Basic DIY coilgun, coil gun disp camera assembly

[residentmagnum]

hey thanks for the cool project I'll have to try and build my own

[badpaulnadur]

is the copper wire enemel coated ????

and is the barrel in plastic or metal ???

eccelent demonstration

[ToiletStruggle]

can i use more then one AA to power everything (like 3 or 4 AA's?)?

[coolaidkiller101]

does it work with one cap

[1212fdfd]

whats the current in the wire??

[Theharshbohra]

hey i have a big capacitor.The one used in fans and its 440volts Ac each but it only charges with a wall socket outlet so do u have any idea on how to make a basic coilgun...plz

[Flea5000000000]

@Theharshbohra get a camera step up trasformer out of a disposible flash camera, that produces 300v

[bobdole10156]

why did you make your coil short the longer it is the beter

[charlieDetroit]

get a switch man! getting shocked hurts like a bitch

[Ducttaper74]

Lol blueeyessesto. I guess you either didn't discharge the capacitor before you used the board

[blueeyesseto]

okay i have a kodak camera and i was told that u use the flash leads but all i got was a 300v electric shock and a dead curcuit so how do u do it?

[GoldenShaolinNutz]

oh nizzo!!!! i shot my computer screen........rofl

[Mppgangster225]

@easttsidecostumz

The projectile will go towards the coil every time

[EasttSideCustomZ]

how do you know which way it gona fire pleas tell me

[tootmuff]

@EasttSideCustomZ it depends on the direction in which the current flows through the wire.

[zackman811]

@artikbotum first time i read this, i thought you said to "put in a beef sandwich"

[MrStemkilla]

im bilding one but i dont know if i really evin need the flash serket cant i just directlu conect the battory to the caps for 40 seconds then just disconect them vea swich and fire the coyal and repeat? or is disconecting the flash serket a bad idea? plx help

[SimonG2892]

@MrStemkilla its not the "flash" circuit you want, its the capacitor charging circuit. you need the circuit board to boost the battery voltage up from around 1.5 volts to about 250-300 volts. you need lots of "force" and using a high voltage burst will make a very intense but very short duration magnetic field, sucking the projectile into one end of the tube and firing it out of the other.

[MrStemkilla]

@SimonG2892 ok i understand that but my secrket bord has eather a short in it or somthing stupid like that the cap works but the serket dosent :( im in the early stage of bilding the gun and i went to test the cap and ... nothing no hum frome the charging and i dont know what to do i was also wondering if i get a new cerket bord to work off of would i be able to dasy link the caps to have a larger discarg? also wouldent it be the same voltige if the caps were dasy linked becouse they would ...

[MrStemkilla]

@SimonG2892 ... charg to 300 to 350v? but i see evry ome doing it im lost with that. sorry for spelling. but i hope that that dosent make you think i know nothing, i do ... just not with small electronics like this

[Arjoonmoal]

pretty dumb way for the firing

[SimonG2892]

@Arjoonmoal not really. its just a proof of concept. look at the materials. used pen. screw for a projectile.... i made this in about 20 minutes.... stripping the body off of the first camera took longer. now go measure your weiner elsewhere, im not into that.

[starlite2991]

now to make a larger model! Hehe

[mrkiky]

spark = bad contact = power loss. You would probably get more kinetic energy transfered to the projectile by using a switch not just touching 2 wires.

[zker666]

you should really get outta that original camera flash shit, and think about buying some sort of transformer instead.

[AmtrakBoy42]

have you shocked yourself with the camera capacitors before? its really fun!

[j5brovo]

the loading time of youtube sucks.Imean it takes so long!!!!

[mapleguy1029384756]

Hey simon, next time use a power suply to charge ti capacitors. Battery dies after 3-4 charges and use a thyristor solid state switch for the trigger not by touching the wires. The heat and light generated by the spark loses around 40% of the energy already

[millionstaples]

hey i dont know why but after abou 25 uses my capasters stop working

between the 2 wires an the botom a little hole burns throught dont know why can any one help plz plz plz many thanx and nice video

[zker666]

try more layers of magnet wire. that will give it more oomph!

[mapleguy1029384756]

@zker666 Nope there is a optimum amound because the more coils, the more magnetism but the more coil, less current which limits it and sometimes lessens the effect

[zker666]

@mapleguy1029384756 Yes, i know what you mean, the more magnet wire you have the more ohmic resistance on the wire, so you have a good point.

[mapleguy1029384756]

@zker666 Ya i found that 1 strand of 30AWG with 1 strand of 24 gauge works best. I was able to make mine shoot and i accidently made a HUGE dent in the wall and the projectile got stuck in the middle. The surprising thing is that the bullet tip is flat and it hit like the side of the bullet to the wall not the tip!

[wyz2285]

I began with a gun like this too.

[xkwiptwendl]

How many turns was your electromagnet?

[SimonG2892]

this was just a proof of concept.... i just wrapped the magnet wire around the pen a bunch until it built up a few layers. five caps in parallel was too much tho, if i "blipped" the circuit it'd fire far....if i connected them into a dead short the projectile would barely go far at all. suckback.

[xkwiptwendl]

You COULD do them all in series... charge them up individually maybe? Or actually go buy a transformer of some sort, tbh I have no idea how the camera charging circuit works, to me it just does :P It might be cheaper though to go with a few $0.10 switches and make it so you can charge each individually, with all of the switches off, but when you turn them on each is in series. It's the same amount of joules.

[SimonG2892]

well yes yes if you had a bunch of switches, you could electrically isolate each cap and charge it individually using one charging circuit.... butttt we are talking almost lethal amounts (just five of these caps has enough jjoules to kill you) of electricity and lots and lots of voltage.

i got hit right across the heart by ONE capacitor and i went straight to the store to buy electricians gloves after that.

so yeah anything is possible, but its probably not safe.

[xkwiptwendl]

Yep I still remember the time I first opened up a disposable camera (years ago) when I didn't know anything about electricity. Boy did it suck. I think I might go buy a pair of gloves too, sometimes just even the sparks scare me from 10 of these guys wired together. unfortunately I don't have a breadboard or any switches, so I'll have to order some online some time. By the way, how many joules does it take not across your chest to kill someone? Say getting shocked in the hand?

[zker666]

@xkwiptwendl its not joules, it the milliamps, it takes around 30-45mA to kill someone from arm to arm.

[SimonG2892]

NO= normally open? yes you'll have to use a NO type switch. for an average diy coilgun, get a NO momentary pushbutton switch with a PLASTIC button and a 120V and 10 amp rating. im sure radioshack has something. u'll be exceeding the voltage and amperage ratings but only for a faction of a second so it'll be OK.

good luck!

[njkl44]

ok i am making ine for my science fair project and i have a coil made but what coil did u use and idk can u just make a tutorial on how to make and how to put the capasitors in series thanks

[SimonG2892]

for a simple science fair project, dont put the caps in series, but rather in parallel. two or three caps will be just fine.

to make the coil, just glue two plastic washers about 2" apart onto a hollowed out BIC Pen and carefully wind the wire between the two. some instant-bonding superglue works great. off of the last capacitor, put the coil in series and a switch in between.

[njkl44]

@SimonG2892 whats the differnce in parallel than series? and how many caps should i put for science fair?

[xkwiptwendl]

In parallel, you have to have caps with the same voltage, but it adds the CAPACITANCE rating (measured in farads, or more commonly microfarads (uF)) In series i'm not entirely sure, I think it adds the voltage or something but there is a huge chance of damaging the capacitor. Not knowing for sure though :x

[SimonG2892]

generally speaking here:

series doubles voltage but discharge time stays the same

parallel doubles discharge time but voltage stays the same.

the problem with caps in series is that if u have two 360V 120uF caps in series, then u can charge the caps to 720volts and u'll still have 120uF.... the chargeing circuit (disp camera flash circuit) only charges to 200 volts or so. so it'd be a waste. putting them in parallel makes it 360V and 240uF.

[xkwiptwendl]

Also, for science fair you can do any amount, but for a simple coil gun, do 4 or around there.

[D4NG3R03S]

Where did you get the "free" camera's then?

[SimonG2892]

local drugstore that develops disposable cameras. tell em its for a school science project and you need a lot.

also a great source for free AA's and AAA batteries!

[SimonG2892]

it can be made for about $5 (magnet wire) since the cameras are free and the screw and pen tube were lying around the house. very fun

[user12119]

That is so cool! I must make myself a coil gun sometime.