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Posted: 1/2/2007 7:20:10 PM EDT
[#1]
Look around on the internet and copy what you find. All have a chamber that is larger than the barrel. Propane huh? Lemme know how that works out. I've heard of PVC shrapnel wounds from people using propane. Anyway, it costs like 20 bucks to buy the parts from Lowes.
What you need: -12-18" section of 3.5-4" PVC SCHEDULE 40 or SCHEDULE 80. Don't use cellular-core PVC 'cause it's not pressure rated. Ouchies. -3'+ section of 1.5" PVC sch40/80 ..... 2" is kinda big and will sacrifice pressure. good luck finding big enough potatoes! -For the breech, you need a threaded shoulder and matching threaded end cap. -For the transition from 3.5/4"-1.5", you need some reducing sections, use as few as possible to get the job done -2 couplers to attach breech and transition sections -BBQ ignitor -2 screws + wiring to form spark gap through chamber walls -PVC welding compound and primer DON'T FORGET THAT PRIMER Have NOTES: Right Guard burns cleaner than hair spray. Let the PVC welds cure for 24 hours. Don't point that sucker at your face if it doesn't ignite. Sometimes the fuel will burn really slowly for a few seconds and then WHAMMO you've got... well, a headache would be a gross understatement hmentburntlatke.com for an idea. Remember that you still need to introduce new air each time you fire, which kinda nullifies the speedy propane idea. http://www.burntlatke.com/jpg600/lp-overall.jpg The ultimate in spud weaponry. I don't approve of propane in a PVC setup, but what the hell, it's sooooo badass. |
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Posted: 1/2/2007 7:22:33 PM EDT
[#2]
Mine runs on compressed air. The design is very simple. The green thingie is a sprinkler control valve.
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Posted: 1/2/2007 7:24:57 PM EDT
[#3]
We really need video....
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Posted: 1/2/2007 7:29:23 PM EDT
[#4]
we just used hairspray and a bbq ignitor. it was a barrel-larger chamber for the hairspray- and then a cap that screwed in.......you loaded the spud into the barrel sprayed some hairspray into the chamber and then screwed the cap on and clicked the ignitor....it launched them things way out there
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Posted: 1/2/2007 7:29:31 PM EDT
[#5]
I prefer using ABS sewer pipe. 1.5" fo rbbl, and 3" for chamber. It's already tactical black to boot. Screw on cap on end, bevel the muzzle so the spuds cut to size when loaded. Cut a dowel or broomstick to the length of the bbl minus 6".
We use BBQ igniter buttons since they are more trigger-like than the spinny lantern sparkers. Propellant: hair spray (get the cheap aqua-net minus the extras hold, unscented so the enemy won't detect you). Propane also works... The one we made looks like a Browning machinegun. |
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Posted: 1/2/2007 7:45:29 PM EDT
[#6]
+1 on the air operated potato cannon. A lot safer to operate and it fires everytime.
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Posted: 1/2/2007 7:54:54 PM EDT
[#7]
Never had one myself, but I can tell you I was damn near on the receiving end of one once. Shooter had to be 60/70 yards away, shooting at a bullseye painted on a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood, laid out in the warehouse we were working in. I stepped into the line of fire and out just in time to see the spud put a hole clean through 3/4 inches of plywood. Was going to punch the fuckers lights out but it turned out to be the boss shooting the thing!
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Posted: 1/2/2007 7:58:12 PM EDT
[#8]
I've found this to be true. For some reason, better that other deodorant sprays too, generally. 
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Posted: 1/2/2007 8:11:56 PM EDT
[#9]
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Posted: 1/2/2007 8:15:20 PM EDT
[#10]
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Posted: 1/2/2007 8:30:54 PM EDT
[#11]
I've heard it reported tho that Right Guard has changed their formula somehow to make it less flammable, i don't know if it's true or not, just what i heard. |
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Posted: 1/2/2007 8:35:10 PM EDT
[#13]
Be careful.
I know a guy who got rolled up by the sheriff for a spud gun. Not sure of the exact charge, but it was a few years ago. Something along the lines of 'destructive device'. It was a headache for him for sure. He eventually beat the rap, but it was a PITA. Happened in Utah County, UT. |
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Posted: 1/2/2007 8:40:59 PM EDT
[#14]
The ATF says the spud gun is not a destructive device. You can fire it anywhere that doesn't have a local law against it. The noise it makes is probably the only thing they can get you on, as long as you're careful where you aim. For me, that is anything within 500 yards at +/- 10 degrees
www.spudtech.com/content.asp?id=13 |
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Posted: 1/3/2007 12:02:53 AM EDT
[#15]
WD-40 used to work good too, but they changed something and it just ain't the same... |
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Posted: 1/3/2007 12:28:11 AM EDT
[#16]
Ether starting fluid is where it is at.
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Posted: 1/3/2007 12:34:22 AM EDT
[#17]
I have a 1-acre field behind my back fence, belonging to the church above us. They don't care.
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Posted: 1/3/2007 2:22:31 AM EDT
[#18]
Take an old pair of jeans and use the legs to cover the combustion chamber area in case it goes Glock.
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Posted: 1/3/2007 2:31:38 AM EDT
[#19]
I made one years ago that runs on compressed air. I've launched everything from cheese to lead. This particular one shoots C batteries as well.
It even has a safety. An earlier prototype cracked through a piece of 1/2" plywood with a frozen grape.  
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Posted: 1/3/2007 9:49:41 AM EDT
[#20]
+1 I used the ABS with good results too. Mine was 7 1/2' with a 5' barrel and 2 1/2' chamber. The barrel was 2" and the chamber was 4". This beast lobbed a potato very hard and far. Don't shoot these in the city limits if your city says anything that fires an object and has a propellent is a firearm. I would still have it but thanks to the PPD it's gone. |
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Posted: 1/3/2007 10:06:47 AM EDT
[#21]
I once had one that fired from acetylene gas. It blew up after about 100 shots. It was named Cerberus. It would put racquet balls into LEO.
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Posted: 1/3/2007 10:11:03 AM EDT
[#22]
Potato cannons are teh coolest.
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Posted: 1/3/2007 10:17:55 AM EDT
[#23]
In college a buddy of mine had a 6 foot piece of cold rolled steel pipe, capped at one end. It was a perfect match for a tennis ball with the hair burnt off. He would spray 2 seconds of starter, ram the ball down to the right depth using a calibrated ramrod, and then apply a jolt to the spark plug welded into the capped end. It would put a tennis ball into the next county  . No matter how hard we tried to get it to shoot straight up, we never found a single tennis ball.
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Posted: 1/3/2007 10:24:00 AM EDT
[#24]
How far down the pipe would you shove the ball? i.e. what was your chamber length? |
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Posted: 1/3/2007 10:28:53 AM EDT
[#25]
I made a mapp gas + oxygen launcher with a 1" diameter steel barrel a few years ago (key lime gun). I fired it empty once and it knocked down a potted bush that was about 10 feet away. That shot scared me enough and I haven't fired it since.
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Posted: 1/3/2007 10:33:30 AM EDT
[#26]
Around 8 inches. We had to fire it quickly or the pressure would bleed off. |
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Posted: 1/3/2007 10:35:19 AM EDT
[#27]
Wow I never had a problem with using acetylene (we used calcium carbide + water)...were you using oxy-acetylene?(i.e. added more oxygen than the what was in the atmosphere) Worst I ever did was crack the end cap which was an easy replacement. I can confirm that lubed up racquet balls work much better than potatoes though! |
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Posted: 1/3/2007 10:39:02 AM EDT
[#28]
My old buddy Staratari and I made one a couple years ago. It worked amazingly well. The Leica range finder registered 235 yards on our first shot. We did a little better once Staratari figured out what kind of proportions/lbs. of air to propane we needed.
  
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Posted: 1/3/2007 10:54:50 AM EDT
[#29]
Well, gotta be honest, the build quality would've made Century Arms proud. We were using a calcium carbide/water mix to make the acetylene. The barrel unscrewed from the chamber, potato loaded into the back of the barrel, dump a capfull of CaC2 into the chamber, screw barrel in, light piece of cannon fuse sticking out of side of chamber, run away. It was fun. 
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Posted: 1/3/2007 11:13:02 AM EDT
[#30]
I think next time we'll have to make an air induction system. Taking off the breech plug every times sucks.
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Posted: 1/4/2007 11:52:50 AM EDT
[#31]
For now I've built one of these minus the stun gun igniter for now.
 There are some ideas I've gotten for putting a computer fan in the thing to help vent it when you take off the barrel to load it, so I might try that. |
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Posted: 1/4/2007 12:36:07 PM EDT
[#32]
CRAP! You would have to name the county I LIVE in. out of all the counties you could have said. I want to build one but don't need the damn cops giving me crap. Anyone else in utah built one of these and ran into trouble with the law? |
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