Help with ignition source

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.
thetyzonator
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Thu Dec 09, 2010 10:03 am

Hey I live in Canehda so it is impossible for me to obtain a stun gun legally... I was thinking intead like a flint lantern igniter or a BBqsparker. Any other ideas?
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MikeNice
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Thu Dec 09, 2010 4:33 pm

Your face is going to freeze like that. http://iplaaz.freehostia.com/
thetyzonator
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Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:22 pm

Well the only thing is I live in Canada and they dont have that on the Canadian web site :( :( but I will look at my local wally world when I have a chance :) thanks for the info though!
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Technician1002
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Fri Dec 10, 2010 2:02 pm

Another option is the pilot relight kits for RV's to keep the water heater or refrigerator lit. These often will run on a 9v battery. Check with a local RV dealer.
http://www.adventurerv.net/water-heater ... -1174.html
thetyzonator
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Sat Dec 11, 2010 12:41 pm

Ouch thats like 50$ though... if worst comes the worst then ill think about it but i think id prefer to buy a lantern igniter before that.
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Grignacke
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Sat Dec 11, 2010 1:52 pm

If you're savvy with electronics, you can get a CRT TV and get the transformer they use to supply high voltage (the flyback), hook it up with a more or less easy to build circuit (555 timer or 2N3055, but the latter generally fails) and give yourself some pretty high voltage. It's harder to make but more rewarding and educational.
thetyzonator
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Sat Dec 11, 2010 2:59 pm

hmmmm ill have to check into that one. I have a friend with whom im going to build this cannon with and he's pretty electronic savvy
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Sat Dec 11, 2010 3:01 pm

thetyzonator wrote:Ouch thats like 50$ though...
The piezo ignition from a cigarette lighter works well and can be had for next to nothing.
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
thetyzonator
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Sat Dec 11, 2010 3:04 pm

mkay ill chck that one out too :) Over the christmas holidays me and my bud are going to be makign an advanced combustion so we'll toy around with a bunch of different ones and see which is the best :) I just wish i could get a stun gun.... that would make life soooooo much easier :(
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Sat Dec 11, 2010 4:36 pm

You can probably find a source of a stun gun that has been converted into a high voltage power supply. That should get around any local laws concerning stun guns.

I agree with jack though, you can get a piezo from any number of sources. A long handled BBQ (or fireplace) lighter has a nice piezo with trigger. The standard "red-button" BBQ piezo igniter is usually the simplest and cheapest route.
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Hotwired
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Sat Dec 11, 2010 6:25 pm

It's only a stun gun if you have it packaged as one.

If you have the circuit of a stun gun totally without a stun gun shell, wired up to a cannon in safely insulated manner and demonstrably being used as an ignition system... well some nosy bugger is going to have to examine the circuit board to tell where its from.

Furthermore, a capacitor charging circuit plus a way to rapidly discharge the capacitor through an ignition coil = same effect and is in principle the same thing a stun gun does.

I've got several live and dead circuits which create rapid high voltage arcs like a stun gun but they never were one:

For example, the output of notastungun made from a miniature ignition coil, disposable camera circuit and a replacement capacitor:

[youtube][/youtube]

All easy to obtain components and can be made the size of a pack of cigarettes including the AAA batteries.
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Lockednloaded
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Sat Dec 11, 2010 6:29 pm

you can support our sponsors and get an effective ignitor, pretty cheap in my honest opinion, I've got one on the way, so I'll tell you how well it works
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the dude
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Sun Jan 23, 2011 11:06 pm

We've made ourselves a potato gun but we can't seem to get it to fire. we have the barbecue lighter as our ignition source, its placed in the screw cap in the back. We are also using carb cleaner as our combustible. Can someone please give us some advice. we wanna fire this baby off.

When we spark the lighter with carb cleaner in the chamber it fires, but only when we have no ammo down the shaft. When theirs actually something in the tube nothing happens. [/img]
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linuxexorcist
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Sun Jan 23, 2011 11:43 pm

you most likely have too much fuel in the chamber, as the wiki says, too much fuel will essentially suffocate the flame, preventing effective ignition
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Sun Jan 23, 2011 11:55 pm

See dude, if you post the same question in 2 different topics, you'll still get the same answer, so no need to post twice ;)
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
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