All you engineers....

Ooh ohoh seal the tube at one end, point it straight up, put diet coke in it, glue some mentos to the tennis ball, drop it down the pipe and RUN! :D lol
 
There are vastly more powerful cannons around too.

Not necessarily larger either. There's a smallish one with the power of a .50 BMG rifle which was machined from steel, has incredibly thick chamber walls and can punch through 1/4" steel plate.

It's a hybrid cannon and the pressure of the air/fuel mix before ignition is about 2000psi.
 
Hotwired said:
Ideally you want propane or butane or similar however they don't come in aerosol form.
Click to expand...
You can get butane aerosols from a popular high street electronics store (they are sold as refills for their gas powered soldering irons)
 
touch said:
You can get butane aerosols from a popular high street electronics store (they are sold as refills for their gas powered soldering irons)
Click to expand...
True, I have one on my desk but they don't fit standard aerosol spray caps which means actually using them like that is a bit iffy.

It will spray if you use a cap from another spray can but it will also spray back onto you.
 
If you are going to all the effort and expense of the above surely turning a small collet isn't out of the question. You could probably make it with a battery drill and one of the ones that comes in the cap?
 
Jonny69 said:
Far too many recommendations in my direction for me to feel comfortable about this :D

The furthest I've got a tennis ball is 450 metres. 8 cans, bottom one needs to have a moulded bottom like this one or it splits and you burn your leg:

[img ]http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/cannon/cannon2.jpg[/img]

Bottom can has a small hole about this size but no smaller:

[IMG ]http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/cannon/cannon3.jpg[/IMG]

Leave one end on every other can, cut half round and fold it over like so:

[IMG ]http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/cannon/cannon4.jpg[/IMG]

Gaffer tape them together in a spiral so they look like this:

[IMG ]http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/cannon/cannon5.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG ]http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/cannon/cannon6.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG ]http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/cannon/cannon7.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG ]http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/cannon/cannon8.jpg[/IMG]

Then gaffer about 3-4ft of black plastic drainpipe into the end for your barrel. You'll have to tape round a few times to make it a snug fit, then gaff it to the top can to make it airtight.

Use Zippo fuel, just a short 1-second squirt in the hole and a short squirt in the top making sure it goes all the way down. Wave it at arms length 25-30 times to make sure it all evaporates, drop the tennis ball in and light the hole with a Zippo lighter, holding it hard into your hip. It will scare the **** out of you and don't be tempted to use a Clipper lighter :)
Click to expand...

Tried this yesterday but didn't have as much success.. max range was around 30m. The noise they make is great!!

30289179.jpg


Lack of distance was probably due to using Tesco value hairspray, no drainpipe barrel and poorly fitting potatos..
 
Yep, you need the drain pipe for the barrel and that stick you've got it taped to won't hold :D

Tennis balls are a great fit in drain pipe (hint :D)
 
I built a potato bazooka a few weeks ago, I think I need to extend the combustion chamber though, even a small squirt of hairspray seems to saturate the chamber and I can't get it to light.
 
Jonny69 said:
Far too many recommendations in my direction for me to feel comfortable about this :D

The furthest I've got a tennis ball is 450 metres. 8 cans, bottom one needs to have a moulded bottom like this one or it splits and you burn your leg:



Bottom can has a small hole about this size but no smaller:



Leave one end on every other can, cut half round and fold it over like so:



Gaffer tape them together in a spiral so they look like this:









Then gaffer about 3-4ft of black plastic drainpipe into the end for your barrel. You'll have to tape round a few times to make it a snug fit, then gaff it to the top can to make it airtight.

Use Zippo fuel, just a short 1-second squirt in the hole and a short squirt in the top making sure it goes all the way down. Wave it at arms length 25-30 times to make sure it all evaporates, drop the tennis ball in and light the hole with a Zippo lighter, holding it hard into your hip. It will scare the **** out of you and don't be tempted to use a Clipper lighter :)
Click to expand...

I've got sometime at work so fancy having a pop at this,

so i'm guessing you only cut and bend every other can ?

8 - Cut And Bend
7
6 - Cut And Bend
5
4 - Cut And Bend
3
2 - Cut And Bend
1 - Small Hole For Fuel ?

Then by zippo fuel you mean the liqiud stuff yeah ? some in the bottom and some down the top, wave around abit, then light the hole at the bottom and kaboom ? lol
 
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