SpudFiles

well i have decided to take the leap into pneumatic cannons. Going to a simple straight forward setup. Only issue i have is picking between a ball valve or piston? Should just tough it out and go for the ball valve?

Why not a sprinkler valve? If you're on a budget, then that changes everything...

Sprinkler valve. Definitly.
If not, just go for a ball valve. A piston is kinda advanved for your first Pneumatic Cannon. But thats my opinion, you do what you want to.

you should go with a ball valve for your first, i agree with hydra, a piston is too advanced for a first, but if you are willing to go the extra mile, give it a try at the piston.

id make an over under with a tee and removable barrel so you could make a ball valve barrel then just as easily convert it to a piston gun.

Good idea ,but you could still replace the ball valve with a sprinkler valve. In most cases where i live a sprinkler valve is cheaper that a larger ball valve.

Yeah but if your going to use a sprinkler definitely mod and then you would have to buy a ballvalve or blowgun as well as the sprinkler....

Why not get that pre-modded sprinkler from BCarms? Its as easy to construct as a ballvalve, though being a good whack more powerful.
And by the way, a coaxial piston valve is not that hard to make, I did that as my first pneumatic.

It depends on how much time you want to spend on your cannon. I decided to go for broke on my first pneumatic and went for a piston valve. It took a lot of research, planning, and tweaking but it ended up working out, and I have a great working gun now. You just need the patients to deal with all of the problems that can arise with piston valves. Being inexperienced, you will probably encounter a lot of them. The next best option is a modified sprinkler valve which I do not have any experience with. However, I have the feeling a ball valve is going to leave you wanting more.

A piston gun is going to be more challenging than a ball valve one.

It really depends on what your goals are for the gun, if you're just playing around with pneumatics or serious. From a performance perspective, from poorest to best, it's ball valve, sprinkler then piston. Each of course has its own range of performance based on valve/porting dimensions, chamber and barrel size and your particular design and construction skills.

Its not "that" hard to construct a piston valve.
When I built my first it didnt need any tweaking, it just worked perfectly.
All you need is to plan things out perfectly and know what youre doing. It also helps if you first seek information for a month or so and then start designing one. When I build my first one, I knew more then enough to make it work just like it should.

I've looked all over the forum for the part number for a 1" Rainbirdsprinkler valve (Gray). Can anyone help me?

psycix
a first piston can cause more problems then you think and costs more than you thought in the end.
with part number do you mean on mcmaster?

A piston valve doesnt cause problems, the one who builds it does. And ofcourse, when problems should arise, you can always ask me, and other members on this forum.

sounds sweet(Y) will get to it