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Potato gun...

Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2004 11:56 pm
by ToolGuy
Who has made one of these? I made one and here is what it is made out of...2 feet of 2 inch dia. PVC or ABS pressure rated pipe 1 foot of 3 inch dia. PVc or ABS pressure rated pipe screw off end cap for 3 inch pipe (note: clean out plug may be used) slip to threaded 3 inch fitting 3 to 2 in reducer PVC or ABS cement (note: do NOT mix PVC pipes with ABS pipes or fitting, only use PVC cement on PVC and ABS on ABS) BBQ ignitor 2 drywall screws hair spray/WD40 or starting fluid plenty of spuds The attached pic is not me or mine but similar and these things are a blast.

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Re: Potato gun... (MiVibe-ToolGuy)

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:11 am
by ebslopp
when I was in high school, we used to make those all the time. We also made a pnumatic one. It used an air compressor to get about 120lbs/in of air into a chamber. Then with the flip of a valve switch, the spud would take off like a rocket. Air power was the way to go. Once we got sick of that, we started making C02 cartridge bombs. We'd blow up stumps and stuff with 'em. I wouldn't dare make one now though, with the patriot act, I'm sure I'd be a suspected terrorist.

Re: Potato gun... (silverawd26)

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:12 am
by ToolGuy
Yeah, only I cram doughnuts down it and fire it at the bike cops!

Re: Potato gun... (ebslopp)

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:15 am
by ToolGuy
Ahh yeah pneumatic is the way to go with anything. 120 lbs, wow! We used WD 40 to keep it protible.

Re: Potato gun... (silverawd26)

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:18 am
by ToolGuy
Quote, originally posted by silverawd26 »There are a lot of those guys near Avon Road and Rochester Road and near Dequindre.... They love that bike path.Right and then it goes into the park and to the Police station. Everytime I go into the park pavilion and look at the ceiling I laugh. Some joker wrote "Bike Cops Suck" on it! Got to love my tax dollars at work buying expensive police mountain bikes.

Re: Potato gun... (MiVibe-ToolGuy)

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:04 pm
by Stang2Vibe
Quote, originally posted by MiVibe-ToolGuy »Yeah, only I cram doughnuts down it and fire it at the bike cops! ROFLMAO!!! Our mechanics at work sometimes have some fun launching things around the shop with the compressed air. We have a large commercial compressor upstairs and several air outlets around the building. The regulator on the compressor is set at 180 psi, so you can really get some good pressure at the outlets!

Re: Potato gun... (MiVibe-ToolGuy)

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 5:44 pm
by cohocarl
Apples and pears work good also. I've had the best luck with plain old cheap hair spray. Starting fluid is difficult to get a good air/fuel ratio.

Re: Potato gun... (MiVibe-ToolGuy)

Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:45 am
by Merzbow
my friend and his dad made a gun and a moror tube for potatoes (removed)

Re: Potato gun... (Merzbow)

Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:10 am
by Raven
At our company summer BBQ we had half the employees pinned down in the garage under heavy mortar attack. We also tried to launch them straight up and get them to land in the pool. They go up almost out of sight. One stray round went over the house and exploded with a huge WUMP! on the owner's wife's truck. She flipped out and we killed ourselves laughing. Ahh! The life of the immature male.

Re: Potato gun... (cohocarl)

Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:40 am
by cohocarl
I guess a word of caution should be added.....these things can REALLY do some damage. I sure wouldn't want to get hit with mine. I remember a neighbor was out playing catch with his son a few years ago, and he is 3 lots away from ours, at the same time I was launching a few spuds off. He yelled over...."Hey...shoot it at me....I'll try catching it". He obviously wasn't aware of how much of a wallop it puts out. I didn't shoot it at him, but aimed it about a 45 degree loft over his head, and it hit the barn roof on the next lot farther away from him. He says..."wow!"I remember this story a while ago:http://www.dfw.com/mld/startel...1.htm

Re: Potato gun... (cohocarl)

Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 12:23 pm
by redlava
My roomate in college made one, and for a few weeks we would spend our evenings launching tennis balls, potatoes, golf balls, whatever would fit, at the guard shack to the Armory that bordered the dorms. Reflecting on those experiences that was kinda stupid. But fun. Just a little out of reach but close enought to want to keep trying. The guard was wondering where the hell all the garbage kept comming from.