Air Cannon Project

[Grimdoomer]

Well my friend and I want to make an air cannon that can launch projectiles such as golf balls, using CO2 tanks filled with compressed air, then mount it on the back of his golf cart. Yea, warthog in real life. Any way, I started working on the air cannon, but quickly realized that shooting projectiles with compressed air is a no go. Now the reason I said compresed air, is because we can refill the tank when it runs out with a compressor. Where as CO2, you need to bring it to the store and pay. Since we would be shooting for hours, compressed air was a good idea at the time. Well after hooking my dads compressor up to the air cannon, and making a projectile, the most I could get it to go was 15ft at 100psi. Now that was as high as I could compress the air. So after googling how to make and compress CO2, I found out that was a no go too. So I looked up High Pressure Air (hpa) commonly used in paintball guns as a CO2 substitute. Well it seems like a good idea, get a scuba tank to refill the hpa tank, and seeing that the hpa tank has about 1200-1500 psi output, it would be plently to launch projectiles. But it still costs to refill the scuba tank. Does anyone have a sollution that is a non-flamable gas, that we would be able to refill ourselves and use to launch projectiles?

[DemonicSandwich]

Separating gasses will cost you one way or another whether to buy to have the tanks filled or you buy some filtering system to filter/compress the gasses.

So compressed air is likely the only way to go, you just need a higher power air compressor.

[socrates]

I second that, buy a better air compressor.
speaking of, I need to buy one too, I don't like having to pay to fill up a CO2 can..whereas if I had my own compressor I could fill a can easily, with an adapter.

[xxpenguinxx]

So... You're making an automatic potato launcher?

[Grimdoomer]

So... You're making an automatic potato launcher?

No god damit. If I was launching potatos I would need some combustable gas to launch it out of the tube. Did you read?

Any way, It's not exactly convienent to buy a compressor that can fill up a hpa tank at 3000 psi. You know how much 3000psi is? It enough to blow a car up if the tank exploded inside. Besides you know how much CO2 I could buy with how much it would cost to buy a compressor that can do that? A fucking shit load.

I think I'm going to get an air cylinder, making it like a real gun. They don't need much to shoot anything out a tube, and the force is much larger.

[XZodia]

Have you considered a pressure washer?

[Grimdoomer]

Have you considered a pressure washer?

It's going on a golf cart, so it needs to be wireless/hoseless.

[Gary]

If you used compressed air, you would only have one shot, it would release it all at once.

[JacksonCougar]

No.

[Zieon Eslador]

If you used compressed air, you would only have one shot, it would release it all at once.

Ever played paintball?

[Grimdoomer]

Lol, any way I think I may have a solution, but it will only give me two shots. I'll presurize a PVC tube to about 50 psi, then I'll open valve and have it release into the barel.

[Gary]

If you used compressed air, you would only have one shot, it would release it all at once.

Ever played paintball?

Compressed air is for some power tools and tires(among other things), CO2 is for paintball, big difference.

[Zieon Eslador]

If you used compressed air, you would only have one shot, it would release it all at once.

Ever played paintball?

Compressed air is for some power tools and tires(among other things), CO2 is for paintball, big difference.

Not if you play with HPA.

[Grimdoomer]

If you used compressed air, you would only have one shot, it would release it all at once.

Ever played paintball?

Compressed air is for some power tools and tires(among other things), CO2 is for paintball, big difference.

Actually the only difference between compressed air (hpa) and CO2, is that CO2 expands when released. And yes people do play with hpa.

I'm gunna try making a compression chamber, the releasing it into the barrel. This would give me about 2 shots with the CO2 tank compressed to 100psi.

[NotZachary82]

Remake a gauss turret.

That shoots watermelons.

[Zieon Eslador]

Remake a gauss turret.

That shoots watermelons.

This.

[Gary]

Remake a gauss turret.

That shoots watermelons.

Hes gonna need a lot more then just some PVC then...

oh and you shouldn't use PVC, it can give you cancer http://www.besafenet.com/pvc/

[Grimdoomer]

Yea, if you burn it

[socrates]

dude..get an adapter to hook up a a local gas station/7-11 so you can fill a large tank with hpa, it would have the pressure I believe if it fills car tires... and I wasn't talking about mounting the compressor on the golf cart.. that would be huge, just have 1 or 2 large cylinders on the cart which you can refill afterward
CO2 is used mostly for paintball because its easy to get and its cheaper, and it expands
HPA tanks I believe have to have more pressure because they do not expand
HPA is considered better because CO2 tanks will explode if they reach a certain high or low temperature; you can't store them in a shed in the winter or summer
HPA tanks will also explode at certain temperatures..but....if you let the tank get to the high or low... you're throwing it into a fire or submerging it in ice..
I love going to group paint balling events where everyone gets the shitty rental gear, I don't bring my own gun..but I do bring my mask, the rentals have scratches and smudges on the visor that you can't see for shit through...mine has been cleaned well after each use and is in nearly perfect condition...besides a tiny scratch right between the eyes..long time ago I was trying to aim and pulled the trigger to have the thing kick back and smack the mask

[Grimdoomer]

dude..get an adapter to hook up a a local gas station/7-11 so you can fill a large tank with hpa, it would have the pressure I believe if it fills car tires... and I wasn't talking about mounting the compressor on the golf cart.. that would be huge, just have 1 or 2 large cylinders on the cart which you can refill afterward
CO2 is used mostly for paintball because its easy to get and its cheaper, and it expands
HPA tanks I believe have to have more pressure because they do not expand
HPA is considered better because CO2 tanks will explode if they reach a certain high or low temperature; you can't store them in a shed in the winter or summer
HPA tanks will also explode at certain temperatures..but....if you let the tank get to the high or low... you're throwing it into a fire or submerging it in ice..
I love going to group paint balling events where everyone gets the shitty rental gear, I don't bring my own gun..but I do bring my mask, the rentals have scratches and smudges on the visor that you can't see for shit through...mine has been cleaned well after each use and is in nearly perfect condition...besides a tiny scratch right between the eyes..long time ago I was trying to aim and pulled the trigger to have the thing kick back and smack the mask

Almost everything you said is wrong here.
- Gas stations have 40 or 60 psi at the max, as tires only get filled to 40 or 60 psi. HPA is 3000 psi....

- Also I wasent talking about mounting a compressor on the golfcart, where the hell would I get 120 volts from? I said compress a chamber using the presure in the tank. Second my friend lives in a remote area, the nearest store is like 5 miles away.
- CO2 only expands when it's released, and it does not explode under pressure, when the tempature drops as the tank gets cold, the presure in the tank drops. HPA will explode if used wrong and it's enough to blow up a car when it does...

[Gary]

- Also I wasn't talking about mounting a compressor on the golfcart, where the hell would I get 120 volts from? I said compress a chamber using the pressure in the tank[...]

If it's a golf cart, you can use a car air compressor, there little and they plug in to the 12Volt plug, if there is no plug, cut off the male connector and wire it directly to the battery, then have it hooked to the pressure tank, to keep it filled.

Just an idea.

[socrates]

he already proved me wrong on that point 40-60psi..not enough
not to mention they don't put out enough air fast enough I don't think..they take forever to fill a tire..
HPA is unstable? I didn't know that, I know its a favorite for a lot of the professional paintball teams etc. but I suppose at the amount you would need it'd be dangerous to have anything even slightly unstable.
Scuba tanks use oxygen don't they? which...would be very dangerous...
have you considered any other projectiles? if the pressure you're getting isn't shooting far enough, and it's too expensive or dangerous to get anything higher pressured.. why not re-think some other aspects, paint balls would work, maybe tennis balls, ping pong balls would be too light. there are solid-rubber-paint balls.. I believe they are called "re-balls" or something..

[Grimdoomer]

- Also I wasn't talking about mounting a compressor on the golfcart, where the hell would I get 120 volts from? I said compress a chamber using the pressure in the tank[...]

If it's a golf cart, you can use a car air compressor, there little and they plug in to the 12Volt plug, if there is no plug, cut off the male connector and wire it directly to the battery, then have it hooked to the pressure tank, to keep it filled.

Just an idea.

I've never seen a 12 volt compressor, are you sure your not thinking of an air pump?

@socrates: My friend has 2 dogs who would eat the paint balls, and the projectiles need to not be messy or break things. I have designed a projectile that looks like a tank shell. Fits almost snug into the barrel and works fine. Scuba tanks are also hpa, in fact they are used to fill paint ball hpa tanks.

[socrates]

You can get an air pump that can plug into a cigarette lighter in a vehicle, which I believe is a 12 volt source.

[Grimdoomer]

You can get an air pump that can plug into a cigarette lighter in a vehicle, which I believe is a 12 volt source.

An air pump is different than a air compressor. An air pump is used to blow things up like tires, or air mattresses. An air compressor compresses air in a tank to a certain pressure.