how much, though.
Regards
Soren
I shot a few supersonic golf balls today, but it wasn't out of the kind of thing that you can stand within 100 yards of without risking life and limb. Its barrel was 1.5" SCH 40 ABS inside 3" SCH 40 ABS, with a fiberglass filling between the two layers, giving it very high tensile strength and shock resistance. I got it up to 20x oxy/propane on the last shot.
But as for a proper barrel, the pipe you suggested is certainly the way to go if you have the money. What kind of pressure would you be thinking of generating here?
But as for a proper barrel, the pipe you suggested is certainly the way to go if you have the money. What kind of pressure would you be thinking of generating here?
Spudfiles' resident expert on all things that sail through the air at improbable speeds, trailing an incandescent wake of ionized air, dissociated polymers and metal oxides.
Details pleaseDYI wrote:I shot a few supersonic golf balls today, but it wasn't out of the kind of thing that you can stand within 100 yards of without risking life and limb. Its barrel was 1.5" SCH 40 ABS inside 3" SCH 40 ABS, with a fiberglass filling between the two layers, giving it very high tensile strength and shock resistance. I got it up to 20x oxy/propane on the last shot.
But as for a proper barrel, the pipe you suggested is certainly the way to go if you have the money. What kind of pressure would you be thinking of generating here?
