Building a launcher: Need Help

[BigFootWitness]

Hello, I am new to the forum.

Anyways me and my friends would like to build or possibly buy a custom launcher that will launch Rubber chickens.

These rubber chickens are about 20 inches long and in the center about 5 inches wide. They are nothing but rubber formed into an unusual shape (a chicken) they are filled with stuffing (Like whats found in a pillow or a Teddy bear) and then they have a neck that is about 5 inches long and have a plastic object inside which makes these things scream/squeak when you squeeze and then let go of them.

Here is a picture:



These are very "squishy" so i wouldn't know how you'd make a launcher so that it'd launch this.

So We want this launcher to shoot it pretty far, if possible be able to adjust it so it will launch it far but not so hard that if you hit somebody with it it wouldn't hurt them, and then another setting so it shoots so hard its ridiculously funny.

So maybe a football field length distance? i don't know...

Any ideas or suggestions or people I should contact?
please help,
Thank you!

[Alabaster]

Well first what type of cannon are you looking at and what is your budget?

[BigFootWitness]

I'm not exactly sure because im pretty new to this. I've played paintball where some people make launchers that shoot nerf footballs at paintball tanks, i've made one myself but really i don't know much.

This is the launcher i built, the barrel is 2'' in diameter:

I fill about 90psi into that, i don't really like it though because its pretty hard to turn that red thing to release the pressure/shoot.

I would like to have this be like a shoulder launcher or whatever, if possible?
My budget maybe like $200 or so for one max.

[dongfang]

Hi,

With200$ to spend, you may want to consider buying a piston valve for a pneumatic gun. There's a nice one called the Mauler - www.launchpotatoes.com. You will need to add a barrel (and determine which size of barrel the chick will squeeze into) and an air chamber. You will also need a pump or a compressor.

Combustion is also an option, and it's cheaper. You can prevent the chick from getting burnt by putting a rag or a styrofoam plug between it and the fire. You can decide on a barrel diameter and length, and then design the chamber to be the same volume as the barrel, or slightly smaller.

If your barrel is really going to be 5" diameter, I'd say build a combustion.. you will need a huge valve otherwise.

Regards
Soren

[hi]

i recommend a combustion simply because you dont need a valve. any 5'' valve will be very expencive. it would need to be a 5'' barrel that was at least 5 feet long to get any where near 100 yard with a rubber chicken (chickens by the way are NOT aerodynamic in any way shape or form).

i would say that you needed a 6'' chamber about 3 feet long.

a 6 foot barrel that is 5'' diameter with a chamber that is 4 feet should give you about what you want.

this cannon will not be cheap by the way.

[Fnord]

I think a 2" or 2.5" piston valve would work fine for a 5" barrel. It should dump the entire chamber volume very quickly, even with the flow restriction.

You can't buy piston valves in stores, by the way. You either have to build them youself, or you can buy on from BC arms or Sgort. It's a little pricey, but I believe part of the profit goes to keep spudfiles online.

If you want to know more about them, here's a good place to start: http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/piston- ... t8157.html


A combustion would also be a good option. It should only have a risk of burning the chickens if they have any type of fuzz or such on them. They might turn brown over time, but by that time you should just buy a new chicken
Oh, and it will be LOUD.


I really think your biggest problem will be finding 5" pipe for a barrel. It isn't very common around here.

[mopherman]

I would recomend decapitating the chicken and shooting the head.

[MisterSteve124]

If you want to launch that rubber chicken then don't make the barrel 5" in diameter. You want the diameter of the barrel to be close to the size of the chicken. You will probably need to make a sabot, basically a thing made of foam to hold the chicken that will come apart once you shoot it. You could easily make a pnuematic launcher for under 200 that will shoot something 300 yards but I don't know if it would shoot a rubber chicken that far. They are pretty light and they don't fly through the air well but you can try.

[BigFootWitness]

so if i use a combustion spud gun could i have it on my shoulder and shoot it using like a trigger or something or would it be too dangerous to have it on my shoulder and shoot it?

[hi]

so if i use a combustion spud gun could i have it on my shoulder and shoot it using like a trigger or something or would it be too dangerous to have it on my shoulder and shoot it?

if you build it properly then it is perfectly safe.

it would be smart to build a giant one like that out of SCH80 pvc rather than sch40.

you will find it is easyer to shoot from the waste or on the ground anyway.

edit- this is one my cousin made, it will launch a foot ball about 100 yards. it is 6'' fiberglass pipe.

http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/brobdin ... t5675.html

[Intel Xeon]

If you have used the proper solvent welding methods, then you will be fine with a shoulder mounted combustion.. If you really want adjustable power, make a pneumatic, or for a combustion devise some chamber that can come apart in sections, such as a series of male-female threaded adapters and a cap at the end.

Idiotic Forumite, Out.

Edit: Darned internet, my posting schemes foiled again!

[BigFootWitness]

so what do i need?

Where can I get it?

How will it do?

How would it be used? Over the shoulder? Pull a trigger?

What would the design look like?

Thank you!

[Intel Xeon]

Ah, a plan whore. Well, I can't blame you. You need intuition, mechanical aptitude, and your local hardware store. You can get it from the depths of your mind. It will do what your heart desires from it. It will be used how your imagination wants it to. It looks like several pounds of white destruction.

[Scotty]

He he, flying rubber chickens!
Iv'e heard of frozen chooks but never boingboing ones getting launched, sounds like a blast! Good luck and when you succeed post pics of that flying beauty

Peace
Scotty

[MrCrowley]

So We want this launcher to shoot it pretty far, if possible be able to adjust it so it will launch it far but not so hard that if you hit somebody with it it wouldn't hurt them, and then another setting so it shoots so hard its ridiculously funny

I hope you're not planning on shooting this at people. The setting thing you mention, all you need to do is adjust how much pressure you put in the gun e.g 100psi for a 'ridiculously funny' hard shot and maybe 40psi for a weak shot.[/quote]