The Original Potato Cannon

How to build the original hairspray powered potato cannon. Takes about an hour and $30. Shoots potatoes over 100 yards!!!

Step 1 The Materials

Building Materials
-5 feet of 1.5" ABS (DWV) pipe
-2 feet of 3" ABS pipe
-A 3" to 1.5" reducer
-A 3" threaded adapter
-A 3" end cap
-A BBQ ignitor (+1 Screw)
-ABS cement

Consumables
-Cheap aerosol hairspray
-Potatoes or similar legumes

Tools
-Hacksaw
-Drill

Comments

[tommy87]

cant my ignition to work, i used a bbq igniter. i can see that there is a spark but i cant get the butane to ignite :( what can i do?

[pietropedropete2]

replace the bbq lighter with a coleman lantern flint/twist ignition

[magnusbuilds]

Hey Tommy,

i had the same problem when i made mine.

1. butane is harder to use than hairspray ( in my opinion because i count how many sprays i need for it to work )

2. to make the gas light you need to get the right ratio of air and gas in your gun.. you can only do this by trying and trying again.

3. remember to blow in your gun every time it fires to get some fresh air into the chamber and the Co2 out.

it will work just be patient, and remember to count how many sprays you need to spray for it to work, then it will work every time as long as you blow fresh air in every time.

my gun takes 3 short sprays and it works!.

give me some feedback.

[log63]

Same here. I am using hairspray and I know that the thing is sparking, so why is it not igniting?

[abogdanovic]

you probably have it positioned at the wrong place, maybe too close to the beginning of the combustion chamber where it gets wet. my advice is, get a stun gun from ebay called night watchman its less than $20 with shipping, it has powerful spark 100 000 volts! and you have easy on button, not like bbq lighter which gets old after a few potatoes. hook up the stun gun leads to couple of butt connectors with wires on the other side all the way to two screws that are in the middle of your combustion chamber with about 1/4 inch space between them. it never fails.

[tommy87]

thanks for the reply, ill check it out.

[ducttapemastermind]

Do you think some axe body spray would get the same effect as hairspray during ignition? Great instructable, by the way

[pietropedropete2]

when im not feeling patient I grab my fine mist spray bottle filled with gas

[pietropedropete2]

Yes if not better. also you may load the cannon, get your handy-dandy propane torch(not lit) cover ign.-chamber, fill/w propane for 30-60 sec close chamber and OPEN-FIRE.

[imsohappy]

potatos are tubers not a legume

[shawkins3]

some one tell me what measurements this was taken in ?

[dragoth]

this is all imperial aka inches and such. the quote mark is the symbol for inch ( ' = foot, " = inch)

[chevelle96]

mine worked prefectly thanks ALOT, endless fun.

[log63]

Hey, great instructable. I can't figure out why mine isn't igniting, though. I can see a spark, too.

[log63]

http://www.instructables.com/answers/Why-the-isnt-my-potato-cannon-igniting/

[thepeanut1234]

how thick is your piping for the barrel?????

[searl2]

static guard works best for a propellent

[Coding Kid]

Where did you get the ignitor? One year ago, I started making a potato gun, but the ignitor never worked. I firstly used a spark gap with a normal battery, didnet worked, then with a high voltage generator, but that fell apart...

[awsomehighvoltage]

You can find them in stores where grills and stuff are sold or take one out of a BBQ lighter.

[Coding Kid]

I found some on ebay, sold by 'cateringsupplies'.

[spooninbrian]

When I made one I used a Kerosine Lantern Ignitor. You have to buy flint to replace it everyonce in a while though.

[acetomato]

dude just aim at a tennis raquet with frying thing behind it FRENCHFRIES >_<

[lolcat360]

actually use some wire mesh it would work better 0_o

[C0UTZ]

aaaactually, you could use one of those tennis racquet shaped bug zappers. slice and fry in one go!

[maneter112]

its gonna take more than a tennis raquet to cut the taters

[juvenilej1]

lunch

[D3v1n]

lol :)

[faron_smith]

it worked perfectly!!!
i did a frew things differently tho; i made my barrel about one ft and instead of 1.5" i did a 2" and it worked perfectly. Great design.

[juvenilej1]

everyone says pneumatic cannons are better- for power yes but for portability the combustion cannons are superior unless u have a petrol aircompressor your gonna carry on your back

[newbready]

Did kipkay over at YouTube do this before you? I'm starting to think that he's just a copy cat...I dunno. meh, nicely done anyways.

[juvenilej1]

KipKay just shows people how to do already done projects but he just simplifies the tutorial for people like me :)

[noahh]

People have been making this basic design for years.

[newbready]

Thanks very much for the heads up. Cheers! I really do appreciate it. :D

[noahh]

Always glad to help.

[Dmoney17]

Where to buy the lighter?

[sickpupfan]

dude this thing looks kick!

[_Con]

Just make the combustion chamber galvanized pipe, then use a threaded bell reducer down to sch.80 pvc for the barrel . Will work perfect, not as heavy as a full galvanized pipe gun, but as strong as one.

[Tux0r]

PVC explodes like a hand grenade, Go with ABS instead. Trust me, I had a friend that make an all PVC model and it turned into a bomb instead of a cannon. he lost an eye and an arm.

[rangoonboth]

What did he use, Gun powder. Hair spray or alcohol based sprays wouldn't do that. I think you're exaggerating.

[ilpug]

pvc is much better, you just need to use the right amount of propellant.