I made a few little improvements this week while I’m finishing the forward armor.
I redesigned the forward ramrod tube bracket. It’s as minimal as I could get it – a 3/4” piece of poplar, cut to fit between the tubes, and a hose clamp. This lightens up the front end, both visually and literally. I also reattached the cap chain with a ziptie right behind the cap, which shortens/cleans it up. A shot of green paint and everything looks fine.
I had a vision of kids (my brother’s) fighting over the trigger switch, so I put connectors at both ends of the wires to act as breakaways in case somebody yanks on it.
I added a bracket to hold the trigger switch and wires. It’s a piece of 1-1/2” PVC with a cap (actually the end of the first ramrod tube) with a slot cut down the side, and a small block to hold it away from the elevating arc. The cord wraps around the block and the trigger switch drops into the tube.
And finally, the moment of truth – the test shots. I’m on my back patio, shooting at a piece of solid core door leaning against the wall about 20’ away. These are the first and third shots, and they’re weak. I didn’t record the second shot, and I wish I had – it went POW!! and made the dent you can just make out in the upper left quadrant of the door in the latter part of the video. It dented the near side almost 1/2” and pushed out a bulge on the back! I don’t know what I did differently on that shot; I know I didn’t stop to do any narrative, which I did on #1 and 3 (edited out).
Next installment: artwork
-- "A man may conduct himself well in both adversity and good fortune, but if you want to test his character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln
29 comments so far
Woodworker123
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89 posts in 3912 days
#1 posted 08-23-2010 01:25 AM
WOAH! Very cool looking potato gun. Any idea what the velocity you get out of it is?
brunob
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2277 posts in 5228 days
#2 posted 08-23-2010 01:28 AM
Ya could stand in o0ne place and plant a whole acre of potatoes. Neat!
-- Bruce from Central New York...now, if you'll pardon me, I have some sawdust to make.
sawblade1
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754 posts in 4086 days
#3 posted 08-23-2010 01:35 AM
Awesome man Cool toy!!!! :)
-- Proverbs Ch:3 vs 5,6,7 Trust in the lord with all thine heart and lean not unto your own understanding but in all your ways aknowledge him and he shall direct your path [email protected]
Manitario
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2818 posts in 3942 days
#4 posted 08-23-2010 01:36 AM
very nice! I’m going to have to make one of these.
-- Sometimes the creative process requires foul language. -- Charles Neil
RonPeters
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713 posts in 3939 days
#5 posted 08-23-2010 01:42 AM
That is so cool! What you using for fuel? Hairspray?
-- “Once more unto the breach, dear friends...” Henry V - Act III, Scene I
lew
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13340 posts in 4814 days
#6 posted 08-23-2010 01:51 AM
SO COOL!!
I could use one of these to scare the squirrels out of the garden ;^)
-- Lew- Time traveler. Purveyor of the Universe's finest custom rolling pins.
JJohnston
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1622 posts in 4350 days
#7 posted 08-23-2010 01:55 AM
Actually, you’d just be shooting food at them, so I don’t know how well it would work. Fuel is Static Guard.
Velocity – I couldn’t even begin to guess. There’s so much inconsistency between shots, I don’t know if knowing would be of any use.
-- "A man may conduct himself well in both adversity and good fortune, but if you want to test his character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln
JAGWAH
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929 posts in 4143 days
#8 posted 08-23-2010 01:56 AM
Absolutely cool. You are a bad boy. Ok when we all team up for the potatoe wars I want to be on your side.
-- ~Just A Guy With A Hammer~
JAGWAH
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929 posts in 4143 days
#9 posted 08-23-2010 02:00 AM
So you core a potato, insert an egg, cap the potatoe and fire. Splat and ewwee! Cool
-- ~Just A Guy With A Hammer~
nailbanger2
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1041 posts in 4202 days
#10 posted 08-23-2010 02:03 AM
The only time I saw one firing, they used hair spray and the tighter the fit, the farther it went.
-- Wish I were Norm's Nephew
JJohnston
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1622 posts in 4350 days
#11 posted 08-23-2010 02:08 AM
It may depend on the shape of the potatoes, too. The ones I got are kind of flat, rather than football-shaped, so when they go down, they’re short. I’ve had better luck with nice, round bakers that end up about 1 caliber long.
-- "A man may conduct himself well in both adversity and good fortune, but if you want to test his character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln
nailbanger2
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1041 posts in 4202 days
#12 posted 08-23-2010 04:30 AM
I remember they actually had taters that were too big, stuffed them in there so the sides scraped the skin off and formed an airtight seal.
-- Wish I were Norm's Nephew
kidi
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15 posts in 4271 days
#13 posted 08-23-2010 05:06 AM
Very COOL! I’ve been waiting for this post to see the final project.
-- paul, mmsmarimbas.com
JJohnston
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1622 posts in 4350 days
#14 posted 08-23-2010 05:07 AM
That’s the way it’s done. You can see in the second picture above that the muzzle is sharpened. I fired the test shots before I took the picture, so you can also see some potato residue on it.
@kidi: it’s not done yet. The best part is yet to come.
-- "A man may conduct himself well in both adversity and good fortune, but if you want to test his character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln
Brad_Nailor
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2545 posts in 5016 days
#15 posted 08-23-2010 05:11 AM
Cool…I like your idea for the bracket…really simple but it looks great. I thought it would fire with more velocity than that..do you have it purposely dialed down due to the fact that kids will be using it?
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