What's The Best Potato Cannon? We Find Out With Science!
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2020
- In this video I'm bringing together a bunch of different spud guns that I've built, to see which design performs the best! We measure a number of factors including muzzle velocity, accuracy, reloading time, and more!
The video also features a couple special guest cannons of different designs. As far as I can tell, this might be one of the first "scientific" potato cannon comparisons!
The first half of the video is test shots and measurements, and the second half are mostly graphs and slide-shows (I'm sure to win the middle school science fair now!). Skip to about 12:54 for final conclusions on what's the best! - Věda a technologie
Just fired my potato cannon with 3 seconds of hairspray and my ears are still ringing. That was the most epic moment of my life
Hairspray? Must've been Aqua-net! That's what my mom used.
2:23, you got your buddy standing downrange, brilliant.
Lol, he's pretty far off to the side and mostly in a shed (the Gopro distorts the video a little). But yeah probably not OSHA approved :-)
Man, my old potato cannon like your “traditional” one was a beast. It sounded like a shotgun going off and would shoot a potato so fast you could barely see it.
Everyone knows an underground bunker full of potato batteries powering a surface to orbit laser battery is the supreme form of potato gun
I did a search on different fuels. I found a page claiming the navy did a potato canon study using different fuels. Acetylene gave the most distance
Your velocity is super low. Ive never had a potato bounce off of a target. I get reliable ignition with aqua net, and can blow a hole in 3/8 plywood. Hitting an oak tree will turn the pitato to mist and remove the bark of the tree in an 8" circle. Also, sharpen the outside of your muzzle so you get a perfect cylinder of potato going down the bore
You should build a magnetic rail potato gun you probably got most the stuff.
I actually have a big pile of capacitors I'm hoarding...
You would have to put a conductive ring around the potato, but it’s almost feasible
Dammit man! Agreed!
@@saveitforparts>>> _Capacitors?_ You could post a _Condensed_ vid under your YT video shorts tab...😊
When I saw that chronograph I could not stop laughing 😆
For the grill sparker style I recommend 91% isopropyl alcohol. As long as you give it fresh air between each shot it will go off.
I like to use denatured alcohol with mine. It is clean and relatively safe and reliable.
I had best luck with propane
@@ariesleo7396true, propane works the best but the combustion temperature is much hotter than isopropyl
Gabe: In case you have not done so since making this video, it would IMHO be cool if you reworked the 'acrylic shield' on your Howitzer so your aiming telescope would actually work...👍
You need to give the size, shape, weight and material of each projectile being fired. Especially for the chronographed ones so you can compare the power or inertia of each projectile. Haven't you seen any gun channels? the good ones even tell you how they load their rounds lol.
Also if you want a better ignition source then order a few cheap plasma lighters online, you can attach the leads to some bolts in the chamber and they should last longer but if you epoxy a nut on the inside and one to the outside of the chamber then they become both replaceable and tuneable. When placed properly they can get that extra 5% of capability out of it. Also for using liquids like alcohol or lighter fluid that works best when vaporized, I have found that pre-mixing it in a separate container can be the most reliable method, like pouring rubbing alcohol into a big 3 liter bottle and filling the cannon by squeezing the bottle so that the vapor and air from that is used as fuel, then you don't need to worry about putting too much in there you can just have extra in the bottle and as long as you just use the vapor from the bottle and not the liquid it is already got a great ratio in it!
I ordered some cheap stun guns to try out, will see if those work better or if I just zap myself :-P
Starting at about 07:00 in this video:
You created a SPUDSHEET...😊
Great video.
For what it is worth, here is my analysis.
We are not trying to kill anything so, the Cool Factor rules.
What if you designed the combustion chamber like a carburetor where there is a constriction to increase the velocity of the gas where you have the ignition on the back and the other side that connects to the barrel would be 1/3 the length of the high pressure end(the ignition side)
I have a theory that the 1 inch barrel encourages a longer slimmer projectile that will fly truer and tumble a lot less. A 2 inch barrel gives a shorter fatter round [comparatively] for the length of the potato so it is more likely to randomly spin and be inaccurate as it is less aerodynamic.
mmm stereo fly buzzing sounds. thought it was a real fly by my head because I am wearing headphones
The constant grasshopper sounds in the background were also a lot more obvious on video than in real life :-P
Funny enough I love bug sounds in videos, especially now in winter up north where it's been a while since I've heard them. Feels soothing
You're wrong on the accuracy of the metal canon : it hits something right in the middle : the chronograph :D
We all love your videos so much!!!!
We need to know what's the accurate of metal potato gun??!!
Gabe: *_"We also had a pretty cheap chronograph..."_*
Which got EVEN CHEAPER before the end of the video...😉
Just slightly 'sploded 😅
@@saveitforparts>>> But just think of the VIEWS...🤭
I know this is an older video but I can tell you from catching spuds fired from the best “357 Spud” gun I built that would shoot spuds consistently over 1200 feet, these things shoot knuckleballs big time! They float all around even at 25 yards (best catching distance). Oh yeah, the spuds do explode in your glove most of the time. 🙂
Amazing video. 10/10
of course when i search or potato cannon, you come up. hahaha.
*HOW MANY POTATO CANNON VIDEOS ON THIS CHANNEL HAVE I MISSED??!!*
🤭🤭🤭
I do like my flying potatoes!
@@saveitforparts>>> And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that...😊
New Glarus, Northern speak, you guys are definitely in the UP
Actually Minnesota and Wisconsin, we just go to the UP for their mines and beer :-D
Wisconsin boy here 😆
What if we could add high fuel to air and pump it pneumatic a few times?
I've heard of hybrid designs, but I haven't gotten that fancy yet!
now you just need to build a hybrid spud gun that uses a preloaded piston to maximise the gas pressure. they are insanely powerfull. make it from steel and load with oxy acetyline plant.
I see many potatoe cannon makers shoving potatoes extremely tightly down the barrel for the sake of preventing any air escaping. But dont you hinder the potatoes speed when you shove it that tightly in the barrel?
It would seem if your wanted the optimal speed you would cut the potato so it barley touches the sides of the barrel. That would prevent air from escaping, while keeping friction to a minimum.
Some people will have a cutter or a specially shaped barrel to slice the potatoes to just the right size. There's probably an optimum balance between size and airtight seal.
It doesn't depend on that alone. The tight fit is meant to retain the explosion a little bit longer, causing higher peak pressure in the chamber, which in turn deliver more energy to the projectile. A loose fit on the other hand, is too easy to be moved. The early phase of explosion would cause it to move, effectively increasing the volume for the pressure behind it, and finally causing the peak pressure in the chamber to be lower
Yes that makes sense. Good to know
Some quick tips.....starting fluid in my experience, is best. You can NOT use the nozzle that comes with the can, it's TOO COARSE. Find a spray paint nozzle that fits on the can and spray a fog into the breach. Start small and work your way up with the amount. And always remember to blow out the exhaust before the next shot. There is NO oxygen in the chamber after you shoot it! Hair spray will coat your electrodes with lacquer and soon they won't spark! My 7 foot gun will launch tennis balls at 1100 FPS! (2 1/4 in. electrical conduit)
Try using Oxy&Acetylene mix
“Send it”
Was the green cannon powered by acetylene or menthonol?
which is more powerful combustion or pneumatic?
I wanna know the classified propellant
I love how you just smoked your chronograph and act like nada happened, also do you live in a train??
The monorail train is our summer cabin :-) Got it from the local zoo, I have a couple videos of it on here.
6:57
My family needs to be friends with your family.
Use bigger russet potatoes and have a section of pipe that you can use to "cookie cutter" the potatoes into reasonably consistent shapes and yall should have very repeatable results withing fairly accurate ranges
Yeah, I should have done this. The small town grocery store only had the little spuds.
I got the idea from colin furze when he made his repeater spud launcher
What you do is “sharpen” the end of the barrel. Grind it to a knife edge if that makes sense. Then you stick the big potato in the end, then pound it down. The oversized part of the potato gets shaved off and you have a perfectly sized plug. Furthermore, it’s all wet and slippery, so it seals better and has dat lube doh.
If you put a nice thick layer of grass for a wad, you can use potato salad...
I had another video where I made/shot french fries, but it ended up more like hash browns :-P
Give’m some juice- too weak
Need to ditch the potatoes and get 1/4 full chalk tube flair the end to fit a 2 inch tube for good seal and you will have distance and vol
I used to make pvc golf ball rounds for mine that would go through a car door. Get pvc that just slides in the barrel cut it at three inches and glue the golf ball with pvc glue and then wrap some electrical tape around the pvc to make it a tight fit.
you should make a side breack simplified, no propane or air compressor like the walmart version
Why not try HHO or welding gas?
*ok now pierce a tank*
Oddly enough I have a tank video coming up...
@@saveitforparts epic!
Are you shooting tennis balls?
Can you launch a potato with a nail-gun blank?
I've never tried that, I suspect the pressure wouldn't be enough. I'll keep an eye out for those in dumpsters!
@@saveitforparts Maybe a half inch barrel potato gun.
So if you take this hunting, would it actually take down an animal?
The one Kyle made might take out an entire forest and everything in it, that one is terrifying!
Oxy acetylene special formula
try butane
Hay
90% OF YOUR PROBLEM IS YOUR COICE OF FUEL. BOTH ETHER AND HAIR SPRAY ARE WETTING YOUR ELECTRODES. sorry, caps on. you need a dry fuel for reliability. compressing said "dry fuel"; helps. accuracy should be fairly accurate at 300M-500M. muzle velocity can exceed 100kmph, easily!
Rifle the pipe and use Aqua Net. You have no accurate guns. That means you hit the target. Yours go opposite of the last part of the potato that comes out. Simple science. The original gun is built wrong entirely.
It's hard to find real Aqua Net these days. I think I have a vintage can somewhere that I found at a garage sale, the modern stuff has too much water in it :-(
Dude... Put the camera facing the target from where you're at or somewhere where you can see everything. You couldn't see shit for like 90% of the video.
Im late to the game, but i have a 2 inch barrel with a 6 inch combustion chamber which is pretty stout with a 350 to 400 yard launch but it doesn't hold a flame to another youtuber's design of using schedule 80 pvc with a double combustion chamber, a evacuation fan and a taser's arc for ignition. For ammo he's firing 70mm cans of spray paint. Fkn brutal. also sweet potatoes are dryer which slows in barrel from friction counteract this with a bit of wd-40 or lube. Ive found ether starting fluid, acetone, propane and acetylene as the best fuels