Potato Cannon

Intro: Potato Cannon

I did this because it is fun and a cool project to do in school, this was one of my childhood fun toys my dad built and we shot as a kid, I thought it would be fun to re-build so I did and posted a instructible about it.

For this you will need various PVC pipe and cements. I will have to warn you this will shoot far so be carefull.
This is a lot of fun just make Shure that you are at a farm or open field to shoot this
warning: this is dangerous so take caution if you build this.

Disclaimer: if you get hurt in the process of making or firing this device it is not my responsibility.

This can be illegal in your state so make sure to check your state's laws before building .

STEP 1: Tools and Supply's

Supplies

Lantern igniter
4" PVC clean out plug
4" PVC fitting clean out adapter.
4" PVC coupling
4" by 24" PVC pipe
2" by 4" PVC increase reducer
2" by 4" PVC pipe
PVC cleaner primer& cement
. Potatoes
. Hair spray ( flammable kind)
Tools: hack saw (or cut off saw) file.
Make sure that you have pressure rated PVC pipe not bubble core That will explode use schedule 40 pipe you can find at your local Hardware store

STEP 2: Assemble

Once you collect all your supply's. It's time to assemble,
1.take all he supply's outside and get the primer ready
2.prime all the ends of the tube except the top of the barrel
3.Once you have done that it's time to glue now
4. glue the back screw cap adapter first and tip it facing down so the glue doesn't drip on the threads.
5. Glue all the rest of the parts you primed and make sure to glop the glue on so it seals tight.

STEP 3: Fire

Be careful this is dangerous so take caution. We're safety googles. Put a 5 second blast of hair spray in the chamber and hold steady and fire but beware it has a kick. That's all you need to have a blast of fun with this cannon.

Comments

[Subdood]

You are going in my awesome collection

[jackvp24]

Pure genius love this

[MrE]

Ok, I need to post a second warning. This is somethign you seriously need to reconsider doing. A lot of pvc sold is called bubble core, what this means is that they inject air into the mixture to thin it out without losing structural integrity. But this is for low pressure stuff. Bubble core can and will fail at some time in a potato cannon. In fact the chemicals in hairspray cause a gummy layer to be laid down every time you fire it. Eventually this has to be cleaned out. Most people will either scrape this out, or use a solvent to clean it out. This exposes the bubble core material. In turn this weakens the whole tube eventually causing catastrophic failure. Even without all these, the pipe is exposed to huge pressure at time of ignition which means it WILL eventually fail. If you are going to make these make sure you use schedule 40 non bubble core, pressure rated tubing. usually pressure rated for 300 lbs.
Even then I would suggest that you not build these. i have seen enough horror stories of people being mangled, also I speak from experience, as I have built a number of these and have had a some fail on me as well. I was lucky to not be mangled and only suffer some minor injuries.

[MrE]

After looking at the pictures up close I did see you used pressure rated stuff but you didn't post it. Please ammend your posting to be more careful.

[EngrDanny]

A friendly heads up, the ATF considers combustion style spud guns such as the one you detail to be weapons. Depending on the state you reside, spud guns can be illegal. You should research this if you haven't already and consider posting a warning/disclaimer as part of your Instructable.