Well I was able to successfully reproduce my barrel 4/4 times. That would be 3 BB barrels & 1 1/4" barel. They all are working A-OK! I also test shot one of the BBs tonight (I'm unable to auto reload yet). I must say I was happy with the results, clean through 2" styro & into the wall. I was like 'att'll do. I shot one of the 1/4" about a week ago straight up... I still haven't got it out of the ceiling. I've modified my design a little bit (thank you carl) & now its a hybrid between the arizona/ fast gun. So... Checklist: "behind the scenes pneumatics"... Check Repeatible Functional barrels... Check Firing 1 weapon... Check Verify I can fire 3 at a time.. Incomplete Reload mechanism... Incomplete put all pieces together in such a way I don't have to hold anything in place... incomplete
hybrid? How does that work? Tell me, tell me! Actually, if you could show me that'd be better. Its picture time
Sorry guys! Top secret right now... Let me see if it even works first!!!!!!!!!!!!! Besides, the design is probably used by someone already... however, I've never seen it. Just a little spoiler though, remember I'm fighting big and fast gun... With a bulky iowa. My idea is I need cannons that rotate damn fast & are as modular as possible... Which means most parts are common between platforms, they are light weight /uncomplicated, & need to have as little air loss as possible. "Build it like a brick", right Carl? I also have a cool new look in mind for the the barrels. We will see if the whole thing comes together in the next couple weeks.
Exxxxxcelent... I can repetativly reload..... BTW.. NO MOVING PARTS. Period. Shot BBs repetativley, one at a time, clean through 2" styro from 12" proximity.... cool. The last thing I'm worried about: I need to make 3 more of these so I make sure I can fire 3 shots with the same force.
muuuuhahahahahhahahaaaaa... I love the suspense! These cannons have a new name. "Kat Cannons" after my g/f who insisted that I name something on the ship after her. She wanted the ship named after her, but I already chose NJ. Besides... USS Kat? naaaa... just doesn't work. I want to engrave "Kitty has claws" on each barrel.
Hehe. When I first bought Spahkreuzer, it had a twin bb turret up front, two torpedo tubes per side, and two twin bb turrets in the stern. Before I found out that the bb guns were junk, I named the cannons. The bow cannon was "Hi There," the torpedos were "Hugs" and "Kisses," and the stern cannon was "Have A Nice Day." That, of course, was also supposed to be a standard attack on a ship: introduce yourself with the bow gun, deliver the goods with the torpedos, then use the stern guns to excuse yourself from the party before you overstay your welcome. Ok, so the cannon seems to work so far. No moving parts, good. Able to reload, good. Able to reach (even exceed) maximum legal power, good. Fires both .177" and .25", good. What pressure have you tested it at? How fast can you fire? How does it rotate? Once it's done, will you add a description to the Weapons Tips/Tricks? (no, I haven't forgotten about it)
It reloads .177", have not completed a .25" reloader yet. It does fire .25" & they embedd with (approx) the same penatrating force. Pressure: 150psi Fire rate: I cannot measure that fast. However fast it takes one shell to fall/roll from the magazine to the chamber. (< 1 second) The answer I think you are looking for is: there is there is no noticable accumulator recharge time. The weapon is efficient enough not to severely tax the accumulator (yet). Rotate: Cannon / magazine are connected to the rest of the system via flexible pressure hose. The rotation happens at that point. Once the technique is proven, I will add it to the tips & tricks section. After a season's field trials, I might even try to sell a few. I will add another teaser... Although it is not required in its current state, some form of magnetics might come into play with this design.
All right.. get your cannons done! mine are not working properly and I think that I will have to do some redesign work to make them work acceptably...
Wow... I went home this weekend to visit my father, who has been toying with metal working since his retirement... I learned precisely 1 hell of a lot. Totally new methods for doing what I'm doing are now open to me, much much simpler & (I believe) more reliable. Plus, with a (very) slight change in the design; I can ramp up the fire pressure considerably... which I believe will be needed in the end. Stay tuned, pictures will be coming VERY VERY soon!
The new design is progressing very well... I'm just waiting on a 1/8" NPT screw die so I can attach it to the pressure system. That part should arrive tonight. After I tap it and test fire it, I will post some info. I will also show it off at the GLAS meeting tomorrow. That is... if it works.
Huh... I thought I updated this already. Well my initial tests were dissapointing... It couldn't fire shot from multiple cannons at the power range needed. I've redesigned it (three revisions now) slightly so I have greater control over when each is firing, which allows me to to increase the power rating of each one individually. Unfortunately this change increases the cost of the cannon to approximately the price of small gun cannons... or about $100 for a triple (that includes electronic valves). & since I just got paid today, I'll be working on them tonight when I go home. Revision history: Kat cannon mark I: No moving parts, small gun / arizona hybrid design. Operational single cannon BB through 1/4" shot. Reload mechanism worked. Failure point: Impact power was barely passible for one cannon configuration... not capable of multiple cannon configuration. Kat cannon mark II: No moving parts, small gun / arizona hybrid design. Impact power was increased dramatically from original design. Failure point: Reload mechanism took on carberator-like tendancies. Kat cannon mark III: (in construction) Modified small gun / Pom Pom gun design. No modified "clippard" parts. "No moving parts"-design abandoned. Adjustable Impact power. Adjustable cannon fire timing. Failure point: ? We'll see!
Worked on it again last night... it was going really well too; that is until my drill press grabbed the cannon's loading mechanism & totaled it. I was sooo pissed off.
any photos? Lets see, lets see! (I know its kinda cruel but I like photos of destruction on any size or scale )
Yeah, I actually got MkIII working yesterday... So it's time for some "spy photos" I don't really want to give a full description of how it works until I have had more testing on it... (I ran out of gas during calibration) I have "finish photo gallery" as a priority item for me today... So I will upload a photo or two then.
