long range ammo MiniBoy Mark I

[ramses]

You could do a SIDAC "spark gap" tesla tank circuit tuned to some AM radio frequency. Run the insulated antenna out one of the holes. Rig a Yagi antenna to a radio, and you have direction.


All components should be able to take 5000+ G's, since they can be solid state.

[MrCrowley]

If a sufficiently large launch area is a problem the round can alway just be fired nearly vertically. Hang time and the Cd (or measure the muzzle velocity and calculate the Cd) will tell you about both the power of the launcher and the flight characteristics of the ammo.

The only thing you loose when firing nearly straight up is that any ammo that generates it's own lift (like a properly spun golf ball) won't exhibit much lift when fired this way, though it will displace laterally more than a non-lift round.

Re-read about 15 pages of the 'long distance [...]' thread, this post seemed worth mentioning again. It would increase the chance of finding the projectile and calculating its range (the projectile could be lost to Davy Jones' Locker yet I see it impacting the water, allowing me to calculate hang time).

Then again, it's also extremely dangerous.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Then again, it's also extremely dangerous.

No kidding.

The miniboy would act like a flechette, in fact it would be a larger and much more lethal version of the Lazy Dog.

[MrCrowley]

The projectile would probably drift a few hundred meters with a 30kph wind and although that could be used to ensure my safety, I still wouldn't try this without a 12" thick reinforced concrete bunker to hide in

GGDT also thinks firing straight up reduces the 'range' to about 3400m (the apogee) down from about 6000m in range (we all know this is a very optimistic figure) at 42 degrees.

BTW, those Lazy Dog projectiles are freakin' awesome.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

BTW, those Lazy Dog projectiles are freakin' awesome.

The modern incarnation is even more awesome

[MrCrowley]

Have you tried mixing up a small batch of resin to test? It might still be fine.

Some good news:

Mixed up a small batch and spread it on a piece of (what I think was) pine and in a 20mm x 20mm hole. After 15 hours, the epoxy on top dried and was rock hard as was the epoxy in the hole. I also epoxied two pieces of pine together; they had to be split with a hammer and chisel. When they finally came apart, they ripped small chunks out of each other.

Seems like the epoxy is usable regardless of the expiration date.



I also had a brain wave today... what if I use some wires and a 9v battery to ignite some steel wool in the back of the projectile while it's down the barrel? Hopefully this will be enough to ignite some smoke stuff.

I've thought of two ways of doing this: stuff the projectile down the barrel with the wires attached, when the steel wool is ignited try and remove the wires or just leave them in place. The first option is tricky as the wires need to be easy to remove yet not so easy that they come loose while shoving the projectile down the barrel. Leaving them in the barrel could get the wires tangled and caught up in the sabot/projectile and screw up the launch.

Thoughts?

[saefroch]

How could you remove the wires? I suggest light, load, and fire. All in quick succession. If you're making your own <i>stuff</i> may I humbly suggest (if you don't already) adding some Na₂2CO₃ or NaHCO₃.

[warhead052]

What about a camera, I am talking a still frame camera, and leave the shutter open till it impacts, then open the picture, and follow to impact zone? Use steel wool on fire though, that will produce an effect like this.

[MrCrowley]

Well if I jammed the two wires in the small holes at the back of the projectiles hard enough so that they stay in place, when ignited, I would yank on the wires and try to pull them out. I would prefer not to do this since I don't like the idea of sparks in the barrel with the hybrid ready to be fired and yanking crap out of the barrel at the same time.

Same reason for why I want to avoid light, load and fire too. I know the risk is freakin' small considering I have a safety on my ignition, but I don't like the idea of loading projectiles with the hybrid ready to go. I could use a 1.5m long fuse but it would have to be homemade (no idea where else to get a fuse).

I was planning on adding the latter of the ingredients to the cake.

Since I don't want to use the heat method, I was going to just use water with some NaHCO3 added and perhaps even some food dye (people just seem to say they use a dye, not what kind. I have heaps of different dyes from my microscopy though).

What about a camera, I am talking a still frame camera, and leave the shutter open till it impacts, then open the picture, and follow to impact zone? Use steel wool on fire though, that will produce an effect like this.

Leave the shutter open? That would produce one helluva blurred photo if I'm following you correctly. Regardless, a camera would screw up the Cd and would be either too expensive, too large or not able to transmit. If I can transmit a photo, I may as well transmit the location.

[saefroch]

He says leave the shutter open on a camera like on a tripod next to the launcher, or about halfway downrange so you get a blurred arc of the miniboy's trajectory. A really good idea actually.

If you don't make the cake sugarless (I think I heard of somebody pulling it off) and add plenty of sugar to start, you can melt it down gently with a tiny bit of water in the sugar (like a few drops) then add the other ingredients to the caramel. Allowing them to dissolve in the sugar will give you a very smooth cake, with a completely even composition, no lumps. The water-based method isn't nearly as reliable, all those lumps can be really bad for the cake when you go to eat it. When heating, just be aware of the viscosity changes as a result of temperature, it cools quickly when you try to pour it into a pan.

[MrCrowley]

Ah I getcha. That would be a great idea used in conjunction with a bright LED or smoke. If the smoke isn't very thick, it could be tricky to follow with the eye.

[saefroch]

Do you have any idea how long the miniboy will stay in the air, and how deep the possible holding area is for objects?

EDIT: I'm in chat btw...

[MrCrowley]

I imagine the hang time would be close to a minute or so? Pretty much the entire MiniBoy is hollow with a 13mm inside diameter and 4mm diameter threaded rod going through the middle. Volume is probably about 15ml or less.

Will the cake damage the projectile any more than just superficially?
Can the cake be crushed up in to a powder when it has dried and be eaten that way?

Edit: Got me self some digital scales 1000g x 0.1g for $7. Got the weight correct of all my coins. I am impress.

[ramses]

Two things: First, I would like to suggest SrCO3 in the cake. You could try to activate the cake using the traditional method for aerial shells (primed visco fuse?) to ignite on combustion from the hybrid mix. Much like this guy in his other videos


Also, if the projectile goes 1.5km and you are 300m away with the camera, you would need about a 3mm focal length to record the whole thing. And you will have significant distortion at that focal length

[MrCrowley]

Hmm I could get 100g for about $6.60 w/o shipping.

As for the visco fuse, appears it has been removed from auction sites here (Google cached heaps of older auctions but there hasn't been an auction for one recently). Doesn't appear you can use a common dye or pot. nit. when dyeing the cake.

So saefroch, you reckon I can heat the suger by itself, remove it from the heat source and quickly mix in the other ingredients? I'll do a bunch of tests to see what burns the slowest and ignites the easiest.