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Building my first 'cannon'

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:50 pm
by Oxy
Hey guys.

So I've done a little research for a project I'm doing in school, and to be different I decided to make a pneumatic cannon. Now I've already made the simple valve + barrel + 'air tank' with a valve and a hand pump to prove the concept. However now I would like to make it a bit more sophisticated...Having done some research here I've decided to use a paintball tank for the air supply, however that is about as far as I have gotten. So I was wondering if you guys could help me out a bit, I think I want to fire a 1-2inch diameter projectile (if that's possible.) And I don't really mind about it being semi-automatic. Barrel loading will work just fine.

So what do you guys suggest I do? I've looked in to QEV's a bit, but they seem like they would be to small to do this?

Any help is much appreciated, thanks :)

-Oxy

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:26 pm
by Just1ofgod
Im new on the site so ill stick to what i know well someone else can help you out with the QEV.
The only problem i see with the paintball tank is the flow rate on most pinvalve type tanks isn't that great so unless your planning on high pressure might want to try and get one of the older style on off valve tanks.
This is just my opinion on the tank as for the barrel if you go buy 1\2 sch40 the bore will be anywhere from .599 to .614 alot bigger than true half inch.
Im a big fan of blowgun barrels most blowguns in 50cal start at .503 and get progressively tighter down to .498 so if your wanting to use off the shelf ammo this will work very well for you as long as you don't mind running a smooth bore. this is what i have used on a number of projects.

http://www.blowgun.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=99

If you shop around you can find these for pretty cheap best of luck.

Re: Building my first 'cannon'

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 9:35 pm
by jsefcik
Oxy wrote:Hey guys.

So I've done a little research for a project I'm doing in school, and to be different I decided to make a pneumatic cannon. Now I've already made the simple valve + barrel + 'air tank' with a valve and a hand pump to prove the concept. However now I would like to make it a bit more sophisticated...Having done some research here I've decided to use a paintball tank for the air supply, however that is about as far as I have gotten. So I was wondering if you guys could help me out a bit, I think I want to fire a 1-2inch diameter projectile (if that's possible.) And I don't really mind about it being semi-automatic. Barrel loading will work just fine.

So what do you guys suggest I do? I've looked in to QEV's a bit, but they seem like they would be to small to do this
Any help is much appreciated, thanks :)

-Oxy

I saw your interested in shooting a 1-2 inch diamter object id say go with a dust collector valve a good piston valve can put a golf ball very very far!!!!! Thought this might help :)

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 3:10 am
by jackssmirkingrevenge
QEV + slide valve + paintball tank will give you awesome power and semi auto.

Have a look:

http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/semi-au ... 23626.html

http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/how-to- ... 24038.html

Note that most paintball tanks feed 850 psi or so, not healthy for these cheap-o eBay components, so consider getting a ninja tank which can be regged down to a safer 450 psi.

Your choice then is whether to feed it from a magazine for true semi auto, or go bolt-action.

Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 10:03 am
by Oxy
Thanks guys, I'll take a look at those threads :)