Introduction: Coilgun Blueprints

About: Changing my profile around, and planning on posting some more instructables. Be ready.

This is a relatively simple coilgun me and my grandpa made this summer. I will show you how to make a similar one. Please add a comment if you need extra help with anything. Also, add a comment if I need to change any of the steps.Please rate and comment, andplease help me if i'm not clear on something. It takes about 1:30 to 2:00 minutes to charge.  Have fun!

MATERIALS
-around 90 feet of magnet coil
-2 1.5 inch plexiglass washers for winding coil
-1 camera charging circuit (KODAK)
-wire
-1 on/off switch
-1 40 amp or higher toggle switch for trigger
-1 D battery holder
-1 capacitor around 450 volts and 1500 MicroFarads
-1 toy gun large enough to mount the circuits in
-1 carbon arrow shaft
-you may need other materials according to the gun apparatus you use

Tools
-soldering iron with solder
-screw driver (to take the gun apart)
-a hand saw (to cut barrel to appropriate length)
-glue or drill and screws to mount circuits

Step 1: Wind the Coil

Wind the coil as well as you can around a axle a little bit bigger than the barrel. Fasten the washers around the axle for support. You may use you hands, but my grandpa and I made a little rig to make it easier. Wind it 2.5 inches in length, with 10 layers of coil.

Note: Before you go to the next step, you may want to rig a testing circuit to make sure the coil fires.

Step 2: Barrel and Projectiles

Find the length that the barrel should be in your gun and cut it to the correct length. Find the projectile your are going to use, most likely a nail with a grounded down head, and position the coil so when the projectile end is at the very end off the barrel, the tip of the projectile is at the very begining of the coil. Last, put a stopper on the end of the barrel so that you may slide the projecile from the tip of the barrel.

Step 3: Placing the Components

Now it is time to start laying out the circuits. Figure out where you want to lay the components. Make sure they will fit in the spots you want to lay them. DON'T FASTEN THE PARTS YET, find out how much wire you need to connect the components first, then add an inch to make sure the wire will reach.

Step 4: Soldering the Components Together

The title says it all. Solder the componets together using this schematics below. Notice there is no relay. We tried a gun with a relay, put after a few shots, it nedded to be replaced. Since we are using a switch that cuts the battery on to make the circuit start charging, we need to solder a bare piece of wire to the switch on the circuit.

Step 5: Finishing Touches and Testing

Before you close up the gun, you may want/need to add some finishing touches. Here are a few of the ones we did:
-a lens from the camera to make the LED from the circuit appear larger when the capacitors charged
-a cover to go over the big, bare spot on the top of our gun
-a projectile holder
-test prongs to make sure the gun was charging (recommended)