SpudFiles

Hi im interested in making a copper pneumatic potato gun and have lloked for plans online and haven't quite found what i want. wel ive found it jus not the plansl. I want a relatively low cost ( ball valve is ok ) but still good shooting and power. I also want to know what size copper and pvc barrel fits perfectly with painballs.
Any information, plans, or thoughts would be great
Josh

spell check =/ I think 3/4in is good for paintballs.

thats the fun of building cannons, you can build it however you want... not many people actually make plans for their cannons. maybe some preliminary sketches, buts thats about it.

I know there are a few cannons that are like what you a describing, but I am far too lazy at the moment to look then up for you sorry.

Try searching 'copper' in the advance search tool under the 'Pneumatic Cannon Showcase' section, then sift through the 189 results.

A ball valve is very inaccurate and low power at low pressures. You could try a piston valve if you're that way in mind, or you could buy a QEV for $20 if you live in America.

But if you're staying at under 130psi, a sprinkler valve will work fine.


If you have no clue what I am talking about, that's your first job, research the stuff I just said if you don't know what it is.

Good luck with constructing a copper launcher that is low cost (unless your "low cost" and my "low cost" are two different things).

As far as fitting the paintballs, I've never checked copper, but 1/2" SDR fits almost perfect.

I'd suggest just making an over under design first. It's simple, compact, and easy to design. But I agree with hubb017, low cost copper doesn't exist. Plus you'll probably have to get a torch to soulder. If you want to build a good beginner cannon, go PVC or steel with a sprinkler valve. It'll be a lot cheaper, ball valves suck, and I seem to recall 3/4" sch.40 works well for paintballs.

I live in a family that does almost all of its house work wo i have pipe, torch, sodder, flux and all that good stuff - even for pvc, and i have made most of it my own design but i would like to know some ideas for the relese of air. I know i can't burn a lot of money on this but i want something better then a ball valve and all I need for parts are the connectors, air valve, and release mechanism. Im not new to potato guns just the copper pneumatic.

I suppose you could just use a sprinkler valve if you stay below ~ 120 psi, but I don't really know much about copper, so that might not work.

Copper pneumatics can be quite cheap. I could build a piston valved copper pneumatic designed to run on 500 psi for under $200 with a bit of creativity.

And in the general spirit of what everyone else has said, make your own damn plans

blindbatjosh121 wrote:i would like to know some ideas for the relese of air.

Dude, I gave you three ideas, QEV, sprinkler or piston.

Make up your mind because that's generally all there is aside from ball valves.

My vote goes out to using a piston valve because it seems to fit your wish of "cheap". Nobody makes plans for guns. My most recent copper pneumatic was built for under $200 excluding plywood, but don't expect to build a copper gun for much under $100, even with a ball valve.

I'm not sure if this helps you at all, but here are some plans I drew up for another member on here. You can of course change the barrel diameter etc. to suit your needs.

blindbatjosh121 wrote:Im not new to potato guns just the copper pneumatic.

Well there's nothing really different from this and any other pneumatic, just apply the same principles and use appropriate materials.. Unless of course you're the type who only knows spudguns in the ultra-ghetto form. :L