Potato cannon

Years ago I got called by the police to open the double gates of-the park by the police, apparently armed responders can,t use a side gate, there was a call from the public that someone was blowing the ducks up on the carp lake in Leigh park.
We drove down to the lake to find 3 men and a spud launcher, cops put there guns away. After an inspection of said duck killing machine, we insisted that on health and safety grounds we had a go to make sure it was safe.
 
Tex said:
KN03.com! My partner in crime did indeed get ‘the knock’ from the ladies and gentlemen in all black asking what he’d done with the past three orders worth.
We moved from (45mm?) PVC aerosol combustion based, to 15mm copper hand pumped compressed air mechanically released, to 30mm PVC with lathed and rifled hardwood slugs and 300psi compressed air under electronic release. When we punched 4 clean holes in 18mm marine ply at 30 meters and the neighbour threatened to report us for disturbing the peace, the next obvious choice was to take our proud target to our physics teacher to show off our mastery of mechanics and ballistics. The headmaster’s subsequent phone call home put an end to (almost) all of it. Oh, and 9/11 happened and ruined that sort of teenage fun forever.
Then I became and engineer and the 07 defence spending review narrowly stole away an MOD job offer. And buddy end up working at AI. Who’d have thought 🤷‍♂ Nowadays we’d probably have been given records and all that talent squandered.

Re spud guns: I recommend having the weakest link in your design not facing any part of you. I got a hot jet of gas to the hand on a couple of times when the glue gun sealing job around the clicky lighter failed, and we had a really serious back blast incident when the back of the combustion chamber failed (it’s what ended the 45mm gen 1). If at all possible, opt for remote activation, it’s not worth the risk. If not, safety goggles and welding gloves at the least. Sorry to be boring (and a hypocrite)
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An inspirational story!

My son shows pronounced inclination towards engineering, and is very practical. So I’m keen to encourage it. Unfortunately, I am desperately impractical - described by @Edinburgh Rifles as having the mechanical sympathy of a blind guinea pig.

How did you do the rifling on the wooden slugs?
 
My neigbour has one and 'after dinner' it comes out in the garden, surprising accuracy and velocity!

It's just a section (about 4 foot) of grey plastic drain down pipe with the cap on one end. In the cap is the flint sparker thing off a cigarette lighter and a hole.

He sprays in hairspray, plugs the hole then clicks the sparker igniting the hairspray. He says the art is to whittle the tatty to the right dimensions for the bore
 
Smellydog said:
How come these devices are legal? Or are they??
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We used to make them from two bean tins and use lighter fluid for propellant. Great until someone demonstrated it in the common room and put a king Edward straight through the ceiling. Though we'd got away with it until our housemaster tripped on a newly raised floor board in his study directly above the launch site.
 
Right then folks,forget the title ,this little book is about building potato cannons,even down to building your cartridges,warning this is not I say not for the faint hearted,it does not use gas as a propellant😉😉😉😁
Cheers from friendly neighbourhood wizard
 

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starr shot said:
Have a word with Cyres he will have loads of non Maris piper for Ammo
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That thread made me revisit "Mash it up Harry" by the late great Ian Dury.

Don't call Harry a human potato, don't call Harry a spud..
Don't call Harry a walking King Edward, Harry's made of flesh and blood...
 
Mungo said:
As an Easter holiday project to do with my son, we’ve decided to have a go at making a potato cannon.

All the instructions we’ve found online seem to be American, and refer to parts or dimensions of parts that aren’t available here.

Has anyone built one and can they share instructions and/or suggestions?

Thanks!
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LOL! And next would be the "pumpkin chucker"? (Basically a potato cannon, but pumpkin sized, and usually run off propane) :lol:

Just don't stand near the combustion chamber end caps when using. They come off violently...and hurt when they impact. :cool:
 
MarinePMI said:
LOL! And next would be the "pumpkin chucker"? (Basically a potato cannon, but pumpkin sized, and usually run off propane) :lol:

Just don't stand near the combustion chamber end caps when using. They come off violently...and hurt when they impact. :cool:
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You speak like you know from experience eh there Jarhead?
 
We made one at uni in the windsurf club at Aberdeen ( legendary club).
An old broken carbon mast sawed down to 3ft became the barrel. This was fiberglassed into a large diameter plastic plumbing pipe with a screw cap on the end. Small electric sparking button was I think also glassed in the side.
Push your spud on the end of the mast so it cores out a perfectly fitting projectile.
2 sprays of lynx deodorant in the chamber.
Quickly fully screw the end cap on. Click boom. The range was quite incredible.
My friend Nugget one day was firing it from his garden over some flats into the next street. Not thinking about possible consequences. He often did things like this. Fortunately no spuds hit anyone. In his rush to fire the next spud he didn't screw the cap on fully and had the spud gun against his abdomen as he clicked the clicker. He said he was knocked down, in agony and couldn't bare to look at his stomach as he waited to die. He thought he'd fired the end cap through himself. After 10 mins he summoned the courage to lift his t shirt and saw a raised, red, perfect replica of the end cap protruding from his stomach.
There are plenty more nugget stories to be told. Hopefully that gives you a bit of inspiration for your spud gun though.
 
DRN said:
We made one at uni in the windsurf club at Aberdeen ( legendary club).
An old broken carbon mast sawed down to 3ft became the barrel. This was fiberglassed into a large diameter plastic plumbing pipe with a screw cap on the end. Small electric sparking button was I think also glassed in the side.
Push your spud on the end of the mast so it cores out a perfectly fitting projectile.
2 sprays of lynx deodorant in the chamber.
Quickly fully screw the end cap on. Click boom. The range was quite incredible.
My friend Nugget one day was firing it from his garden over some flats into the next street. Not thinking about possible consequences. He often did things like this. Fortunately no spuds hit anyone. In his rush to fire the next spud he didn't screw the cap on fully and had the spud gun against his abdomen as he clicked the clicker. He said he was knocked down, in agony and couldn't bare to look at his stomach as he waited to die. He thought he'd fired the end cap through himself. After 10 mins he summoned the courage to lift his t shirt and saw a raised, red, perfect replica of the end cap protruding from his stomach.
There are plenty more nugget stories to be told. Hopefully that gives you a bit of inspiration for your spud gun though.
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we all know a nugget and if you don't - it's you!
 
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My wife’s uncle, Lt Cmdr Rupert Jose Craven, captained a destroyer in Scapa Flow aged 18 during the Second World War. When he eventually retired from the Royal Navy he took many trinkets with him. Including a redundant circa 40mm AA canon. Using a theatrical charge and muzzle loaded potato it could reach across the valley in his small estate. No sheep were harmed but the effect was pretty dramatic. I will see if I can dig out an old photograph. He died last year aged 99, his canon firing days carried on quite far into his latter years.
 
MarinePMI said:
LOL! And next would be the "pumpkin chucker"? (Basically a potato cannon, but pumpkin sized, and usually run off propane) :lol:

Just don't stand near the combustion chamber end caps when using. They come off violently...and hurt when they impact. :cool:
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Our local
 

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I remember visiting barrel maker in Colchester, many many years ago, did the deal and then he said "come with me" he'd built
spud gun, make of plumbing bits and cooker lighter. He fire it at an old wood door, about 20yds, blew it pieces!
 
Mungo said:
As an Easter holiday project to do with my son, we’ve decided to have a go at making a potato cannon.

All the instructions we’ve found online seem to be American, and refer to parts or dimensions of parts that aren’t available here.

Has anyone built one and can they share instructions and/or suggestions?

Thanks!
Click to expand...


Did you get one built in the end?
 
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