Spark generators

Boom! The classic potato gun harnesses the combustion of flammable vapor. Show us your combustion spud gun and discuss fuels, ratios, safety, ignition systems, tools, and more.
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rcman50166
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Thu Jan 14, 2010 2:04 am

Have you ever seen an ignition coil firing from a wall outlet. 120Hz cycle rate. I think it's more than sufficient. However it is obviously not very mobile. I can reccomend a battery fit solution, but it costs $400+ :oops:

Another solution is a battery inverter with an AC ignition coil circuit. All together its around $200+. That's better :?:
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Zeus
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Fri Jan 15, 2010 12:12 am

Do you mean the triac phase shift circuit (light dimmer). I had one going
45uF cap, 4 inch sparks and it burnt plastic like a blowtorch.
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ramses
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Fri Jan 15, 2010 7:39 am

so you can spend $200 on a car battery, inverter, etc., or you could buy an electronic bbq ignition for ~$30 max. You choose.
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rcman50166
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Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:49 pm

Zeus wrote:Do you mean the triac phase shift circuit (light dimmer). I had one going
45uF cap, 4 inch sparks and it burnt plastic like a blowtorch.
Yes that is what I meant. I use a microwave oven 1000uF cap.
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Zeus
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Mon Jan 18, 2010 9:28 pm

I hope you mean 1000nF otherwise I'd like to know what MO that came from.
nibbler125
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Tue Jan 19, 2010 12:16 am

i have used a 9000 volt neon sign trantsformer before and it works great. but you need a spot to plug it in and it is very dangerous if it gets you
Spudnyk
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Wed Jan 27, 2010 3:52 pm

Electric BBQ lighters works great, very consistent good spark gap
runs off a AA battery you can buy them at Home Depot or Lowes 20.00 bucks. :sign4:
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McCoytheLesser
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Wed Jan 27, 2010 4:47 pm

If you have some RC batteries you might be able to try to make a 555 ignition circuit. I've built this exact circuit with great results and all the components are available at Radioshack, BUT it will drain small current sources in a heartbeat. Personally, for a spud gun, I'd just stick to the electric BBQ lighter or a stungun.
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