Question about Air Chambers/Tanks

[Mugumaster]

Well hello everyone, i want to make myself a little Air pressure Spud gun to fire little darts at a dartboard as my first Spud project.
But im kinda clueless what i should use for Air tank/chamber.

i want that the Pressure for the Air tank comes from a small Bicycle pump or something, then i would use a Schrader Valve on the one side of the tank and then a main valve as a trigger on the other side that is attached to a PVC pipe.

I thought about using a 1.5L Coke bottle as tank, because i dont want that the darts fly 100's of feet, i just want it for indoor fun with a Dartboard for the beginning. but the bottle would have the problem of being hard to use in my construction.

What do you think would work the best as an air tank/chamber that is pressured by a hand pump? or what is the easiest way to build one myself !

I would really appreciate any help, and if i get my gun working i will upload some pics on the website, or maybe even a video from the "fun-spud-gun" in action

thanks

[jrrdw]

If i was building one for indoor shooting, i would use a 20oz coke bottle. Some kind of small ball valve screwed rite to the top. Fill valve in the bottem. Cheep and simple.

[Mugumaster]

thanks for the fast reply !!

but i have a little problem understanding what you mean, because im from switzerland and my english is well .... but i dont know how to transfer "ball valve" into german to find it in a shop hehe

and a 20oz coke bottle = 0.33L ?
and where should i put the Schrader valve in it ? just make a hole and then glue it or screw it into the bottle ?

Thank you again for your fast reply !!

[crcowboyfan]

I would just try to make the whole thing out of pvc. It is going to be more trouble than it's worth trying to use a coke bottle only to have it break after a couple uses. Just make a simple pnuematic cannon with a ball valve like the one I made today. It is very simple to make and will only cost you about $10. You can use a bike pump to fill the tire valve to whatever pressure you want depending on how fast you want it to shoot. Good luck.

[Mugumaster]

thanks dude, ill look that i can make it like that, but i got a little different design in mind, but i got only a blueprint in my swiss-german slang and crappy painting at the moment. as soon as i got the time to make it better and in english i will upload it.

i have in my mind more of a "pistol like" gun, with a small hand pump attached to the gun itself (think of a super-soaker)

but many thanks to you for your help !! i really appreciate that !!

by the way, how much pressure would such a small pump create? isnt at some point a limit how much pressure it can create? or will it only get a lot harder to pump ?

sorry im a spud gun noob, thats why i want to start with a "small indoor fun gun" hehe

[crcowboyfan]

A small hand pump could probably get up to 40-50 psi if you were really pumping hard. Once you get more involved in building cannons, it is probably worth it to invest in an air compressor.

The other thing is that if you want an easy to make gun that you can use inside, you should look into the mini pill bottle guns. The aren't pnuematic but they are still easy and fun. Search through the combustion cannons page to find them.

[frogy]

If I were you I would make my Air Chamber (known as Chamber\ sometimes resivoir) out of 1" PVC pipe, a 1" Ball Valve and a barrel for darts (I'm assumings darts to be about 3/4"...

Really I can't give a good idea of what gun you need unless I know what kind of darts your shooting and how much they weigh... Won't the air just rush right around the dart?

Try to measure the dart's diameter (you can measure in cm, but try to convert it to In. on http://www.google.com type "# cm to inches" in the search field)

1" for the chamber and a 1" ball valve are cheap, If cost is a matter, it won't conflict much with this gun because it'll be really really cheap...

[Mugumaster]

thanks for the replys !!!

i will try to make a chamber out of PVC pipe.
and for the darts i will measure and wheight them as soon as i got all materials

[Mugumaster]

thanks for the replys !!!

i will try to make a chamber out of PVC pipe.
and for the darts i will measure and wheight them as soon as i got all materials

[jrrdw]

Or you could just convert a super soaker into a dart gun.

[)DEMON(]

I just made a pump which can also be reversed into a vacume pump,I could submit a how to if anybody likes. I am working on a replacement for the blowgun now.

[frogy]

It's easy to make a pump thats reversible to a vacume(sp?) pump.... 2 check valves 2 male quick disconnect, a pipe, an end cap, a piston that seals the pipe, and a female quick disconnect w\ hose + air chuck...

Prime + glue end cap to pipe, tap both the check valves into the end cap, one flowing in, one flowing out... Stick the Male quick disconnects on the check valves... Put the piston in the pipe and move it up and down to pump\vacume

If the hose is in the out male disconnect it fills
If the hose is on the Inlet male disconnect it'll vacume

How did you make yours demon?

[noname]

Mugu, just get a Supersoaker, take it apart, cut the nozzle and trigger off and put on a ball valve. Then put a barrel on the ball valve. Just pump it with the supersoaker pump and then let all the air out of the ball valve.

[Mugumaster]

I did something other today, i had to go to 4 different construction markets (?) and 1 corporation that sells construction material to find what i need -_- (damn switzerland !!! )

i bhought a PVC pipe about 10cm diameter and 2 endcaps, put a shrader valve on one side, and put the other side to a Garden hose gun (?)



nearly like this one.

I also found a Bicycle pump that goes up to 116psi !!!!! (OMG ^^)

then used some serious glue to make everything air secure (? ... lol my english must suck so bad)

now i only have to make the pvc pipe on the gun and its finished

i will upload a pic as soon as it is finished and functional