Darkness

A few pictures of the new composite barrels, and the updated design.
The barrel an combustion chamber are now a micro-polished bore fiber composite.  This material is designed to be a direct air actuator body replacement and is rated at over 900psi.  It's 2/3 the weight of aluminum, and it's black to boot!

The stock has been updated, now with fewer holes, the butt plate is a new water-jettable stacked design that uses the same material as the ball guide.  The bolt bridge, formerly known as the cocking ring, has been revised and simplified.  Also, peeking out of some of the pictures is the new pusher bar, now an aluminum plate that snaps into the pusher assembly.

Excerpt from the progress document

"Fueling test with the deflactor indicates that the deflactor wrecks the F/A ratio.  Lack of oxygen in test combustion chamber caused a small fire in lab when slow burning fuel ignited lab bench.  No injures."

Memories

December 22, 2008

me: I just built a tennis ball cannon out of a blowtorch and an air cylinder
Jon: haha
me: it has started an obsession. I'm currently designing a bolt action propane cannon. It. will. be. epic.



It. will. be. epic. 

Just a picture.

TAC 6 INSTRUCTIONS

My first speaking role!  This hot mess of an instruction video is sure to please the interwebs with a healthy dose of dorkery framed by bloopers like accidentally kicking over everything and denting my garage door. 

 

I had only rehersed the first 6 balls, the rest was improvisational, which is when the lulz start.  The delicious ping comes from a keg with the top cut off I'm using as a ball trap. 

I forgot to mention to pull the tank off when finished and not shoot at people's faces. 

Santa

Someone is getting a cannon for Christmas.  Well, that is if my suppliers can get me parts.

Shipley

Dropped these off this morning at the post office.  I wish I had more time shoot video or at least take a few more pictures.  These are the 5th and 6th cannons I've built. 

 

 I cleaned up the Lab last night (aka my shitty 2 car garage), it was complete wreck.  You can see the detritus in the picture.  If you look close, the contest cannon is hanging out in there.

DOMINATION ACHIEVED!

For years I've been irked that Google search results for "Propane Tennis Ball Cannon" have yielded "The Nuker". It's a nicely done, but fairly standard metered and computer fan cannon.

What is so aggravating is that despite the name of my blog being "Propane Tennis Ball Cannon", this guy's cannon page, shoe-horned in the back of his fancy house's webpage, always came up first.

WELL NOT ANY MORE.

Also, I built two cannons last night.

Hell Week

It's Hell Week at LobLab. Two cannons on the books and parts are starting to arrive. Last night the guide rails got cut, fittings and back plates drilled, and the tubes were sanded. This week I'm going to be cutting, drilling, tapping, sanding or assembling something every night.

Mission Complete

TAC 6  <---- By the way, that's a link.  Click it.