Pneumatic Golfball Cannon- Shoots 450+ yards!

V.A.L

Youtube Channel:
www.youtube.com/PerformanceCannons

EDIT: 23/05/2010 - I've updated two photos of the cannon. I've removed the stock because it was unnecessary and I only put it on there to help with my school assignment. Removing it wont effect performance and sheds weight.

Youtube Channel:
www.youtube.com/PerformanceCannons

Versatile Antenna Launcher is a cannon I made for a school assignment. I was required to build a cannon that could shoot a pocket nerf with a fishing line attached over a tree. Since it was going to cost me a fair amount of cash I decided to make it over-kill with a 2" piston valve.

Spudfiles topic:
http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/viewtopic,p,186844.html#186844

I also made a golfball barrel for it as well. This cannon will launch a golfball over 450 yards at only 115psi. At 60psi it will launch a nerf over 120m. This is a very powerful cannon and must be treated with respect as if it was a real firearm.

In this How-To I will teach you how to build one of your own cannons and how everything works so you understand what you are doing. It doesn't have to be exactly the same as mine, you can change it up a bit. Just be creative.

Specs:

Chamber: About 5' of 2" pressure rated PVC pipe and fittings.
Barrel: 3' long 2" barrel or a 5' long golfball barrel (1.5" SDR 21 PVC)
Main Valve: 2" Piston valve, 1.5" seat (what the piston seals against)
Pilot Valve (What triggers the cannon): 1" modded sprinkler valve
Fill Valve (where you fill the cannon up with air): 1/4" brass Quick-Connect
Pressure Gauge: 0-300PSI
Operating Pressure: 20-120PSI
Weight: 14 pounds
Velocity: Golfball - 200ms (650fps)
Distance: Golfball - 420m+ (450+ yards)

Disclaimer:
I do not take any responsibility for your actions if you choose to follow this How-To. This is meant only for a learning purpose so you can understand how these work and what it takes to build one. If any thing goes wrong it is your own fault and I cannot be held liable. By reading this How-To you accept to my terms and conditions of this disclaimer. Treat this as a real firearm, it has more then enough power to kill, never point this cannon at a living person or animal even if it isn't loaded or pressurized. Do not destroy public or private property. Never take this cannon off your own property and only fire it when you know what you are shooting at, you have a good backstop and know that there are no people around. Keep it safe.

The cannon can also be seen here at SpudFiles:
http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/v-a-l-piston-valved-antenna-golfball-nerf-launcher-video-t14702.html

Step 1: Getting Started

A few things you should know before starting out...

PVC:

Always used pressure rated PVC. Never used DWV, which is unpressure rated PVC and can explode at such pressures. DWV may be cheaper or easier to find but it is not worth it. I live in New Zealand and pay 1300% more then you Americans do for pressure rated PVC, so just buy the proper stuff.

I made an article on how to identify pressure rated PVC here:
http://www.spudfiles.com/spud_wiki/index.php?title=Identifying_Pressure_Rated_PVC

I'm sure most of you are familiar with 'Sch 40' PVC. The 'Sch' rating is not a pressure rating. It is a thickness rating.
In NZ we use a different system but i'll convert it over for you.

You want to make this cannon with at least Sch 40 NSF-PW pressure rated PVC. Do not take this cannon over 120psi, it can take more but you don't want to push it. If you live in Australia or New Zealand you want to use at least PN12 rated PVC pipe and fittings.

Metric/Imperial
Since I built this cannon with metric fittings, it may differ slightly in America, but it shouldn't be too much off. The only big difference is that in NZ and Australia, 40mm pressure rated PVC fits golfballs. In America you will have to find 1.5" SDR 21 PVC. It may be a bit flimsy so you can sleeve it with 2" Sch 80 PVC. Or you can just buy it online from www.bcarms.com

I will convert all the units to imperial as well as metric. To help everyone out.

Cost and Time
If you live in America this shouldn't cost more then $70-100USD. If you live elsewhere it could cost up to $300 NZD. This cannon took about a weekend to build for me, it will probably take you more. Be preapred to commit to this project.

Comments

[tictaclad]

ok i am extremely confused...why is it that your pumping air into the valve and the piston area? shouldnt you be pumping air into the chamber? and why is one of the openings to the sprinkler valve not attached to anything? sorry for all the questions im just confused

[MrCrowley]

1) You need air behind the piston to force the piston against the barrel. Once that happens, air moves around the piston and fills the chamber.
2) Because it vents the air from the pilot out in to the atmosphere

[tictaclad]

ohh ok i get it...but why would i do this if i could just make a cannon that goes
chamber-ball valve-barrel
and just release the ball valve to fire?

[markomo531161]

yes but a piston valve is significantly faster at opening than a ball valve getting a very noticeable in force and distance

[The Expert Noob]

This is a crude, first draft I came up with that might work. Im going to do further designs in 3D to see how it looks with correct specs for actual use in a potato gun.

[PotatoCoffee]

Gosh, that's LETHAL!

[benduy]

u a kiwi? same here

[MrCrowley]

Yeah mate.

You made any cannons or such? Where abouts do you live? I'm in Auckland myself.

[benduy]

yea i made a potatoe cannon and ended up with no eybrows, yea im from dunedin, i found a guy from chch too. i made a mini cap gun and modded out with a peizo clicker and redbull shot! BOOM NO EYElashes, dont put lighter fuel in a cannon then look down teh barrel!!!!!!

[tictaclad]

i did the exact same thing (no eyebrows) like 2 years ago and people still talk about it!! good times lol

[benduy]

It sucks ahe! Mine got kinda glued together, mum threw the gun out cos she suqs it was a weapon cabable of harm, my little finger!

[tictaclad]

haha nice yes that too my eyelashes melted together so opening my eyes was sticky...my mom didnt find out until like a year later lol

[benduy]

now dats a hole puncher!

[Fragite]

I'm American, and I can't seem to find any of the 1.5" SDR 21 PVC on any website or store. The site you linked is broken and my antivirus software blocks a trojan whenever I go to that URL. Can you help?
much thanks,
-Frag

[Fragite]

Nevermind, SpudTech.com has it.

Great tutorial, BTW

[cafesua]

hi, would someone make me a golf ball cannon? i would like to have one to get rid of wild critters around my house. how much would it cost me. thank you

[Mattrox]

Just wondering where you got your pressure gauge from?

[Pizzapie500]

I'm going to post a vid on how to do this b/c it seems a lot of people have issues. (Actually I already made it, I just didn't post it.) Also Sprinkler Valves are only meant to go to 90 PSI. Well, at least, mine says that on the box. Lastly, do you have any problems with threaded parts? I wrapped mine in 4 layers of teflon tape and it still leaks. I heard that you should use gas teflon tape, but i'm using the regular ones that come in a blue thing.

[MrCrowley]

Mine says 125PSI but it doesn't matter anyway, they're probably good to 200PSI. Blowguns are only rated for 90PSI but can be good to 700PSI.

I only have problems with brass threaded fittings, just wrap them in more layers and insure the threads are clean. The gas teflon is just normal stuff but thicker pretty much.

[Pizzapie500]

Oh whoops. You're right! I meant that my blowguns are only rated at 90 PSI. Also should I get gas teflon tape? It's sort of expensive considering that regular teflon is 30 cents and gas teflon is $3.50

[Pizzapie500]

You can buy a pipe cleaner liquid instead of using mthylated spirits

[eshimek]

Using this design, would I be able to consistently shoot a golfball around 30 m/s? I need to design one, but don't require much power, just consistency around 30 m/s. Do you have any suggestions?

[MrCrowley]

Only 30m/s? May as well just use a 1" sprinkler valve (the pilot valve from this cannon).

Would make things more consistant than a averagely constructed piston valve.
Easier to build, cheap, easier to maintain. Go with a 1" sprinkler valve in my opinion.

[Pizzapie500]

WOAH! Maybe you should make a list for Americans and a list for other people (aka metric and not metric).

[MrCrowley]

Problem with that is 40mm PN12 PVC pipe in NZ will fit a golfball, the American equivalent (1 1/2" Sch40 NSF-PW PVC) wont fit a golfball, you need 1 1/2" Class 200 PVC/SDR-21 which can be hard to find. Apart from that, all measurements are convertable pretty much, only takes someone two seconds in google to find out (or if they're like me, they will know both measurement systems). Thanks.

[king.of.arms]

Yo crowley, Is there a equivalent of the 40mm PN12 PVC in metal pipe (steel or SS Preferred). I am in NZ also.

[MrCrowley]

Probably, but not that I know of. I know there is in America, think it is 1.5" Sch40 Aluminium. Just bring a golf ball with you if you can and have a look around

[king.of.arms]

Hey again,

I have found out that the closest I could get in metal piping is 5shedule, ID = 44.98mm and 10shedule=42.76mm
For reference, do you have any idea the ID of the 1.5" SDR 21 PVC you used on this cannon? Then I will be able to determine which will be the better fit.

Thanks

[MrCrowley]

I didn't use 1.5" SDR 21 PVC, I used pipe from my country (i'm not in America). If I recally correctly, my barrel is about 43.2mm in diameter, most golfballs will fit this perfectly. There are a few golfballs which are too big for it. I think golfballs have to have a minimum diameter of around 42.67mm, so that 42.76mm pipe might work, it might not.

[afridave]

gooday ive heard of someone shooting batteries out of something like this,the large ones that go in radios, maybe this can give you more scope for using diffrent size tubes

[Pizzapie500]

Oh. I meant that it looks sort of confusing with both measurements on one list.

[budabob07]

wouldnt having the stock give you a little more power, or allow you to use a bigger barrel because it holds more air than just the front chamber

[MrCrowley]

The latter, yes. The former, no.
For the current barrel length, more chamber volume would do nothing. For a bigger barrel, it would be better.

[CtherJ]

aout how much would the stuff cost in america?

[imthatguy1125]

I built a version for 25

[pufferfish9108]

ur pic is my backround. i no the guy who photoshopped it

[imthatguy1125]

Ok my bad, i just got i off google images, oh yeah by the was heres a video of my new piston valve http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4hxpIuE680

[pufferfish9108]

how u make it semi auto (i dont have a fast enough compressor. although i might make a co2 inflator.)

[imthatguy1125]

I used a 4 gallon compresser and put a spring behing the piston, I piloted by a hose spray gun. I can get 10 shots before 125PSI drops to 90 psi, and since I have a 25 shot mag, Its not a big deal. I can peirce a can at 30 so its all cool. Oh yeah all this is when its regged down to 50 PSI.

[pufferfish9108]

how i make da mag