anyone know if there are any big gun cannon supplyers in Australia? because ive heared from Darren that i cannot use the strike models cannons becasue the accumulators cant be used in the AUSBG rule set, somthing to do with them not being PVC pipe,
I have heard that there is a supplier in Australia, although I don't have contact information. I am not sure why the AusBG does not permit Strike Models cannons, but I know Steve moved away from PVC specifically due to safety concerns. Perhaps a review of safety rules is in order. Anyway, the Strike Models cannons have removable accumulators. You should be able to replace the copper accumulator with a PVC one with little difficulty.
hmmm.... i wonder if he's willing to sell some cheaper without the accumulators, ill email him see whats he says, i dont know why the ausbg doesnt permit them either, i think, not sure, but the reason may be that the pvc fails at a lower pressure then the metal ones, but the cannons will be at the same presure anyway if they do fail in a battle, maybe its if the regulators fail or something and then you get the accumulator full of liquid co2, then the pvc ones would blow before the copper ones at a lower pressure.... anyway so there is a cannon maker in australia, ok ill have to find out who that is,
I believe the idea behind requiring PVC accumulators is that it's a built-in failure point. In case of regulator failure, the accumulator will fail in a predictable, containable way. The ship contains the fragments, and then all you have to do is replace the accumulator and fix the regulator, and you're back in business. Copper accumulators represent a risk in that, if the screws holding the accumulator on fail, the accumulator becomes a high-speed projectile that could blast its way out of the boat despite the fiberglass, wood, balsa, and other obstacles in its way. The downside to using a PVC accumulator as your failure point is that, if it fails, you're out for the day and you've got at least several hours worth of work cleaning off the buna-ball valve and endcap before installing the new accumulator. I'm not a big fan of that, especially when I don't regularly have access to the lathe I'd need for such repairs. On the other hand, with a properly engineered copper-accumulator cannon, there are other failure points built in at lower pressures than that. The copper accumulators I have seen use lots of big, strong, sturdy bolts to hold them together, and nice soft, low-pressure air lines. In these cases, it's the gas line that blows when the regulator fails, not the accumulator. The other safety feature that I've recently started seeing is the installation of overpressure relief valves directly after the primary regulator. These high-flow relief valves open up when the pressure exceeds its rating (the ones I've seen used are either 160 or 200PSI). I don't recall if they are manually reset or automatically reset once the pressure drops down to within rating. Is any one overpressure protection system better than another? I don't know. And, like I said earlier, it should be fairly easy to replace the copper accumulators with PVC. Just remember that Strike spent a long time and a lot of effort engineering those cannons to be safe, and that changing accumulator material invalidates those calculations.
i like the idea of an over pressure relief valve(sorta like an external wastegate on a car) that makes a lot of sence to me and proberbly everyone else using big gun cannons, rather then replacing the accumulator, saves time and money
Having re-read the AusBg rules, there is no reason why the Strike Models cannon shouldn't be ok for use here. They may require the fitting of a commercial-type pressure relief valve however.
You may need to check to see if they have been certified by the authorities as legal to use, or you may have to go through that process. When I was trying to get going making cannons, (life intervened, unfortunately) the Australians had to do some regulatory crap to make them legal, although I can't find the old emails specifying exactly what.
Contact Marcus of the VBS of the AUSBG on (address removed for security) for contact details for their cannon maker. He does , however, make in batches. The last batch was made last December so a new batch may be in the wind . The regulatory nonsense for Greg's cannons was that AUSBG rules require an accumulator and a minumum repetion rate greater than , If I remember correctly, 2 seconds. Fast gun are allowed to shoot as fast as they can pull the trigger. Again, from memory, 1/4" quads for a Richelieu were AUD$260 a quad. Tripple 3/16 for the rear about $220 a triple. Kevan
cool , thanks a bunch for those details kev, ill email him and see whose making them, again cheers for letting me know where to get the cannons from.
hey kevan, that reminds me, if you have someone who can make them down there, you'd be welcome to make my design for yourselves, as the odds of me being able to get into actually producing them are effectively zero.
Hey Kev, you may want to remove the email address from public display, and send it to Burnzy in a private message. Right now, any spammer and their grandma can see it, and send spam that-a-way.
Hey Guys. Yes the news is correct that I am a contact for Cannon manufacturing. The machinist requires us to do a batch of 20 cannon to help keep the costs down. I am currently waiting to get back in touch with him as he has been on holidays. At the last check I think there were 14 units on order so we are very close. We are currenly only able to supply 7/32 and 1/4, barrels. We are having trouble finding the correct tubing for 3/16. I am happy for people to get in touch with me via this site, or you will find me on the AUSBG website, as the contact for the Victorian Battle Squadron. All the best. Marcus Ward
