Potato Canon

[mikel]

Good Propellant

I've got one of these that I made years ago, it's at my parents house about 2 hours away now, so I may just need to build another



Earlier someone mentioned using WD-40 as a propellant. WD-40 works fairly well, but the best thing that I have found has been ether. Yes, starting fluid! I mean it's sole purpose in life is to burn, so we're not even using it in an "unapproved" manner



A couple of my buddies were trying to get their gun to fire correctly and were telling me that the ether didn't work as well as hairspray. Knowing better than this I asked them to demonstrate. They would open the ignition chamber on their gun and spray 3-4 seconds of ether in and then fire the gun. Most of the time the potato would not come out of the gun very impressively. They were putting WAY WAY too much ether in the gun and it was basically starved for oxygen (running too rich). Upon a little experimentation we determined that a small spray of ether (1/2 to 3/4 second) was just about perfect. Once we got the amount perfected we were able to shoot a hole in a piece of 3/4 particle board from about 20-30 feet.



That being said, ether is probably the most powerful of the chemicals discussed here with the possible exception of accetelyne, so please be careful if you decide to try it in your gun. If your gun fails it will seriously injure or maybe even kill someone. I am not responsible for your actions, your mileage may vary, I am my own warranty station, etc.





Have fun,

Mike

 

[Sasquash]

My spud gun uses the coleman igniter centered in a piece of 4" schedule 40 about 9" long. On the end I glued a screw on sewer clean out that allows for easy "loading" on ammo. The best thing I have found is the wife's finger nail enamel dryer spray. The first 5 or 6 things are all flamable Yes it can be dangerous, a couple of New Years eves ago a guy didn't screw the cap on enough and touched off a full load that sent the cap right into his jewels He hasn't had the b*lls to touch the spud gun since!

Dan

 

[WOWZY]

We call 'em Tata Guns around these parts. Have had lots of laughs with these. It's a cheap form of amusement also.



Tennis balls are a blast to launch also because of their flourescent color.

 

[JSchooley]

I love this site



When I was a kid we launched tin cans with carbide, sometimes splitting the can in two.



Built a firecracker in S. Dakota that put a piece of 1" thick wood flush with the road pavement. Thought we would break some windows.



My nephew used to make acetylene bombs out of balloons. Got fired a couple of times for that.



Never thought of launching a squirrel. LMAO.

 

[Bad340fish]

10" of 3" Schedule 40 PVC, a few feet of 1. 5"(easier to find spuds for the smaller barrel) a 3" to 1. 5" reducer. And a 3" cleanout fitting with a ignitor mounted in it.



Nitrous works on them also. Simply use enough hairspray to make it a dud on a normal Raw shot. But add a puff of nitrous and BAM



It was raining one day, we broke out the spud gun and the beer. Someone jokingly said "Bottle It" we looked at each other and made a mad dash to get the trunk lid off of my buddy's nova lol.



One failed attempt was a Propane Powered Spud Gun. We used a valve stem in the cap of the gun and a tire chuck on a cooker tank. It worked good but not good enought to justifty the trouble of making it.



Spuds are the best amo, my friends and I have shot evertything from Frogs to Kiwi with spud guns(this is what happens in OK when it rains) and have a gun we call the Salad Shooter just becuase its pretty much shot anything that you can get from the produce aisle.



Tip from the Pros... USE THE CHEAPEST HAIRSPRAY YOU CAN FIND they have the most fuel in them. Happy Spudding



I need to go find those guns lol

Clark

 

[catoiler]

That aint nothin!

Talk abou doin stupid stuff ,when were kids one of my buddies got the hair brained idea to pour about 3/4 gal. of gas down the manhole cover at the end of our street poured a trail about 6 feet out of the cover lit the thing and ran like hell!! That thing went about 30 feet in the air and landed in the asphalt. put a 3" deep divot in the asphalt The cops were all over that place in about 5 minutes. We ran around to another guys house on the next block and waited for about an hour before going back. The next day we found out it blew open about 5 crappers in neighbors houses mike

 

[The patriot]

Does anyone have a link to build one of these?

Now I got to have one.

Eric

 

[Woodenhead]

Built an apple cannon out of 1. 5" PVc with a 1. 5-3" reducer a 3" coupling and cleanout, used a coleman sparker for ignition. Used to go up the road with a buddy and pick 2 bushels of apples get a box of beer and sit in the back yard by the swamp light a fire and sit for the night blastin apples. Fired a few apples into the odd flock of gease (mmmm) but never seemed to ground any. Man those were good times. For a real projectile try a golf ball. They don't fit until you grind off about 1/8" off the diamter on the grinder (watch your fingers). Make it a tight fit and give it lots of lube (WD-40). Flew a hell of a lot further than any apple or potatoe ever did. Even blasted through his old mans shed (damn kids). Seems alot of people have some good times tied to the apple cannon, spud gun ...

 

[Doc Tinker]

Now that golf balls have been brought up, I suppose I should pass along a story that I found on another site

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/1489/stories.html#1



-------------------------------------------------------------

"Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 Hi, my name is Craig Alberts. I would like to pass on a story of my stupidity to any of you before you do something like this... . I first saw a potato gun about 5 years ago. (built by a guy from Idaho!) Being a little curious, I proceeded to build my own gun. My design was similar to all the rest, but being an avid golfer, I knew what I wanted to shoot. Golf balls! I was able to find a pvc tube that fit to within . 015" of the diameter of a standard ball. Barrel length was left at my standard 48" and I was using aerosol underarm deoderant for fuel. (you just have to make sure that you blow down the barrel after every shot to clear the chamber of burnt gasses) With this design I was able to shoot the ball 400 yards (and I did take it to a couple of courses to amaze my golf buddies) This distance didn't impress me enough so I started playing with barrel length. I finally settled on a 7 foot barrel and was now able to get about 800 yards out of the gun. I was able to shoot a ball straight through a 2x4 from about 15 feet. I used this gun for about 6 months and impressed a few cop buddies of mine who said that although spud guns were not illegal... . that this weapon might be! On the Fourth of July in 1995 I was using this gun with a couple of friends in an out of the way place near the Grand Coulee Dam here in Washington. When one of my friends smashed his beer can and threw it on the ground and headed back to the truck for another brew, I said we should shoot his can back at him for punishment for littering. (I had shot cans off of the end of this gun before and amazingly the ball only goes through one end of the can and the can goes flying about 200 yards with the ball in it) I picked up the can and straightened it out, but I couldn't get the can to stay on the end of the barrel since the angle was going to be about 30 degrees. (I will note that I had not drank a single beer all weekend at this point since I was training for mountain bike racing) So I came up with the wacky idea that I would hold the can by the edges over the end of the barrel with my thumb and pointer finger easily clearing the barrel diameter and just let the ball take it out of my grip (just writing this is making me sick to my stomach) My friend who was going to be the one who pulled the trigger asked if I was sure this would be OK? I assured him that I had done this before and it would be fine (I had never held on to the can before) So after aiming the gun in the other friends direction, I yelled "Hey you litterbug, here's your stinkin can back!" The trigger was then pulled and there was a loud explosion and my entire arm was numb, my pointer finger was gone from the middle knuckle out, my thumb was blown to bits (it looked like a cigarette after being exploded by a cigarette load) and both myself and my buddy were completely covered with my blood! Needless to say I was quite shocked at what had just happened! My first instinct was to wrap my other hand around my now stubby pointer finger to stop my new found blood fountain! I then felt like I was having the worst dream I have ever had and actually closed my eyes and tried to wake up without this situation being real! It was not to be... . I then yelled to my friend who was at his truck "were going to the hospital!" At this point I still had no feeling in my hand. The truck was driven over to me at a fast rate and we started our drive to find a hospital! The towns that we were near all have a max of about 5000 residents, so a large, well staffed hospital was out of the question. We stopped at a gas station and received directions to the only hospital for 50 miles. At the hospital (this is a Hospital?) we were received with questions on how did this happen? Try explaining to a doctor how you modified a potato gun to shoot golf balls and ended up doing this and ruining your weekend, his weekend, and a good part of your life! I was in deep shock at this point and was still trying to rationalize what I had done to myself. The doctor and nurses were doing their best to keep me alive since I had lost so much blood and was in a very deep shock and my blood pressure dropping rapidly. After what seemed like hours, my wife and my brother arrived and this helped pull me back to reality. The doctor said that my finger was blown into too many parts to be put back together,(they found only fragments) but my thumb was able to be mushed into a shape that resembles a thumb and stitched back together minus alot of the bone. We were camping out for this three day weekend, but my brainiac imitation ruined eveyones weekend as my brother was forced to drive my van and trailer back home because I needed to get back home and my wife was too shook up to drive. After about 4 months of constant doctors appointments, I was able to remove all the bandages and splints and start learning to live without being able to do things most of us take for granted. I am a Manufacturing Engineer by trade and this involves alot of typing and nose picking! This incident is now looked back on as one of the stupidest things a person could ever do. I do not own the gun anymore, nor do I ever want to have one again in the future. I do still have friends who bring out their spud guns to our get-togethers, but I still get a terrible feeling anytime I get around one. In closing I would like to say that just being careful with these guns is not enough (since I was always careful) you must be prepared to face the music if something unusual happens when you are trying to do something "different" (such as using new objects to shoot) with one of these toys! I still have to explain to my new son how daddy's hand got hurt!"

-----------------------------------------------------



Just something sobering for you guys to think about, while your having fun. m Please be carefull!



Doc

 

[Bad340fish]

Pressure Test

I put the Ultimate pressure test on one before. I tried to shoot a prescription bottle from it. It was a loose fit so I sealed the gap with some masking take. Oiled the barrel and punched it down(TIGHT FIT). Fueled her up. . hit the trigger. . nothing... click click click still nothing. Then I noticed it was getting warm! The threads on the cleanout started whistling. After that I was pretty sure that they will not explode on you. Took me forever to get the cap back off again.



I have used air tool oil on the taters before at it helps the distance. Also gives you a big smoky blue cloud lol.



One new years Eve when i was about 17 we were shooting one at my parents house. BOOM awsome shot was in the air a long time... then all we could hear was it coming through the trees... . THUMP and a car alarm going off. We went inside to say the least. Went to look for the car we hit later. Could not find any with damage so I gues all was well.

Clark

 

[WOWZY]

If you're gonna use Ether, try adding a little compressed air to the mix.



On a really cold day, I knocked one of my 18. 4x16. 1 tires off the rim on my 2½ ton Blazer and took it to the shop to blow it back on the rim. After several attempts with Ether, we still couldn't get the tire to blow up. Then I had the thought of adding some compressed air to the mix by wedging the long tire inflator on the valve stem and in the rim. We sprayed the inside of the tire with Ether and sprayed a long trail. We lit it and the compressed air caused the tire not only to inflate, but launch 4ft. in the air with a very low pitched BOOM!! It shook the whole shop and even set off my brothers car alarm from 50 ft. away.



Be careful as I'll let one of you guys try this with a Tata Gun

 

[Doubleclutch]

Hummmm

Doc- You're scaring me! And all this time I thought our group of merry diesel men were fine moral upstanding citizens... Aside from that, we had better luck using a tennis ball- Mom didn't inventory used tennis balls. We tried a new ball once and it came back with all the "hair" burned off. Since we had fabricated a shoulder mounted launch tube of taped together cans, the resulting feed-back was a little greater with the improved seal.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I called mine the SPUD SCUD. I will tell you about one of my experiences with it. I was happily blasting all of my moms potatoes all over the yard into tree's etc. I thought I better use a little more fuel, was using Lysol. So in goes a monster dump of the stuff, and click, click,click, click, click. Nothing. About 10 more clicks later still nothing. So I unscrewed the back and click, click, click,click, click, click. Still nothing. So, you guessed it, I had to look and see if the BBQ ignightor was working. Peering down the combustion chamber, I was trying to see if there was spark. Click click,click, click, click, WOOOOOOOOOF! Yup the BBQ ignightor was working! Took off my eyelashes, eyebrows, nosehair, and curled up the first inch or two of my head hair! So yes these things can be dangerous, and don't do something stupid like I did! Get your buddy or Significant other to look for you!!!! LOL At a distance. The real stupid part of this I did it again about a year later, but did not loose as much hair.



OK, one more story..... My buddies and I were haveing a few beers, you can tell this one is going to be dumb also..... LOL



Anyways my cousin thinks he can catch one with his baseball glove. So he goes about 75 yards away and prepares to "catch" one. The potatoe is about 1. 5 inches in diameter. When he was ready, I fired right for the center of his chest. He never even tried to catch the potatoe! Took every bit of reflex he had to get out of the way! Needless to say, nobody else was wanting to try after seeing that. Also blasted a spud into an outhouse while occupied, but that is another story in itself!

 

[C Schomer]

Mine is 12" of 3"PVC and 36" of 1. 5", reducing coupler, 3"FIP adaptor, plug and lantern lighter. Aquanet will d@mn near shoot the spud out of sight. It's great at night, the pipe lights up orange and there's about a foot of muzzle flash! Craig

 

[Briar Hopper]

this one's for all the electricians

This is nowhere near as hilarious as the rest... but here goes... an all-time jobsite favorite on major construction projects, was to take a one-foot length of 1/2" EMT thinwall conduit, and insert a red wirenut (preferably a Buchanan "B-Cap" ) with the open end of the cap facing towards you, and blow into the tube. The stupid things had amazing ballistics, and really HURT when they hit you ! This one jobsite, one day, we were lucky to get any work done, we were all shooting each other, even the foreman, and the HVAC guys were in on it too. When it was all done, we had to pick up wirenuts from all over the building. The funniest part was where I came around a corner, saw my buddy ready to shoot me, ducked back, ran around, sneaked up and goosed him, and he almost swallowed the wirenut, LOL !

No loud BOOMS from this kind of toy, but the startled yelps are just as much fun...

 

[Bad340fish]

Another BOOM adder is this. Set a tater in at the BOTTOM of the barrel where its almost in the power chamber. Mark your pusher stick for that depth. Then move the tater to the end. . fill er up with fuel then push it down to the mark on the stick. Now you have some compresion going on. IT works to!



Tried making a mini sput shooter one time. No fun at all. It had a tater tot sized barrel. Didn't make any noise and probably wouldn't even wake someone up if you shot them with it lol.

Clark

 

[HiPerf360]

Add a little nitrous to the equation and have some real fun...

 

[DieselDoghouse]

Ditto on the WD-40, but don't substitute Duralube - great lube, bad rocket fuel!!. Years ago had a schedule - 40 gun with a charging adapter for rapid reloading and firing...

 

[Mr. Brewski]

Quite a few years ago, I was working swing shift, and we were having a potluck dinner at work. Someone had brought a bunch of 2 liter bottles of soda... They were all being cooled in a tub of dry ice. Thats when I got an idea... . put a little water and dry ice in a 2 liter bottle, cap it and walk away. It takes a few minutes for the pressure to build, but when it does... . KABOOM! scared the crap out of everyone!

 

[Lurch]

Used to work around alot of welders. After lunch we'd fill our sandwich bags with acetylene and drop em behind a welder. Just a matter of time till a spark hit it. No compression so no damage, scare alot of people though.



Lurch