Supercannon II shot pictures

Build a homemade water gun or water balloon launcher and tell us about it.
Locked
User avatar
SSCBen
Posts: 6449
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2003 1:00 pm

Supercannon II shot pictures

Post by SSCBen » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:21 am

Today Drenchenator and I were going to take some more statistics of Supercannon II, but I broke a plastic pipe trying to hammer the piston down. Luckily, I used threaded parts so I only had to spend $5 to get some new steel replacements that shouldn't break.

So, when it was getting a little dark, I test out the new camera I had access to which can take videos at higher resolution and FPS than the one I used back in 2006. Some frames of the videos are below. The shots are a little dark because I didn't clean them up in the GIMP and I was standing in a shadow. Despite the darkness, these images are pretty cool to look at. I'd really like to get some sort of high speed photography setup. I can get 64 FPS from my 16mm movie camera, but I've only been experimenting with that.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

The photo above is interesting because the falling water seems to be like a rope or something. Look at it. It just seems weird. You could almost go jump rope in it.

Image

Image

Image

Tomorrow we'll take some much brighter videos, but I'm happy with the results I got above. They clean up pretty good in the GIMP if they're dark, and the camera takes excellent photos when there is enough light, so I'd image we'll get some very clear images tomorrow.

User avatar
Drenchenator
Posts: 807
Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2004 12:00 pm

Re: Supercannon II shot pictures

Post by Drenchenator » Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:10 am

These are excellent. I wasn't there when he took the pictures, so I can't wait for further testing with this new camera tomorrow. The quality is many times that of what we first used to test Supercannon II.
The Drenchenator, also known as Lt. Col. Drench.

User avatar
Silence
Posts: 3825
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2006 9:01 pm

Re: Supercannon II shot pictures

Post by Silence » Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:58 pm

Wow, those pictures are neat when you consider the camera needs to store 64 of them per second. They look a bit grainy, but that's probably because they weren't meant to be stills.

It is interesting to see such a massive deluge come out of a relatively small tube.

Looking at that picture of the "rope" of droplets, I'm curious as to how larger and smaller streams would look using frames from your new videocamera. That may prove how important it is to use large nozzles.

User avatar
isoaker_com
Posts: 458
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:00 pm

Re: Supercannon II shot pictures

Post by isoaker_com » Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:56 pm

Impressive pics and blaster, of course! :cool: The "skipping rope" shot looks funky and rather whimsical.

Refresh my memory, but how much water does the Supercannon II have available for firing before its pressure drops significantly?

Also, what was the make and model of the camera you were using to take the video? I'm curious since I'm considering acquiring a new camera one of these days and have considered getting a video camera as well.

:cool:
:: Leave NO one dry! :: iSoaker.com / iSoaker.net ::

User avatar
SSCBen
Posts: 6449
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2003 1:00 pm

Re: Supercannon II shot pictures

Post by SSCBen » Wed Jan 09, 2008 3:48 pm

Wow, those pictures are neat when you consider the camera needs to store 64 of them per second. They look a bit grainy, but that's probably because they weren't meant to be stills.

It is interesting to see such a massive deluge come out of a relatively small tube.

Looking at that picture of the "rope" of droplets, I'm curious as to how larger and smaller streams would look using frames from your new videocamera. That may prove how important it is to use large nozzles.
Perhaps I should have explained better. My 16mm camera can do 64 FPS, but it is a film camera, so that's not particularly amazing. This camera was a digital camera that could do 30 progressive frames per second. My old one could do 15 progressive frames per second.

I'd like to try some smaller nozzles too to see how much they break up. ZOCCOZ's stream shots always showed so many droplets and the streams always looked so detailed, so I'd imagine we'd see something similar.
Refresh my memory, but how much water does the Supercannon II have available for firing before its pressure drops significantly?

Also, what was the make and model of the camera you were using to take the video? I'm curious since I'm considering acquiring a new camera one of these days and have considered getting a video camera as well.
How much water is available depends on the pressure, piston location, and which nozzle is used. We did a 20 PSI shot yesterday to make some graphs (which I've attached). The 20 PSI shot didn't move the piston down the entire length of the gun, so about a liter of water was left that we measured out of the nozzle. We kept the air to water ratio (piston location) constant throughout the tests at about 1:1.

Most of the time about 600 to 650 mL we not shot out and we put 3500 mL in each time, which might not be enough to fill the entire chamber with a 1:1 air to water ratio, but it was consistent nonetheless.

The shots are usually so quick that only the last 5 to 10% of the water has reduced range, as demonstrated in the "jump rope" shot. I'd estimate at least 2.5 to 2.7 liters are available at good pressure. Look at the graphs too. The pressure doesn't matter too much because we could get excellent performance from 60 PSI and up, and while not as excellent at lower pressures, 20 PSI still achieved 45 feet, which is great to begin with.

I should note however that those shots were not ideal because there was a cross wind, but I figure it's just the trend we're looking for, so that's all we did. Also, we only did one trial except on the 40 PSI shot (27.5 PSI average) because the first one was affected by wind too much.

As for the camera, this isn't a video camera. It's a few years old Olympus SP-320 my father has. I have a good variety of cameras available to me I suppose. I think any of the higher end digital cameras should have a decent video option. However, note that the Olympus SP-320 doesn't have any audio capabilities, at least from what I can tell.

The closest thing I have to a video camera is a 50+ year old 16mm film camera, the Kodak K-100. It's a good, cheap, basic 16mm camera, but because it uses film it is expensive to operate. Of course, the camera itself cost me less than $100 with 3 great lenses too, so compared against any decent video camera, it's actually cheaper for many hundred feet of film, and will turn out higher quality results than most cheap digital video cameras.
Attachments
pvr.gif
pvf.gif

swirlycurly
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:23 pm

Re: Supercannon II shot pictures

Post by swirlycurly » Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:15 pm

How much money does it approximately cost to build the supercannon 2? I was thinking about starting this project but couldnt figure out a price.

User avatar
Silence
Posts: 3825
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2006 9:01 pm

Re: Supercannon II shot pictures

Post by Silence » Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:40 pm

Welcome to the forums, swirlycurly! :)

It sounds like you haven't read the Supercannon II article yet. The article has a list of all the necessary parts; the price depends on how many you need (you may have tubing, etc. already), what tools you already have, and where you're buying the rest from. But more importantly, the article's just full of good information.

Of course, if you're just looking for a rough approximation, I would say $50 to $100. Some pieces are rather obscure and expensive, although you could use more convenient ones. Ben would know specifics.

User avatar
SSCBen
Posts: 6449
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2003 1:00 pm

Re: Supercannon II shot pictures

Post by SSCBen » Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:09 pm

Welcome to SSC swirlycurly!

Because I never kept track of the expenses, I'm not quite sure how much it would cost. I'm sure it costs less than $200.

I just added up the prices of the parts I reported in the guide with prices from McMaster-Carr (some from the APH guide because they were in bulk on McMaster-Carr) and it's come out to about $160 not including tax, shipping, or PVC cement/primer. This might be higher than what you'll pay locally for most of these parts. McMaster-Carr doesn't sell single washers, bolts, and such, so I had to make a unit price from a bulk price that could decrease the price a bit. Some part substitutions had to be made as well that may or may not have affected the price. Tax may or may not be lower than shipping too.

This is higher than what I remember paying back in 2005 and 2006, but inflation and gas prices have caused prices to increase as a whole, so that can be expected.

I would save up $200 just to be safe.

One thing I want to do this year in "Supercannon III" is to take the same basic design and increase the water capacity by making it into a U shape rather than the straight line it is in right now. This will allow for twice or more as much water and air capacity. You might want to give that a try. The 4 inch bend pieces are typically expensive, so this might tack on another $20 to your cost, but I think it's worth every penny.

User avatar
Silence
Posts: 3825
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2006 9:01 pm

Re: Supercannon II shot pictures

Post by Silence » Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:09 pm

The U-shaped design won't use a plunger, right? If it's like other water cannons, the air will float to the top of the U and the water will stay at the bottom where the nozzle is. Removing the plunger might allow for some air to escape, but it could save a few dollars.

User avatar
SSCBen
Posts: 6449
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2003 1:00 pm

Re: Supercannon II shot pictures

Post by SSCBen » Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:48 pm

No, it would use a plunger. If it didn't use a plunger you couldn't get angled shots unless you designed it differently.

In honesty, I wouldn't use anything but a plunger. There might be some pressure drop in the water due to the friction of the piston, but the ability to shoot at any angle is very valuable and easily worth the $25 for the piston.

User avatar
Silence
Posts: 3825
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2006 9:01 pm

Re: Supercannon II shot pictures

Post by Silence » Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:50 pm

So how would the plunger move through the U? Do you plan to only have it in the water side?

I guess that makes more sense now that I think about it. :cool:

User avatar
SSCBen
Posts: 6449
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2003 1:00 pm

Re: Supercannon II shot pictures

Post by SSCBen » Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:57 pm

Okay, I see where your confusion was now. Yep, the piston wouldn't only go on one side in that configuration. As I said, it's an easy way to increase the water and air capacity without affecting length.

Locked