Riot Cannon idea

Build a homemade water gun or water balloon launcher and tell us about it.
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randomblahguy
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Joined: Wed May 16, 2007 11:08 pm

Riot Cannon idea

Post by randomblahguy » Thu May 17, 2007 11:12 pm

this is a hypothetical design, i don't think it'll work super-good but basically, its a cannon designed to maximize spread and turbulent flow and spit out a large volume of water in order to take out several people at a closer range. i have no idea whether i'll be able to build this or whether it'll work (it came to me while i was showering yesterday nite, and havent given it much thought), but here's a diagram anyway...
Image

so basically a hand pump will be used to fill the firing chamber. the solenoid valve at the front basically keeps the water from sloshing about, and the solenoid at the back keeps air from reaching water. basically when you push the trigger, it'll open both valves and the air will push the water out. the one-way valve is to prevent the air from reaching the reservoir. (and i think i misspelled reservoir in my picture...oh well ;) )

opinions?

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C-A_99
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Post by C-A_99 » Fri May 18, 2007 1:00 am

Looks like that PC's going to get slammed when you open the air chamber valve. I believe keeping the air and water together (seperated only by piston if one wishes to seperate them) is best. Of course, with your design, you'll need a way to seperate the air and water too.

Overall, if its going to work it'll probably need some adjusting.

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Silence
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Post by Silence » Fri May 18, 2007 1:22 am

Neat design, but I'm going to list some issues that I can see:
1) How will you get air into the firing chamber?
2) Solenoids aren't used in water gun because of their low flow coefficients more than because of the turbulence. Solenoids just don't work for water guns.
3) Having multiple solenoids is going to be difficult for timing, price, reliability, etc.
4) You don't want to release air and have it hit a projectile - in this case, water - that has a lot of mass. Especially if the flow of the water is constricted. There'll be a momentary pressure spike as the wave of air hits the water and before the pressure equalizes again - which is dangerous.

Other than that, you're on the right track. Have you seen Ben's SuperCannon II? You could take a smaller version of a water cannon like that and add parts to allow for multiple shots.

randomblahguy
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed May 16, 2007 11:08 pm

Post by randomblahguy » Fri May 18, 2007 3:03 am

hm, youre right about the solenoid in the front.

there are two solenoids - one that keeps air from mixing with water and one that keeps the water from coming out of the chamber. perhaps if i switched the front valve with a ball valve that completed the solenoid's circuit when opened i might be able to acheive the desired riot cannon effect. but yes, the pressure is the one factor i'm worried about now, since i didnt give it much thought :p

the one-way valve is for water to enter the the firing chamber. when the solenoid opens the water gets pushed out of the firing chamber and through the front valve. might change that to a less constrictive ball valve.

the air chamber is separated from the PC by a solenoid. so its like a shooting water from a spudgun...but a little better since the water shouldnt be sloshing out of the front when you run around in battle.

is it possible to calculate the pressure spike that the air would generate on the water as the solenoid opens?

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