Potatoes are not only delicious vegetable. It is also a real weapon in skillful hands. Piterstory met with Ural design engineer Andrey Pavlov and figured out how to turn potatoes into "bullets" and shoot them 300 meters.

Andrey
Design engineer

We assembled a potato cannon about two weeks ago with a friend. Actually, this is the idea of ​​my friend Nikita. At first, I didn’t react too positively to it, but it turned out to be very interesting to shoot from such a gun. After a shot, for example, a powerful bang is heard, which you don’t expect from this design. At the same time, the gun has very strange ballistics - it is absolutely impossible to predict in which direction the potatoes will fly, so we did not succeed in aimed shooting at targets.

I don't know if there are any potato cannon shooting clubs in St. Petersburg, but I have come across sites of similar communities in the USA more than once. American enthusiasts will "upgrade" their guns. For example, they put on them the automatic supply of shells.

How to assemble a potato gun?

Andrey
Design engineer

Almost anyone can assemble a potato cannon - no special knowledge is needed for this business. In addition, there are enough guides on the assembly and operation of the gun on the Internet. For example, my friend and I assembled one in an hour and a half, while spending about 500 rubles on materials. To assemble the gun, you will need several plastic pipes from any plumbing store, self-tapping screws, construction tape and a piezoelectric element from any lighter.


How to launch a potato at 300 meters?

  1. A potato (or other suitable vegetable) is pushed into the barrel of a cannon with an impromptu ramrod.
  2. A little combustible material (for example, combustible aerosol or propane) is fed into the combustion chamber, the combustion chamber cover is closed.
  3. The shooter ignites a combustible mixture of aerosols and air inside the combustion chamber using a piezoelectric element from a conventional lighter.
  4. The combustion process begins inside the combustion chamber, the gas mixture expands in volume and pushes the vegetable projectile out of the gun barrel.

Andrey
Design engineer

The projectile can fly both five and three hundred meters, depending on how it is loaded. In addition, my friend and I came to the conclusion that after each salvo, the combustion chamber must be ventilated from combustion materials, otherwise they mix with the combustible mixture and the explosion does not occur. By the way, it will not work to increase the flight range or the power of the shot by increasing the concentration of aerosols in the combustion chamber - due to the lack of air, the explosion simply will not occur

Andrey
Design engineer

Naturally, we did not shoot from the cannon either at people or at animals. But we must remember that a cannon, even a potato one, still remains a cannon. For example, when shooting at a wall from five meters, the potatoes will be broken literally soft-boiled. Therefore, when handling this "weapon" it is necessary to observe safety measures.

  1. When assembling the gun, I do not recommend using adhesive tape, glue and other similar materials, since the gun can simply be torn apart during firing. We used self-tapping screws as a fastener, and we used adhesive tape only to ensure relative tightness;
  2. Before firing, it is advisable to check once again how well the moving parts are fixed, for example, the combustion chamber cover. We had a case where the lid was blown out by an explosion;
  3. It is better to shoot in a deserted area, since a shot at a wall from five meters breaks potatoes into small pieces. For example, Andrei and his friend launch potatoes in the Gulf of Finland.

Not just for fun

Oddly enough, but the system of launching vegetables into the air can be of practical use. For example, similar mechanisms are used at football matches - to launch T-shirts into the stands of the stadium. In addition, potato weapons can be used to scare away birds, which is used by some farms, and to simulate the effect of a shock wave in laboratory experiments. An analogue of a potato gun is used even in the aviation industry - with its help, testers test aircraft engines for a collision with birds. True, in this case the gun will be called chicken or duck.

How to make a potato gun or Apple Gun with your own hands. It so happened that in the year of construction, apples were more affordable than potatoes. Building a gas gun is an interesting project, but first a warning. You build the gas gun at your own risk and assume ALL responsibility for the construction, use, consequences of using this device, as well as for any damage caused. The authors used the device only to scare away crows and birds destroying crops on suburban area. Since the prices for the essential product potatoes this summer went off scale in the country, apples that fell from trees were used to test the gun, which did not change the properties of the device in any way, although it gave it the name Apple Gun. During the construction of the Apple Gun structure, the experience of building potato guns (potato guns) accumulated on the Internet was summarized. The simplest and most budgetary scheme (less than 1000 rubles) for building a gas gun with your own hands was chosen. During testing, it was found weak sides and made some improvements. Buying cannon parts will take longer than building it.

How to make your own Apple Gun

Details and tools. In the hardware store in the plumbing department we buy the following parts:

- drain pipe diameter 50mm length 1 meter;

- adapter 50 - 100 mm;

— connector 100-100 mm;

- revision 100 mm, you only need to buy an expensive revision for external use in brown, but it will be more than half the cost of parts, but the gun will be safer (details in the text);

- a plug of 100 mm, it is also better to buy brown for reliability.

Check that all rubber seals must be in place, they are included in the part kit. On the details must not be no mechanical damage or impact marks. Handle items with care after purchase.

It is also necessary to prepare a sealant, gypsum screws with a wide head at least 30 mm long, reinforced tape, a kitchen piezo lighter, two pieces of copper wire in good insulation, electrical tape.

From the tool you will need a screwdriver, and preferably a screwdriver. Drill with a drill with a diameter of 1.5 mm. Adhesive thermal gun. Wire cutters.

Revision 100 mm

Parts and tools

Apple Gun Kit

Apple Gun build order

The assembly order is slightly different from that shown in the photo and video, but experience comes in the process. But first, it’s better to practice assembling parts without sealant in order to assess your strengths and gain assembly skills.

1. Lubricate the inside of the connector 100 - 100 mm behind the rubber seal with sealant as shown in the photo. With our own hands we connect the part with the revision. We move the connector inward until it stops.

2. Lubricate the second side of the connector with sealant and insert the 100-50 mm adapter. Decide on the location of the trunk. The adapter should rest against the end of the revision - this is a must.

3. Lubricate the revision flange with sealant and insert the plug.

4. In the same way, insert the 50 mm barrel pipe into the adapter until it stops. From the expanding part of the pipe, immediately remove the rubber ring of the seal.

5. Leave the structure alone until the sealant sets.

Application of sealant

Compound

6. Be sure to connect the parts with self-tapping screws! To connect with self-tapping screws, we drill holes in the attachment points with a thin drill and screw self-tapping screws into these holes. It is necessary to tighten carefully so as not to turn the self-tapping screw in the plastic during the final twist. The installation locations of the self-tapping screws are shown in the photo. The barrel is screwed with two self-tapping screws, the connector with the adapter and revision is connected with 6 self-tapping screws. Special attention give a stub. Due to the short walls, it is necessary to fasten through a rubber seal. When fastening with four self-tapping screws, an undermining of the fastening was noticed. Stub fastened with eight screws. I recommend wrapping the extended part of the Apple Gun and attaching the barrel with reinforced tape, the cap is screwed on with adhesive tape!

The barrel is fixed with self-tapping screws

Fastening the connector

Plug fixed

The procedure for finalizing a piezo lighter

We do not bother with any electronic ignition. We will not use electronics and batteries. The device should be simple and reliable, and it is - a piezo lighter. The device works and does not misfire; the whole world uses it. You just need to have experience and a desire to bring this spark inside the volume. The cheapest kitchen lighter (37 rubles) is taken as a basis. Believe me, the piezo knot on this or gold lighter with diamonds is the same.

1. We disassemble the lighter.

2. We remove the piezo node, carefully handle the extension wire coming out of the piezo node.

3. We are preparing two extension wires, it’s good if at least one wire is high-voltage (cut off from the line transformer of a broken TV).

4. We connect the extension conductors to the piezoelectric element and isolate. There should absolutely be no twists or loops on the conductors. These are additional inductances and capacitances that will weaken the spark.

5. We assemble the piezo lighter, strip the ends of the conductors at a length of ~5 mm and place them at a distance of 5 mm from each other. We click a lighter - a juicy spark should slip. If not, then somewhere something was collected incorrectly.

Piezo lighter disassembled

Installing the ignition system on the Apple Gun

Ignition system

The main mistake in the construction of potato cannons is the supply of voltage inward through metal elements. As a rule, after several shots, such a gun falls silent for a long time due to the loss of a spark. This design devoid of this shortcoming. At a distance of 40 mm from the end of the plug, we drill two holes and insert the conductors there to a length of 40-50 mm. We fix the wires in the holes with hot glue. After the glue has set, we form a spark gap and check the spark. The suit will skip with a characteristic sound. For safety, the conductor entry point is tightened with reinforced tape in two layers.

Apple Gun Tests

The most crucial stage of checking the mini gun. As fuel, the next bottle of freshener was found on the shelf. The design is budgetary and the use of another type of fuel was not provided.

Basic Rules

Work only outdoors away from people, buildings and flammable objects. Work only in protective equipment, especially eyes. Do not point the device at people, animals or structures. Do not look into the barrel with the inspection cap screwed on. An apple released from the device may cause damage (break the glass) or injury. In the event of a misfire, immediately unscrew the lid. Always remember that the device is made of plastic and can be destroyed, the directions of the cover and plug are especially dangerous. After each shot, inspect the device for damage or misplaced parts. If there is even suspicion of damage, stop testing.

1. Checking the ignition system. The shot comes from explosive combustion in the chamber of a mixture of air and gas. It is important to keep the proportion a large number of only cotton will give gas, a large amount may destroy the cannon or not work at all. The required amount of gas is determined only empirically.

2. Install the gun on the flyer or support with the direction up. We puff a small amount of freshener into the chamber and, without twisting the lid, give a spark, a flame should escape from the neck.

3. Let's blow the gun or wait for the removal of gases. We warn the nearest environment about a loud sound. Add gas and tighten the lid tightly all the way! Checking the safe direction of the shot. Spark. Happened? If yes, check the design. If not. Open the lid and without looking inside, give a spark. If it caught fire, it means that more gas was added than necessary or the gun was not purged. If it does not catch fire, we blow out the gun. We give a spark. We check the presence of a spark and the preservation of a spark gap of 5 mm. Attention! The gray screw caps already fly off well on blank shots. On tests, the gray cover flew 15 meters, was found after 3 days, the rubber seal has not been found so far. Effective blank shot at night.

Our readers are very fond of weapons. Among them are many people who are familiar with various types weapons: designers, testers, military, as well as those for whom sports shooting, hunting or studying weapons history has become a favorite hobby. However, among the hunters to read and talk about weapons, there are also those who have never in their lives held anything worse than a water pistol in their hands. This, of course, is a mess. We decided to arm all the faithful fans of "PM" to the teeth. Every month we will tell you how to create something with our own hands from available materials that shoots far, flies high, burns well and pleases those around you with a deafening roar and festive fireworks, having previously tested each recipe on own experience. We decided to start with an artillery piece that has long become a classic in America and is rapidly gaining popularity all over the world - the potato gun.

Pressure deficit

The first and, perhaps, the most serious obstacle on the way to our own potato gun for us was the total absence in the shops and construction markets of the capital of pressure water pipes made of polyvinyl chloride, the main building material for home-made artillery. The only PVC products, which are presented in abundance everywhere, are sewer pipes and fittings of any diameters, configurations and even colors. You can’t shoot from them - these pipes and their connections are not strong enough to work under pressure. The nature of the general concern of sellers with problems of sewerage with a complete disregard for the water supply remained a mystery to us.

You can find some materials for a potato gun right in your kitchen. Don't neglect protective equipment. 1. Pressure water pipe PVC 63X1000 mm. 2. Pressure water pipe PVC 90X400 mm. 3. Fittings. 4. Piezoelectric lighter. 5. Wires. 6. M4X40 mm screws with nuts (electrodes). 7. Travel balloon with propane-butane mixture. 8. Potato. 9. Points. 10. Gloves. 11. Headphones or ear plugs. 12. Respirator. 13. Paint. 14. Purge pump. 15. Carriage of arbitrary design.

In our area, water pipes are often laid from metal-plastic or polypropylene pipes. In terms of their properties, they are not inferior to PVC, the only difference is that polypropylene pipes and fittings cannot be glued together; an expensive welding machine with a whole arsenal of special nozzles is required to connect them. Do not succumb to the persuasion of sellers who assure that polypropylene can be welded with a lighter. We have seen from our own experience that, even with a powerful gas burner, it is impossible to connect such pipes reliably and evenly, therefore they are not suitable for building a cannon. For the sake of the experiment, we made a carriage out of polypropylene pipes.

A week-long search led us to a specialized store, where we were able to purchase two three-meter lengths of pressure PVC pipes, designed for pressures up to 10 atmospheres, as well as all the necessary fittings. Let's make a reservation right away that the construction of a potato gun requires creative flexibility: the lack of the necessary materials on sale can dictate serious structural deviations from the original project. In particular, based on the available parts, we equipped our gun with a removable barrel, and made the breech part non-separable. This design has an advantage over the traditional one, with a screw plug at the rear of a non-collapsible gun: the gun can be loaded from the breech, rather than pushing the projectile through the entire barrel. On the other hand, screwing a heavy barrel into place is more difficult than a small plug. To ensure that gas does not erode from the breech during assembly, you need to act very quickly.


Finally, in obedience to the will of circumstances, our gun turned into a howitzer. Guided by the availability of strictly defined fittings on sale, we purchased pipes with a diameter of 63 and 90 mm (internal diameters of 55 and 80 mm, respectively). At the same time, the barrel length turned out to be equal to 18 calibers, which allows us to classify our gun as a howitzer.

Working with fire

Together with the pipes, we purchased a special adhesive for PVC, as well as a solvent necessary for degreasing the surfaces to be glued. To say that these liquids smell bad is to say nothing. When working with toxic drugs, in no case should you neglect a respirator, goggles and gloves: PVC glue causes irritation of the mucous membrane of the eyes and respiratory tract, and direct contact can damage the skin. It is better to glue in a well-ventilated area. The rest of the assembly of the potato gun is very simple. Sawing off the necessary sections of pipes, one must try to make the cutting angle as close as possible to a straight line - then the joints inside the gun will turn out to be even, which contributes to uniform combustion of the mixture.

The ignition system of our gun was based on an ordinary kitchen piezoelectric lighter. This is the most affordable, but also the most capricious type of ignition. As its analogues, mechanical lighters from kerosene lamps are used, which we have not found on sale, and stun guns, which in themselves are weapons that are dangerous to use. The piezo lighter gives a very weak spark, which is not always enough even to ignite the gas mixture. The reliability of the gun depends entirely on the location and condition of the ignition electrodes.


The second critical factor in tool performance is fuel. First of all, we tried the hairspray recommended in one of the recipes. The heads of the screws screwed into the plug of the breech of the gun acted as electrodes. The tests were carried out in a barbaric way - by vertically setting the breech in the middle of the editorial office and trying to set fire to the gas injected there. The first portion of varnish flew into the air in the form of a large fireball, making a long howling sound. The audience was impressed, and the second time the cannon fired an encore. But the third time did not happen: after the combustion of the propane-butane base, the unburned part of the strong fixation hairspray covered the inner surface of the combustion chamber and the electrodes with a thick layer. The ignition stopped working, the varnish showed its complete failure as a fuel.

Tests of the deodorant also did not give the desired result. Finally, in a sports shop, we came across the perfect fuel - a pure propane-butane mixture in canisters for a camping burner. Such fuel burns completely without contaminating the electrodes. We managed to achieve truly stable operation of the gun only by sharpening the electrodes for better sparking and moving them to the center of the combustion chamber. For a weak piezoelectric lighter, sharpening the electrodes and fine-tuning the optimal distance between them is not only desirable, but a vital procedure.


Goodbye potatoes!

Finally, the day came for the first field trials of the potato howitzer. We set up a firing position in a wasteland, about a hundred meters from the metal fence, to which we hoped to throw a potato. We dismantled the gun, tightly installed potatoes into the barrel, cut off with a special caliber - a piece of pipe identical to the barrel with sharpened edges (by the way, if you make the gun non-separable, you can sharpen the barrel itself), generously injected gas into the breech, wrapped the barrel, optimistically plugged your ears and pressed on the lighter button. “Zilch,” the cannon whispered plaintively and languidly moved the projectile half a meter along the barrel.

pink camouflage

artillery gun is a complex engineering structure designed to decide the fate of people. Of course, it should not look like an extra detail from the sewer. Decorating a cannon, giving it a look that inspires fear and awe, is an obligatory stage of construction, similar in emotional intensity to painting a hot rod. Remembering the spring holiday, we dedicate our creation to beautiful ladies. Meet "Barbie from Hell", the most formidable weapon of emancipation in the spring/summer 2008 season! Lacquered pink cannon on a golden carriage will make you stunning both figuratively and literally!

It was all about mixture. The combustion of gas requires oxygen, which is contained in the air. Only combustible mixture with optimal ratio gas and air may ignite. The situation got worse cold weather(in the yard it was -50C), at which gases mix worse. Our personal experience showed that for a good shot, a second press on the canister button is enough. After each volley, the combustion chamber of the gun must be purged to remove combustion products and refill the chamber with air. For purging, we specially took with us a pump with a long hose.

In the printed edition, it is impossible to quote the comments with which we saw off the potatoes flying across the sky far beyond the fence into the unknown. According to our estimates, the projectile flew at least 200-250 m. Judging by the lack of response comments, nothing vital happened behind the fence, and we did not deny ourselves the pleasure of firing a few more volleys. Therefore, we consider the above scheme to be fully functional and boldly recommend it to readers! We ourselves sit down to design an advanced gun with metered fuel injection, multi-point ignition, forced ventilation of the combustion chamber, a quick reload system and a silencer to talk about it in one of the future issues of the magazine.


Potato gun, in English. - Potato cannon or Potato gun - the most favorite entertainment of those who love both tinkering and hooligans, and at the same time want to stay within the law. Probably, harsh Russian cops will react badly to such a hobby, but, having successfully originated in America, the potato gun has also successfully spread throughout the world, only a few countries have imposed a ban.

For such a gun you will need: PVC pipes that are used in plumbing. Namely - a cover, a coupling, an adapter, a pipe with a diameter of 50 and a tee with a diameter of 110. You also need to have at hand: a hacksaw, a knife, liquid nails, adhesive tape.

Begin slowly gather, this unit. On the 110 tee from the end side, we put the roof on, before that we smeared it with glue. WITH opposite side, also on glue, we put the coupling. Having fixed the coupling, let the glue dry a little and insert the adapter from 110 to 50 pipe into it. A cover will be screwed on from the side, it does not need to be glued by inertia.

Next, we will make a barrel for a potato gun. We take 2 meters of a plastic tube with a diameter of 50 and cut it in half. Cut the other half lengthwise with a knife. Then we put the cut pipe on the whole one. Thus, we strengthened the thin pipe of our trunk. Next, we reinforce this trunk with tape. After you have wound 2-3 layers of adhesive tape, we glue the muzzle into the combustion chamber (the part that we made first) and go through the tape again.

After all the plastic parts are assembled, we proceed to the filling. After drilling the holes, we screw the screw into the combustion chamber. A spark will jump between it and the wire. As a spark source, a cheap piezo lighter for gas stoves was chosen. Two wires come from the piezoelectric element, one is fastened to the screw, the second at a distance of 5 mm from it. We fasten the lighter itself to the body of the gun with adhesive tape, leaving the spark button free.

The principle of operation and the first tests of the potato gun

We take potatoes a little larger than the diameter of the trunk and press them into it with effort. Next, you need to push something further. For this purpose, you can make a ramrod from ski pole. We push the potatoes to the end of the barrel, but not into the combustion chamber itself. To do this, you can make a notch on the ramrod so that you can see where to push the projectile.

Then we take an aerosol can with acetone, unscrew the cap, spray it a little into the combustion chamber and close it back. We press the button of the piezo lighter, the explosion of the projectile is pushed out by the burning vapors of acetone.