Added: 2 years ago
From: zanta24
Views: 152,141
Sort by time | Sort by thread (beta)

Link to this comment:

Share to:
see all

All Comments (266)

Sign In or Sign Up now to post a comment!
  • you should shout on something like wood or a phonebook that we can see how hard it shouts^^

  • holy fuck this is awesome O_O

  • lol shotgun railgun

  • Uhm. Is 5,6 Kj the energy accumulated or the kinetical energy of the bullet? If it's the bullet energy then is almost the one of a bullet fired from a light rifle such as an M4 or another 5.56 cal. rifle. (with the execpion that a fire waepon can fire arount 900 riunds per minute). Good work, go on!

  • @crashpilot2 Awhile ago i measured 350 fps. The chrono was homemade and fairly inaccurate though.

  • @zanta24 Many people believe that rail guns don't create recoil because it uses magnetism to fire (the right hand rule). One need only look to Newtons 3rd Law to know that it will. You being a person that has actually built and test fired one, can you confirm for these people that rail guns do produce recoil.

  • @c303c Yea, it does. This one doesn't show it much, but the 12kJ version does:

    people don't necessarily think that it doesn't have recoil, but it is absorbed by the magnetic field - which is also wrong.

  • @zanta24 Yea, it does. This one doesn't show it much, but the 12kJ version does:

    /watch?v=MFF_BHjoJZU&feature=r­elated

    (won't let me paste url)

  • So the rails are far enough apart they don't arc until the projectile enters?

  • @aForkandaSpoon Yes, it is only 400v.

  • Hmm, you wrote that the projectile might puncture skin, so I reason that with 5,6 kJ you mean the energy stored in the capacitors, not the mechanical energy of the projectile.

    Did you build a ballistic pendulum to measure prejectile velocity and anergy? I am curious. I built a coilgun once but found the effectivity far too low, although I used a simulation software to optimize coil and projectile.

  • @gedankenwelten I made a chronograph, which i think showed ~350 fps. Keep in mind the projectile is a halfinch block of aluminum

  • i was just at their website but the schematic didn't show the values for the resistors R1->R6 or the cap values for the Cockroft Walton multiplier or the ratings for the diodes. does any1 know this info?

  • @Arb1ter The resistors are for bleeding, and are 1k each. 4 in parallel for 250 ohms. These are large power resistorts though, your normal 1/4th watt won't cut it at that resistance.

  • This shoots magnets ? or it just propelles a spark ?

  • @TheKaos90 Magnets shoot the projectiles actually, a magnetic object is placed between two electromagnetic rails which fire the object along the rails using the force of magnetism. Thats basically it I think, I' sure someone will correct me if I am wrong xD

  • @DudeOfManyNames actually the projectile shouldnt be magnetic. the magnetic field of the rails generates force on the moving electrons in non-magnetic projectile (aluminium in most cases) and that causes the projectile to accelerate. sorry for bad english, i hope you understood what i said :D

  • @DudeOfManyNames Google Lorentz Force.

  • @zanta24 I probably shouldn't have said anything in the first place, I'm in over my head lol

  • hey quick question, what did you do to charge it? im trying to charge my caps to 300v fairly quickly but i cant seem to find anything but a camera flash circuit and that takes forever. im wondering how you charged that monster within your lifetime lol?

  • Metro 2033 brought me here yes I cant wait to be hated!

  • @PRlMEHUNTER Why should you?

    If all the people here told they had found railguns without playing videogames or watching/reading sci-fi movies/books, 99% of them would be lying.

  • @bf2lover42

    Well I heard of em but never Saw em BEcause i watched alot of Military channel So yeah but Metro 2033 got me into them

  • Well, consider this akin to the Shaped Projectile?

  • Anyone wonder what the blast is? Cause this guy made plasma.

  • @powertoolification Most of it is just hot metal fragments. Plasma may be present, but that isn't what you are seeing.

  • man i love seeing the wires fly away from each other when it fires! i love physics! dow do you control the switch that fire is?

  • @MrStemkilla It is a ball valve on the pneumatic injector. It releases air on a Quick Exhaust Valve (QEV) to dump the tank of air into the bore.

  • how are you charging these capacitors.

  • @guitartuner7 Voltage multiplier from mains.

  • 0:40 we got a ghost!

  • what type of plastic did you use for the rail enclosure? surely plexiglass wouldn't survive that temprature

  • @darkfur18 Garolite G12

  • @darkfur18 Garolite, it is a layered epoxy and glass material. Strong stuff (still in perfect condition, just some discoloration).

  • Hey i plan on building a railgun like this for a school project. Do you think I could make a thing like this, with limited time, money and practical knowledge?

    Also, do you have schematics and stuff like that? and how much did your gun approximatly cost?

  • @MsMrAtze The cost is entireley variable, all depends on what capacitors you can find. A school project isn't that much time, and if you can't produce your own schemas, I don't think it is enough (the circuit really is very straightforward). Message me for more details if you do pursue it.

  • Hey ya this is amazing, you should try some ball bearings. And I have just one question, how do you know what way the projectile is shooting? Couldn't it go either way?

  • This might sound like a stupid question but would this actually hurt if you were hit with it? By hurt I mean through means of burning (melting metal is hot) but through the force of the projectile alone? It doesn't look like there is much velocity or force behind the projectiles firing.

  • @kkchenad Yes, it would hurt. While it doesn't compare to real guns, think of it like this: The half inch square bullet almost got through sheet steel PLUS is was hot for a couple of minutes afterwards. Skin is pretty elastic, so i don't know if it would puncture ( I would think so), but could cause internal bleeding if not.

  • @zanta24 well my .177 airgun can not pierce sheet steel, but goes 4-5 inches through meat (tested on chicken). That's enough to kill if it hits vitals. But yours is more powerful, so i would not point it at anything living

  • @zanta24

    A railgun of high enough stregnth will kill a man. That is the eventual purpose of the weapon design. To kill, or destroy, anything.

  • @kkchenad @zanta24 if 5.6kj means 5600 joules of energy for the slug, then this thing is more than lethal

    In this case even if you fire a 5 gr slug, although it seems to go at a subsonic speed, a 5 gr slug should go at 1500~m/s (provided this IS a 5.6kj accelerator). E=0.5mV^2.

    By the way, a colt .45 produces about 700 joules.. i just checked this on wikipedia.

  • @theeyeofthestorms You shouldn't have added in that Wikipedia part, man XD. Correct, I think, though.

  • @theeyeofthestorms 5.6 kJ input energy, at around 6% (yea, that's awful) efficiency.

  • @zanta24 Still enough to kill. Nice. 6% isnt all that bad really. near the efficiency of solar panels. Appreciate the comment. Dont have time to build one of my own, and dont want it to blow up in my back yard ;)

    Still goes at 300+ m/2. So awesome. Need to make one eventually. merry christmas

  • @zanta24 What film did Arnie have a rail gun? Was it ERASER? They were pretty cool. This vid was from 2009, so what's the latest update in this tech?

  • watch ' how to make a 400v charging circuit ' to learn how to make a circuit from scratch capable of charging photo flash capacitors, you need little electronics knowledge and you only need four components.

  • What's the muzzle velocity?

  • Why the sparks?

  • @itawwwa the shot generally turn into a plasma and the conection releases a massive amount of energy as sparks

  • Comment removed

  • what this really shot?

  • @seabiscut251 Theoretically, yes. With enough power, you can put something like aluminum foil - which would be vaporized and propel the non-magnetic projectile.

  • is there any risk that the gun will blow off or electrocute me AFTER its shot?

    ofc I dont plan to shoot it while im holding it, but lets say I place it over something, shoot (from the distance ofc) and then when I go to pick it up, will it throw some discharge at me or explode in my hands?

  • @SoundofLambda There is almost always some charge left (some is regenerated and refed into the capacitors). That's why there are bleeder resistors.

  • 1-What projectile speed do you think you got?

    2-Carefull with rebounds!

  • you should test this on an animal.

    not like a healthy one... e.g. a pig or somthin

  • I am 17, and i made a small model coil gun running off a 12v batt, and charging up 4700uf @ 70volts, and decided Id like to scale up a tad, and ran across your vid. I have to say, thats extremely imp ressive (especially the sparks!) How many volts is your cap bank at, and how many farads is it? What do you use to charge it up to that power level? (I was just using a pulsing inductor, and siphoning off HV back EMF to charge, but wondered how others did it)

  • @NewPyroLabs 400v, 40 capacitors, 3900 uF. Total about 12.1 kJ (for my second version. Don't remember exactly how many capacitors was in this one.) I used a voltage tripler powered off of mains.

  • I'm 17 and don't know crap about this sort of thing but i would love to learn to make one of these lol. I'm planning on doing Electrical Engineering in college so maybe i will learn how someday maybe even just one to shoot ball barrings anything would be fun. I can't wait to see where railguns are at in 20-30 years. I've heard they were playing with the idea of using them as a launcher for satalites and such but i'm not sure.

  • @Micahj94 pftt, a college education to make one of these? I made this when I was 15-16. It isn't too terribly complicated, unless you want to go into the hardcore physics involved.

  • @zanta24 I understand the basic idea underwhich they work and i understand most of what you need to make one. I know how to make the electro magnet and all of that but what i don't know are the specifics of how i should store the energy. Such as if i mad a small one i would have to use a capacitor bank to store up the energy but adding to how many farads and should i use resistors. what i meant by what i don't know crap about is the details of what i said above.

  • @zanta24 I understand the basic idea underwhich they work and i understand most of what you need to make one. I know how to make the electro magnet and all of that but what i don't know are the specifics of how i should store the energy. Such as if i made a small one i would have to use a capacitor bank to store up the energy but adding to how many farads and should i use resistors and how do i arrange the coils. What i meant by what i don't know crap about is the details of what i said above.

  • @Micahj94 More farads = more power. What's really required is a decent voltage to dump all that power. Even 400 is on the low end. Just get enough power that your comfortable with it and have the necessary equipment. Cost is also huge. Resistors are purely optional only for saftey. If a firing fails, then you are left with a dangerous, charged bank - and at this power level, a hards short is very dangerous, as well as damaging.

    Coils? That's a coilgun. This is a railgun...

  • @zanta24 Ok so this is about where my knowledge level ends i knew a bit more a while ago when i did research on it but forgot a lot of it since. Thank you for the info i do still plan on making it and would if money weren't such a big factor. Maybe once i find a job and get some money i will make one. It sounds just like a cool fun project. My expertise lies more in computers than this kind of electrics. But maybe i will study this sort of thing in college it could be fun i'm just an EE person.

  • @Micahj94 Sorry for the second reply, but electrically, a rail gun is EXTREMLEY simple - just shorting out a power source, with a specific arrangement of wires (in essence).

  • @Micahj94 No offense, but this is baby stuff. You should have learned it in 3rd grade science class.

  • @savemyplaylist You are misunderstanding my questions. Can you tell me exactly how many of what size capacitors i am going to need to design a rail gun capable of firing a 10 gram projectile at a resonable speed and how much energy those capacitors will use as well as what kind of resistors to put on it and how many of those? I doubt you can do all of that without doing some research and i much more doubt you could have done it under the age of 12.

  • @Micahj94 Making one is easy (with resources). Understanding one and learning how to manipulate certain variables is very advanced stuff.

  • thats cool but looks inefficient because you could do the same thing with gun powder.

  • hey, currently I am in the process on designing a railgun myself and control board. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing some of your designs and knowledge. In return maybe I could share some of my designs. It could be like working together, you could call it.

    -Psymoneyezed

  • i love how u reply to like everyone of ur comments :P

    also where could i go to get MOST of the stuff to make it :P

  • @xXxjapanesefreakxXx Went through a couple of days ago, and replied to abunch :)

    To get a good deal to make the parts, its gonna take some time. Just look around on places like eBay, alltronics, and other surplus places.

  • @zanta24 o ok thanks :P and sorry for late reply :P

  • hahahaha why would you test it on a carpet if expels such a large amount of sparks

  • @SgtKickazz Low amount of heat volume, can't do much.

  • looks like he is shooting bottle rockets out of a tube.

  • How come the projectile melts? Is it because of the friction

  • @wollieboyniels

    Do you think it could be possible to use tungsten proyectiles? The tungsten is the metal that has the highest fusion temperature, maybe it could work¿?

  • @xantyleonhart It might, but would be awful. Tungsten is a poor conductor. Aluminum is a good conductor. Also, you don't want a high melting point, lower than the copper rails. That way, more damage occurs to the cheap easily replaceable projectiles, instead of the expensive rails.

  • @wollieboyniels Massive energy through small amounts of aluminum generate a lot of heat through resistance, melting it

  • how is the wear on the rails after shots?

  • @madfastmax It verys, but usually pretty bad, with a lot of pitting, and aluminum left over (melted on).

  • does it actually shoot through that cardboard?

  • @madfastmax Why yes, and also the Steel plate behind it =p

  • lol man dont burn now the basement or bomb the neighbors with that thing :D

  • Hey, could anybody tell me what exactly is the projectile?

  • @banana1337kivi pause at 10 seconds, looks like a random hunk of metal

  • cool,u can make one in ya basement!!!

  • did your rail gun ever punch through anything at least a 1/8 inch steal diamond plate or something equal to that.\

    because a gun that size should be able to put a big dent or make it fly across the room. or at least burn a whole in it with all the plasma its making

    try different projectiles with different shapes. i found huge success with a shotgun type system that had a way better conductor un a cube shape that the hardened steal spick out and through my dry wall and stopped at my bricks

  • what will the velocity of the projectile be with a gun like this?

  • I want 1 of these 4 my birthday!

  • @kenfreak0 ...sure.

  • Impressive! Looks like it could punch a respectable-sized hole in a zombie.

  • @kjun13 finally someone using their brain before they post a comment damn we all know your from the future, here hit this we call it kill !! u damn right @kjun13 it would fuck some zombies HARD!! lol

  • @DeliciousMalicious68 I made smaller one during my first year at university in physics, but the professor demanded I destroy it because it was too dangerous.

  • Comment removed

  • @TheRealStupidMovie you are 13 and know nothing about anything, so please keep your stupid thoughts too yourself.

  • After reading the comments I now feel extremely stupid around you people.

  • what did you used for projectile?

    

  • Can you make one with enough KE to kill someone? Lol

  • Some of the most successful hyper-velocity railgun tests used an explosive charge timed to detonate just behind the projectile which "compressed" the magnetic flux and plasma wave resulting in extreme velocity in the projectile. Some of these tests launched sugar-cube sized projectiles all the way through steel trash cans. Google "rail gun explosive charge".

  • @mbunds I think your thinking of a explosively pumped magnetic flux compression generator. It is a power supply, not the railgun it self.

  • @zanta24 what's up with all the words like flux anyways? i thought i would only ever see those kinda words on STARWARS, now i hear scientists saying flux and shit but its kinda fucked up when there saying like "oh yeah the plasma burst was a crazy thing comeing from my flux compassitor."

  • @yungpadiwan flux means "change". Rate of change is a fundamental property when dealing with electromagnetism. That is why spinning a generator quickly will generate more electricity, the rate of magnetic field change is much higher. Current rate is di/dt, and voltage is dv/dt.

  • @zanta24 well the clerification helped. thanks for that. but it still sounds like starwars lol.

  • there has got to be a way to make one rifle size.

    the only thing that constitutes a weapon as a firearm is if its rim fire or center fire, this is neither

  • So is there any sign of a projectile after firing?, if not I would suggest boring a hole through the middle of the projectile and putting a piece of sharpened iron rod in the hole. This will not disintegrate blah blah you know.

  • I <3 technology.

  • Do you have a .pdf of this design?

  • i believe you developed a new military weapon :O

  • @darkdragon225 It is a military weapon.

  • @IamatreexD no shit xD

  • could you lick that when its firing?

  • @anuthutantrum you could

  • Cool plasma...

  • so this shoots out hot particularized metal?

  • Wouldn't something like that be illegal, it seems as if it should...but it would be awesome to have non-the-less

  • @sfhgh No laws regarding something like that (unless used in a threatening manner ofc). Firearms have an explosive propellent, this doesn't.

  • how efficient is your average railgun???

  • @tesladude19 More effecient with more power. Max ever reached is around 20%. Something this size, 5% would be very good.

  • ... I wonder what kind of havoc this thing would cause on a pig corpse or a melon.

  • @Arcterion thats definetly a kill shot

  • Comment removed

  • it suck , cos it fire ferromagnetic plasma , that dosbles em few metters whan mean not a goot range weapon , and it's very heavy , . .

  • @TUSpeeddy What the fuck did you just say?

  • Does the proportion barrel lenth:range grow exponentially?

  • @SHNS0 No. More rail just means more friction. You only want it long enough to dump all the energy.

  • @SHNS0 Nope, once the energy is gone, it is just friction.

  • @SHNS0 And if anything, such as light gas guns, it is logarithmically.

  • what causes the fire and sparks? It seems to like there would be none, but the video of the Navy test from Crane, IN showed the same thing.

  • @Ashkelion I am uncertain but it may be bits of the rails and such. The friction in a mag device like this is severe.

  • @Ashkelion in the navy test video the reason why there is fire and sparks is because there is so much friction between the air and the projectile because of the speed it is travelling at that the air basically catches fire

  • @Ashkelion Melted aluminum/copper

  • can't u make a similar one with everything the same, except so compressed air things?

  • Can I flag the music for being gay?

    Good work on the gun.

  • i fire molten hot metal over carpet too.

  • This is the commercial the Russians put out for their new Portable Crate missile system. They sell it on the open market.

    Paste this after youtube's address watch?v=zIgvGpH2smY&feature=re­lated

    Railgun can shoo this down far far away.

  • @TheOffspringOfMedia1

    It takes time to charge up the power. The charge time determines the rate of fire, which would make the gun useless for carrying use. If anything to be concealed, it would be best as a portable artillery.

    I feel the best purpose for this weapon is a homeland defense for any country wanting to shoot down an enemy missile that is headed towards them with little to no warning. It can track and aim, and reach distances, I believe it can cover the Atlantic.

  • paralyzer!!!

  • What kind of velocity are we talking about here? I read through your Instructables bit, and your plan seems to be the most professional and powerful . . . 5.6kJ seems respectable, although I'm planning a slightly more industrial model of your plans to have some fun with, but the specs would help. And how do your rails hold up to the stress?

  • @JavaMac08 Never measured this one. In all fairness, this one was crude and basically sucked. If you didn't see, I did a 12kJ one (more than twice the power), that is actually well constructed. In addition, less buss bars, wider conductors, etc for more effeciency. Not to mention saftey improvements (bleeders).

  • this is just effective within 5 or 6 metres

  • Would you be able to make it so you can carry it to use it? Maybe set up a pack comprised of a car battery for a power-source.

  • @TheOffspringOfMedia1 Depends, do you want to carry ~120lbs on your back? It is pointless to carry, a hand gun provides more energy.

  • @zanta24 It'd be 1.Badass and 2.Super awesome.

  • @zanta24 But a handgun isn't nearly as badass as a railgun

  • @zanta24 yeah, im doing a science project on it, any tips? oh and it is pointless to carry because it needs to be big enough and have enough power, but as an anti-aircraft gun.............

  • @zanta24 Actually it'd be pretty easy to find out, safely. If you have the resources to make a coilgun, I bet you can get ballistic gel too. Mold it thick enough for an average person's midsection, and fire away.

  • What the block is made of?

  • @birramorettisuper the projectile is made of aluminum, the bore is made of garolite G-11

  • @zanta24 thanks

  • This reminds of the time me and my friends made an electromagnetic cannon using an aluminum ring and a solenoid with a displaced iron core. We eventually got a copper ring and some liquid nitrogen which improved it by a lot.

  • this rocks!

  • lolz at electricity bill

    (those things have like a 1/2% efficiency?)

  • @MrPandawesome small scale ones are. I reached 3%, not bad for this scale.

  • @MrPandawesome Say charge time was 30 seconds. Only 400 watts.

  • Nice Video 5*

  • damn thats cool! have you ever been able to measure or calculate the speed of the projectile?

  • @sovietduck Not on this version, but on the second version, yes. The speed calculated was about 950 fps with 12 kJ, or 2.7% effciencieny.

  • Werey nice Railgun. Try to use a steel or tungstun projectil. or titanium. Not aluminum, it melts werey fast.

  • Steel wont work, it's magnetic. Both titanium and tungsten would work, but it's either the projectile melts, or the rails do, and i chose projectile. Also cheaper. In addition, aluminum is more conductive.

  • @zanta24 Probably a dumb question but can It hurt someone badly?

  • How do you build one? I would love a guide.

  • wow, that is so cool. What is the maximum range on that thing? You should make a video of it shooting things at farther range!

  • I do not know the range.

    It is hard to shoot at a far range because of aiming. If you look at the projectiles, they are horrible aerodynamically.

  • Would love to build a metroid style "power suit" with this built into the arm. "Why?" you say, "What would you shoot at?". Absolutely nothing but it would be fun to build, cool to play with (responsibly, of course) and make an amazing hallowe'en costume

  • If you put a rail gun of that power or hyer on your arm it will probobly tair the arm of as your shooting. Railguns are the most powerful weapons on earth and thay produce a emence reciol. Dont try. Or go under 1 KJ, Its safer :)

  • how did you make the voltage tripler?

  • what type of power supply did you sue to charge this?

  • @zekedge It is simply mains (120v 60Hz AC) into a voltage tripler.

  • how long can it fire? I mean, aint it that hot that the projectile melt?

  • Some of it melts, yes, but the current is very quick, voltage is high, and resistance is low.

  • it doesnt melt, most of it is instantly transformed to plasma

  • so your saying there is a instant transition between plasma temperatures to solid temperatures? There is far more liquid aluminum than plasma. The rails are coated with aluminum in areas, and I found aluminum flakes on the base after firing, much like when a drop of solder falls of a iron.