Car Guy
01-29-2008, 02:29 AM
Well if you haven't figured it out by now I'm referring to a spud gun, also known as a potato cannon. I just came across mine which I built about ten years ago and it brought back MANY fond memories.....:headbang It's been sitting in my garage for the past 8 years and I wouldn't even think about firing it now because of safety reasons from sitting. But even if it was newly built I wouldn't fire it now at the age of 27. I guess that shows how much less 'risky' (a.k.a smarter!) I've become in the last ten years or so, and here's why.....
When our group of friends starting building these they were all using Aqua Net hairspray for 'fuel'. I didn't like that because in NO time the inside was caked with the leftover 'crap', and I knew there had to be something stronger to propel the potato. So I started experimenting with %100 propane (reason for brass valve - see pic) and then went to a propane/oxygen mix.....
Well as time went on I got closer and closer to getting the perfect mixture. The explosion was getting so strong that I could feel the combustion chamber expand like a balloon WHILE UNDER MY ARM :wooo ...!!! I'm now amazed that I actually fired the thing numerous times like that. I guess that's the whole 'young and dumb' thing because it never fazed me one bit.....:goof I can only imagine what would of happened if it would have 'grenaded' on me.....:chair:
In addition to the barrel you see in the picture I also had a 6 footer, and it was extremely accurate. I liked the ‘shorty’ barrel more because the flame following the potato as it came out at 125+ MPH was unbelievable at night...!!! But as AWESOME as it was it wasn't 100% reliable with firing and I wanted something better all around. My brother Brad (awesomears) was there on many firings and can tell you how wicked it was. However, 'life' was starting to take all of my free time and I never got around to building an air powered one, which is the way to go for safety and reliability.....
Feel free to post up a response if you 'toyed' around with one back in the day or currently. Back when I built mine they were all over the place with the endless information being discovered on the somewhat new (at the time) 'internet'. Just reminiscing about it is giving me the motivation to build the air powered one.....:devil :devil :devil
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f3/KarGuy/MiscPics136.jpg
:3gears::3gears::3gears:
When our group of friends starting building these they were all using Aqua Net hairspray for 'fuel'. I didn't like that because in NO time the inside was caked with the leftover 'crap', and I knew there had to be something stronger to propel the potato. So I started experimenting with %100 propane (reason for brass valve - see pic) and then went to a propane/oxygen mix.....
Well as time went on I got closer and closer to getting the perfect mixture. The explosion was getting so strong that I could feel the combustion chamber expand like a balloon WHILE UNDER MY ARM :wooo ...!!! I'm now amazed that I actually fired the thing numerous times like that. I guess that's the whole 'young and dumb' thing because it never fazed me one bit.....:goof I can only imagine what would of happened if it would have 'grenaded' on me.....:chair:
In addition to the barrel you see in the picture I also had a 6 footer, and it was extremely accurate. I liked the ‘shorty’ barrel more because the flame following the potato as it came out at 125+ MPH was unbelievable at night...!!! But as AWESOME as it was it wasn't 100% reliable with firing and I wanted something better all around. My brother Brad (awesomears) was there on many firings and can tell you how wicked it was. However, 'life' was starting to take all of my free time and I never got around to building an air powered one, which is the way to go for safety and reliability.....
Feel free to post up a response if you 'toyed' around with one back in the day or currently. Back when I built mine they were all over the place with the endless information being discovered on the somewhat new (at the time) 'internet'. Just reminiscing about it is giving me the motivation to build the air powered one.....:devil :devil :devil
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f3/KarGuy/MiscPics136.jpg
:3gears::3gears::3gears: