dual chambered air cannon

dual chambered air cannon

ted
aka Maverick
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By idioticgenius

4 ratings

- Video 1 - - Video 2 -

This cannon in its configuration allows for inter-changeable barrels and chambers with a manually actuated sprinkler valve.

I started this project when a friend of mine put a Shrader valve on a large rectangular assembly of glued PVC, or what he called an air cannon. He used a ball valve and a one inch SCH 40 barrel. We would pressurize the cannon to 100ish psi, and launch anything we could find including rocks, dirt, water balloons, mops, 7/8" oak dowels, and c cell batteries. This prompted me to build a bigger, better, bad-asser cannon.

Specs ::

-3x18" SCH 40 or 2x36" SCH 40 chambers
-barrels interchangable from 1/2 to 3"
-1/4" NPT quick disconnect to compressor
-1/8" NPT tapped Schrader valve
-over-under design for user balance and storage

SINGLE vs. DOUBLE CHAMBERS::

With an air compressor, charging a dual chambered cannon is nothing taking a second or two longer than a single and about 5ish seconds total to charge. With the 3x18" tanks on the dually, I am pushing the sprinkler valves abilities for max volume, although the reward is somewhat interesting. I have found with a single valve, dual tank design, the air seems to create a vortex or a double sided stream, which will carry any ammo out of the barrel almost as if it made a perfect seal.
If you have a choice between single and double and you have an air compressor or large filling device, don\'t hesitate and get a double; however we are assuming you are pegging the other dorms with water balloons. What if you go paintballing with a friend and need something light and small to fill with CO2? Then a single chambered cannon is best. If you have 120 VAC and a compressor, the power output is wonderful and amusing.

.............the video was taken in 2005 for tests; it shows a wooden dowel being fired at 20 psi, from a single chamber design with a 1"x2 foot barrel. The dowel went 153 yards on that shot, using a small 12volt compressor

By KillerGmech	2006-06-24 12:53:49
hi, is there any any instructions how to make a chambered cannon please i reall love this project

By idioticgenius	2006-06-26 00:23:20
There are plenty of instructions on how to make an air powered spud gun. Google for "spudgun" and a load of results will appear assisting you in building a spud gun.

By dutchguy	2006-06-25 04:24:38
Hi, Can you tell us more about the valve you were using? I'm planning to make a air cannon, but i get stuck on the valve...

By bavetta	2006-06-28 09:18:14
looks like a typical 1" solenoid sprinkler valve to me

By flinchy

2006-07-03 20:03:55

hmm.. just a comment, but you might want to increase the air flow on that cannon. i myself am building my second air cannon for a physics project that is going to use 4 pneumatically activated sprinkler valves. also, this is a tip, but what i like doing is drilling a 3/8 hole in the top of the valve and then inserting a pipe nipple connected to an air blow gun. this makes it so that when you pull the trigger the pressure push the diapgrahm up, which will let out the pressure. You can also hook up tubes to multiple valves to the airgun.

-flinchy

By flinchy	2006-07-03 20:05:56
also a question, i've seen that metal part next to your air valve on many cannons.. is it a manual pressure release valve? or is it just ornamental :P?

By idioticgenius

2006-07-05 16:21:42

More trigger volume capacity is wonderful, if you are using an output porting diameter larger than the input diameter. If you were to start with a one inch input volume diameter and use a two inch barrel with one inch adapter, the in and output of your air will eventually be constricted to one inch. This is the same if you were to use four sprinkler valves; although you have four valves, they would all channel to a one inch output assuming you are using one inch valves. The term used for this is porting, or the diameter of your input or output tubes. The way to get around this problem is to use a larger porting on your output, or barrel in this case, than is used between the storage chamber and valve.

What you described in your second subject of your first comment is, yes, a pneumatically actuated sprinkler valve. This increases actuation time allowing more air to travel quicker through the valve into the barrel or output source. Although again when you start hooking up more tubes to a single source, your airgun, the volume capacity is only so much that would still have a benefit for using pneumatic actuation.

The item to the left of the Schrader valve on my single chambered cannon, is called a quick release valve. It is used widely between compressors and auxillary tools such as brad nailers or pneumatic air brushes. I use a 1/4" NPT threaded quick release connection on all of my cannons, in addition to the Schrader valve seen. If you do your homework, you'll see the 1/4" NPT quick release connection does not literally have an inner bore of 1/4". 1/4" NPT is used as a nominal, common known sizing for thread sizing. When you drill your 3/8" hole and thread in a 1/4" NPT barb for your airgun, it would be much easier to tap the hole using a pipe tap found at Sears, Home Depot, Lowes, Harbor Freight mabye, or an auto shop.

The double and single chambered cannons shown to your left are my eight and ninth cannons respctively. The tenth is a pump-action cannon using bouncy balls as ammo, similiar to the bolt action found on spudtech.com. None of the cannnons I build leak, blow up, spontainiousely combust, or otherwise.

Make a project and put up your two cannons. I am sure others are eager to see more action around here.

By Punkrocker02703	2006-07-10 14:32:52
what your email and how much do they go for?

By idioticgenius

2006-07-11 02:55:25

You can email me by clicking on the "Send Message" below "ted" at the upper left hand of this page.

The white double chambered cannon shown in the first picture with a 1, 1.5, or 2 inch barrel from 1 to 58 inches, non moded valve, quick disconnect, Schrader valve, pressure guage, and spud cutter would go for $150 shipped to any of the lower 48 states.

Send me a message with your power and entertainment requirements, and I'll respond with the specs and price for your cannon.

-ted

By Nicklsm	2006-09-27 17:14:07
Any suggestions on how to RIFLE a pvc barrel? I'm coming up short on ideas....

By idioticgenius

2006-10-07 12:17:30

Well, havn't been here in a while, and missed Nicklsm's question. If you have a metal working lathe or at least access to one, you may be able to make a custom tap for the inside of a pvc pipe.

If you don't or don't want to bother trying, you can check out spudtech.com and buy rifled barrels at Joel's site.

I havn't had the need for rifling, as picking the most straight pieces of PVC or Copper pipe you can find, will help your accuracy and overall efficiency of the cannon. I recently found an inexpensive way to go from a 1/2" pvc male fitting to a piece of 1/2" copper pipe. I'll post pictures and mabye a video when I have it operational.