Hi /diy/,I'm thinking of making a potato cannon, but i have no access to PVC pipe ends. If i make a wooden lid, will it work? Does wood seal gas? I don't think i can make a very tight seal either, and i want to be able to fill it up and use it a few minutes later
>>2884688It’s not about an airtight seal, it’s about an end cap that won’t blow out with the pressure when you fire. You could do wood and jam it in there like a cork but you need something to lock it in place and keep it from being blown out when you hit the trigger.Go to Ace Hardware and get a threaded endcap my man.
>>2884688> will it work?Yes if you make it strong enough. If not it may shoot right at you> Does wood seal gas?Well enough for the short time that the gas will be in thereBut generally this is a pretty bad idea. The right way with PVC would be to use a screw cap for the opening and glue the rest. People have been maimed by shards of PVC but generally the propellant (butane or propane) doesn’t make an explosion that powerful. If it’s badly sealed you’ll get a small jet flame wherever the gas can escape, so watch for burns.The cool potato canons use acetylene (from calcium carbide and water) but you don’t want to ever do that with a PVC cannon. If you’re doing carbide then it should all be welded metal tube, you weld a big nut at the rear and use a screw to close it off after you put the water (or gas). I repeat never acetylene with PVC you’ll blind yourself or worse.
>>2884690you want the threads to sheer before the pressure vessel ruptures.
>>2884694No, you’re dealing with flammable gases, you don’t want any part to shear or rupture. If anything the small hole for the ignition should act as a blowoff
>>2884688>Does wood seal gas?>>>/pol/
>>2884704The big hole the potato comes out should relieve the pressure.>>2884693I survived a childhood of potato cannons somehow. The carbide thing always seemed cool but we did hair spray with great effect. Hair spray is flammable but not like an explosive so not too dangerous. I would reinforce the hell out of the combustion chamber doing anything stronger. If I were going to build one in my 30s with a mortgage to pay, maybe I would go schedule 40 for the combustion chamber and cheaper stuff for the barrel so the barrel will blow before the combustion chamber next to your hand,
>>2884705LMAO
>>2884688this post is very antisemitic
>>2884708Anymore I'm wondering if it's more worth it to get an old scuba tank and, assuming it's still able to hold pressure and you can achieve getting it to that pressure, just make a high pressure air gun with a tank originally rated to hold that pressure made by a competent manufacturer, rather than fucking with explosions. Maybe fill it to half its rated pressure if it looks a bit sketchy or something.
>>2885301You can get bead bazooka bead seating guns for cheap off ebay. Take off bead seater barrel and thread your barrel of choice on. Instant air cannon.
>>2885315^This and if you change your own tires you want one anyway. That was best suggestion in thread.
I thought these potato gins were charged with compressed air what's this about using stuff like hairspray as a fuel?
>>2885301Don't use a scuba tank, use a CO2 cylinder instead (any size, I get mine via Fecesbook Marketplace and auctions). CO2 is easy to find and useful for much more then tuber tossing. For example when your spud cannon becomes boring you can use CO2 to feed MIG welders. Since it runs hotter than MIG mix or argon it's extra nice for small wire welders. CO2 stores as a liquid under pressure, the reason it is used instead of air by off-roaders, construction workers, welders and others. Any local gas supply/welding supply can exchange empty cylinders for full ones and many will fill your cylinder on the spot. You can also fill a bead bazooka with (regulated, not full pressure!) CO2.KNOW the working pressures of all your components. I use only high quality gas fittings (Western dominates the field) no hardware store brass, and of course I buy all that online.
>>2887337Hairspray etc turns the cannon into an internal combustion single stroke engine with no crankshaft is the best way to explain it. If you build a spud gun consider metal. Also look up "bowling ball mortars". High pressure (STEEL) inert gas cylinders are emptied then cut down to size. Your local machine shop will almost always have a horizontal band saw. or use cutting discs on an angle grinder. Look up bowling ball mortar videos. Know the rules and you can own a nice hell cannon of your own.
>>2887343> Also look up "bowling ball mortars".Firing anything with black power is really dangerous, a lot more dangerous than carbide or hair spray or pure propane. Maybe even more than firing with 2000+ psi nitrogen right from the bottle. But don’t do that either, theres a reason full canisters are transported and kept in steel cages. If whatever you connect to the valve it gives out, they will fly and spin uncontrollably until the valve hits something, breaks off and then they turn into a literal rocketCarbide is relatively safe, propane a bit safer.
