Pneumatic Failures- Post yours here!

[cyanite]

This post is for all those people who have spent a S**tload of money, made a pneumatic, only to have something stupid (like a piston) fail or leak.

If you have general solutions to common problems, other people's problems, or would like to post your launcher's failure, feel free to do so. Try to post photos, or a diagram so that others can help out without having to ask too many questions.

Not playing admin here, but no posting questions about things such as;

Fittings leaking (Teflon tape was invented to solve this)
Off topic eg: paint jobs/ combustions/ social lives.
Plans for launchers

Well anyway, hope this thread helps people solve their problems

Enjoy- Cyanite

[chaos]

My first Pneumatic, broke my hand and gave me 7 stitches before it was even finished.

if that counts

[mega_swordman]

Just so I know, is this a topic for saying your problem so others can fix it, or is it like storytime where we look back on our problems? I dunno, I guess it just wasn't clear enough for me to comprehend.

In that case, probably the only problem I ran into was glueing ABS to PVC. In retrospect, it was a really dumb thing to do, but how was I supposed to know(rhetorical, please don't answer that.)

[cyanite]

Ok, I'll clear that up.... this is really for troubleshooting, but a few stories on failures would liven this up a bit. So dead clear, ANYTHING THAT HAS GONE WRONG WITH YOUR LAUNCHER, OR ANY INJURIES/ DAMAGES THAT OCCURRED, POST IT HERE, even if you fixed it... tell us about it so others can learn.

[Hotwired]

Theres already a failure log around here.

http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/launche ... t7483.html

[cyanite]

Well, to get things started, After building my first pneumatic (over/under, ball valve, like a 20:1 chamber barrel ratio) out of PVC, I was so damn excited to use it, I only left the glue to dry for 20 minutes. It felt hard on the outside, so I supposed it was ready. I attached the pump and got the thing to about 60 PSI before BANG! The barrel and ball valve had shot off at the top bend, leaving a very nice dent in the garage door, and an (at the time of course) amateur spudder very shocked.
From then on... 24 hours before usage

hotwired: I realise that post was there... tucked away at the back of the forums... this a new one, for stories as well as failures.

[goathunter]

When I was 12 I built my first combustion. I shot it for a while then left it outside for a couple of months.Well, when I did decide to use it next the camber cracked as I shot it.
Moral of story:don't leave your junk out in the elements.
Now days my spud guns have a permanent place in my room.

[Hotwired]

Was it physically damaged or do you think it could have been UV damage?

[goathunter]

I'm guessing UV since I live on the coast.But I was stupid for even leaving it outside that long.I should of stored it in my dad's shop.Mom wouldn't let me bring it inside(it was 7'5" tall) Oh well learning experience.And I built it for a science project so it got me a halfway decent grade.Nothing like shooting water balloons at your worst teachers window,All because your science teacher said to do it.

[spanerman]

i had a compression joint fail badly at 120psi the chamber flew off the gun giving me the mother of all dead legs...

[cerberus]

I had a piston fail after just a few shots. It used to be made from a 25mm end cap surrounded with a 32mm internal sleeve and a bit of neoprene on the front. The pressure from the 150psi pushing it against a 15mm barrel was enough to break it. I replaced it with a piston made from a bolt a few nuts and washers and some neoprene. That fixed it.

[MrCrowley]

Fire Extinguisher has launched of the end of my paintball gun at 100psi into my garage.

[spudthug]

while in the testing stage of my newest gun (not psoted here yet, i have two that i finished this week i shall be psoting them soon.) i was testing different pistons.. a few crappy ones cracked and then i got down to my good teflon one..well i superglued the neoprene on, let it set, put it in ,got it all ready to fire, filled it up, at 80 psi all i hear is BOOM!@!@! and my hand was in front of my barrel adapter. i thought my hand got shot! (nothing was in it thoguh) so i looked at my hand and there is a piece of neoprene stuck to it.. ouch.. it hurt liek a mother effer and im never using super glue to hold things for a high pressure cannon together again...

[MrCrowley]

Why didn't you bolt it?

[Brian the brain]

Big ass PVC T valve cannon blew up on me because of ice ammo.
At 100+ psi it nearly cut off two fingers and bruised my leg badly.All healed up now.


Never had a metal cannon fail on me...