Homemades For sale

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adronl
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by adronl » Sun May 24, 2009 9:48 pm

Here is the 6" piston cannon I has to take it apart and do repair and re-enforce the piston due to it's size.

Oh yeah it is for sale if you got $160.00 and obviously you would have to pay shipping.
Last edited by adronl on Sun May 24, 2009 10:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Silence
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by Silence » Sun May 24, 2009 11:10 pm

Looks okay...what needs to be reinforced inside?

The off-center fitting at the bottom looks a little strange. Is it actually part of the water cannon?

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adronl
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by adronl » Mon May 25, 2009 1:04 am

It turns out that the piston cup assembly needed to be reinforced.

I had asked Ben about water leakage with the piston cups and he said that he had a little with his 4". I suspected that there may be a problem with the large washers not supporting the piston cup well enough.

When I put mine together I got the biggest fender washers I could find 2" in diameter and still thought it wouldn't be good enough but eager to put it together I went ahead. Well it turns out the leakage into the air chamber was because the piston cup was getting pushed so hard it warps and or tries to tumble. Also the a couple of washers that held it solid were bent.

I went to a shop and made some 5 3/4" wooden washers and used a silicone lubricant instead of the vasoline to coat the wood. I suspect it had already and would further compromise the piston cup making it softer. I would suggest that if you made a 4" piston cannon you should come up with something similar really big plastic washers would be best. Note that you probably wont find them you probably have to make them meaning you probably need a shop I had to use a band saw, large rotary sander, and a drill press to make them to my standards

The off center piece on the bottom is not attached it is just what I set on to protect the schrader valve on the bottom. I had not put the valve stem back in yet so it did not have its protective cap on.
Last edited by adronl on Tue May 26, 2009 12:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Silence
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by Silence » Mon May 25, 2009 3:22 am

Thanks, that's quite informative. I'd looked at making 3" pistons and I was considering using a different type of seal...that would mean some trial and error there, though.

Sounds like you've done a lot to perfect the seal, so I hope it holds up this time.

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SSCBen
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by SSCBen » Mon May 25, 2009 11:39 pm

Thanks adronl. The warping is something to keep in mind for the piston water gun I'm planning in my head right now.

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adronl
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by adronl » Tue May 26, 2009 12:20 am

the 2" and the 3" do not really leak bad just a tiny bit but I think once you get up to 4" and up the problem gets worse unless you reinforce. On the bright side of that once I made the large washers my parts got smaller. I no longer needed 2 nuts, 2 washers, 2 rubber washers and 1 lock washer I of course still used the piston cups.

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adronl
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by adronl » Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:32 am

So I listed the first homemade APH on E-bay. The listing is for 10 days and started on Thursday evening 6/4/09 starting price of 147.99. I already have a few watchers and there was a bid on the first day. I have been working on my design for the next generation that I plan to be cheaper and still much more powerful than a Super Soaker. It will be a CPS design with compact size as the goal I plan to make it noticeably smaller than the large SuperSoakers but have a much larger shot size. The storage capacity will also be far greater than a Super Soaker and rivaling the APH guns I made, it depends on a soft backpack reservoir.

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SSCBen
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by SSCBen » Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:24 pm

Sounds nice.

I found your auction so others won't have to if they want to bid or look at it: http://cgi.ebay.com/Super-Soaker-is-obs ... dZViewItem

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cantab
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by cantab » Mon Jun 08, 2009 3:26 pm

My feeling is that while these are clearly very good guns - powerful, high capacity, and well-engineered - they are just a bit too expensive. For me, £50 is the most I'd pay (and that only when my finances are good, ie not at present). That's $80 at the moment (it was $100 back when the US dollar was really weak).

In a sense, I'd say the bar is rather lower than your current guns. I'd say focus on something that will outdo the current best-of-market - Flash Flood from Supersoaker, Vindicator/Expedition/Pulse Master from Water Warriors - while being competitive on price, ideally under typical auction prices for the old medium and large CPSes.

Obviously some people will pay the price, since there are bids already. But at that price, don't be surprised if the market saturates really quickly. Consequently, don't make too many guns ahead of what you've sold, or you might find yourself with stock you can't shift.

Of course, it's your business.
I work on Windows. My toolbox is Linux.
Arsenal:
Super Soaker: XP215, 2xXP220, Liquidator, Aquashock Secret Strike M(odded), Arctic Blast M, CPS1200, CPS2100, SC Power Pak, 3l aquapack, 1.5l aquapack
Water Warriors: Jet, Sting Ray M, Shark, Argon M, Tiger Shark, PulseMaster
Others: Waterbolt, The Blaster, Storm 500, Shield Blaster 2000, generic PR gun, generic backpack piston pumper (broken), 3l garden sprayer M, 10l water carrier:

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Specter
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by Specter » Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:48 pm

I like the pictures in the auction, more specifically the last 2. Thats a nice looking '65-66 Ford Mustang there.
My "arsenal": Customizable APH, Storm 600 pistol (still haven't finished fixing this), launcher- Model:AB1.0(Decommissioned), AB1.5, soon AB 1.1(2"rebuild) maybe ill get something else in the future
My site Image My website/forum is back up and running, for the most part after it having been deleted in october

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adronl
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by adronl » Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:55 pm

Well pretty much like you said to prevent that I am moving away from the more expensive just in case. That is what the whole spill was about the new generation I will be building and at the price point projected around 75 bucks I am confident they will sell. I am only listing one at a time to prevent there being too many. There are not that many people that make these that are willing to sell what they built. I am pretty sure there are at least 6 adult fanatics out there. Plus the piston guns are pretty cheap to make for me at least.

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Silence
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by Silence » Mon Jun 08, 2009 7:17 pm

cantab: I personally would never pay this much for a water gun, either, but I'll concede it may be a fair price for a large, pressure-rated, pre-built water gun – I don't know. And while I agree that charging less gives you more sales, per the demand curve, that's not the best plan if you can only build so many water guns in the first place. Whatever.

Edit: just saw adronl's post. Good to see you're at least open to charging less. :cool:

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adronl
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by adronl » Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:03 pm

I Just figure that most people aren't able or willing to pay for a high powered gun. So I have been looking at the costs and how to make them easier to handle and cheaper on the wallet. Around 80 bucks or less for the models l prospect will sell well and be worth making more of like the 3" diameter piston gun.

The price that this gun was listed at is almost the exact cost with no profit at all. I plan to make money on cheaper to produce models as long as I cover my cost and maybe a little extra I will be happy.

I had tons of fun building these it was worth it, also to try and protect my investment I am listing them strategically. One at a time and in varying sizes with the most expensive guns up first. We did get some good video I a trying to get up soon.

On another note don't leave your piston gun in the sun too long if it still has pressure. I warped a 3" left it in the car for about an hour still works but not as good. I gotta cut it up and fix it but the parts that are not salvageable are cheap.

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SSCBen
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by SSCBen » Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:37 am

It'd probably be worth noting that some people are willing to pay an insane amount for a water gun. So I don't think you should cease producing the highest end stuff, just don't expect everyone to buy it. A range is the way to go. ;)

Leaving anything under pressure for an extended period of time is not a good idea. Especially in the sun--hotter gases have higher pressures by the ideal gas law. The heat alone could damage the plastic even if it weren't under pressure. Something to keep in mind.

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cantab
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Re: Homemades For sale

Post by cantab » Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:14 pm

The black paint job, while it looks impressive, will increase the susceptibility to heating from the sun. Aside from damage, that could also heat up the water - though there's enough in it that it probably won't be an issue.
I work on Windows. My toolbox is Linux.
Arsenal:
Super Soaker: XP215, 2xXP220, Liquidator, Aquashock Secret Strike M(odded), Arctic Blast M, CPS1200, CPS2100, SC Power Pak, 3l aquapack, 1.5l aquapack
Water Warriors: Jet, Sting Ray M, Shark, Argon M, Tiger Shark, PulseMaster
Others: Waterbolt, The Blaster, Storm 500, Shield Blaster 2000, generic PR gun, generic backpack piston pumper (broken), 3l garden sprayer M, 10l water carrier:

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