Topic: POTATO CANONS ARE AWESOME.

[evanphi]

[BomberMann650]

Such a thing of beauty

[ekpent]

Used to make tennis ball cannons with tin cans and lighter fluid when I was a kid and dinosaurs still roamed the earth.

[Alan F.]

Used to make tennis ball cannons with tin cans and lighter fluid when I was a kid and dinosaurs still roamed the earth.

My brother and cousin used to make those in the late 70's. I was a little too young being a 71 model and all... but they were very impressive. About ten years ago I was at a cookout at my bro's and it somehow came up in conversation, he excused himself and came out with one he'd recently made. It was made of steel cans that had contained some kind of tropical fruit juice or other, he'd spotted them and knew they were the right cans for the job. He'd mig welded them together and it was solid. He dry fired it out in the back 40 that evening and all the neighbors came outdoors to see what was the ruckus was about.
It was just like I remembered it, huge concussion and a glorious mushrooming fireball out the top!

[DaveBarbier]

That's some seriously awesome high speed footage. He's got great videos. I like his backwards bicycle one.

I still have my potato launcher that I made years ago. Fun stuff.

[333]

Hilarious when it goes off, and he giggles like a kid.

I am a guy, so explosions are cool.  But I built mine to goo off of compressed air. It has a pressure gauge, and with the same pressure and the same size/weight of the spud, it'll go the same distance every time.  And I giggle.  In the winter, I can pack snow in it  Hitting the stop sign from the driveway(50/60 yards) is way fun.  I fitted it with an electric valve from a lawn sprinkler system.  It's made for 24 volts, but does fine with 2 9 volt batteries.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Used to make tennis ball cannons with tin cans and lighter fluid when I was a kid and dinosaurs still roamed the earth.

Was that way back when staring at the sun was considered entertainment, old top? 

[Bailgang]

When I was a kid my older brothers made a tennis ball cannon out of tin cans and lighter fluid but couldn't get it to work just right so they set it upright on the garage floor and tried again with tennis ball still inside. That thing went kawoomph shooting that tennis ball straight up hitting a piece of plywood that went across the rafters and then ricocheted between the plywood and cement floor of the garage like a pro basketball player dribbling a ball fast. Scared the hell put of us.

My oldest son has type 1 diabetes and one day came up with an idea for a use for old insulin syringes, he snipped the needle off then put compressed air through it to see if the plunger of the syringe would shoot out. I came home from work to see bits and pieces of insulin syringes at the end of my driveway and some poking out of the insulation in my garage.

[ekpent]

 Sounds crazy like when a friend and I would sit around his living room with pump bb rifles and try to shoot his rogue wild mouse with broken off Q-tips. More fun than a trap   

[Terry in Australia]

Sounds like fun Eric, I used to enjoy shooting blowflys with salt or sugar packed in the barrel of my air rifle, but then last year I bought a "Bug-a-salt" rifle, which is fun for all the family in summer!

http://bugasalt.com/

[evanphi]

My old potato cannon is still sitting around my parents house, albeit the barrel was chopped off... dad had some emergency plumbing repairs to make. All I have to do is fit a new barrel and KABOOM. I always used to use propane.

Also I just love the sound of when he is ramming the projectile down the barrel. Makes me really miss blasting spuds!

In scouts one winter we participated in a biathlon... XC ski 1KM then potato cannon firing range. It was incredibly inaccurate (nobody made hits on target, haha), but it was SO much fun.

[DaveBarbier]

Sounds like fun Eric, I used to enjoy shooting blowflys with salt or sugar packed in the barrel of my air rifle, but then last year I bought a "Bug-a-salt" rifle, which is fun for all the family in summer!

http://bugasalt.com/

That thing is awesome! I'm definitely getting one, haha.

[Terry in Australia]

Sounds like fun Eric, I used to enjoy shooting blowflys with salt or sugar packed in the barrel of my air rifle, but then last year I bought a "Bug-a-salt" rifle, which is fun for all the family in summer!

http://bugasalt.com/

That thing is awesome! I'm definitely getting one, haha.

Get one Dave, you won't be disappointed! Look at youtube for "Bug A Salt Mods" and you'll see how to remove the safety, which is a pain. Cheers, Terry.

[74cb750]

Myself? I'd rather have a real cannon. 

[Terry in Australia]

I reckon that a fuel powered cannon would be more efficient than a gunpowder cannon Michel. I was watching a science program on TV many years ago, and a guy was demonstrating how gasoline was way better as a propellant than gunpowder. He had a little cannon that fired a can of beer, he first tried using a teaspoon of gunpowder, and it only propelled the can a foot or two from the barrel, so he then used a teaspoon of gasoline and it launched the can 20 or 30 feet. Good fun.  

[70CB750]

Myself? I'd rather have a real cannon. 

That!

[74cb750]

I reckon that a fuel powered cannon would be more efficient than a gunpowder cannon Michel. I was watching a science program on TV many years ago, and a guy was demonstrating how gasoline was way better as a propellant than gunpowder. He had a little cannon that fired a can of beer, he first tried using a teaspoon of gunpowder, and it only propelled the can a foot or two from the barrel, so he then used a teaspoon of gasoline and it launched the can 20 or 30 feet. Good fun.  

Fine! Damn it, I'll use jet fuel though. Just trying to compromise here.

[Terry in Australia]

Go for it Michel, I wanna see a petrol powered .44 magnum!