Acquiring of Materials:
Okay, so Handley and Chadwick were bored on a weekday during the middle of summer, when they got the brightly awesome idea to construct a potato cannon. The catch is that we wanted to use it within a few hours, cause who wants to wait for the common 24 or so hours it normally takes for the fumes to dissipate with pipe fitting glues and solvents? We decided to make our own new breed of potato cannon: the duct-tape budget cannon!
Note: this is just something we did. Just because we did it does not mean you can expect the same results or that this is the best way to go about this. It may not deem as durably strong for the high pressures that are created within the chamber, thus making it prone to rupturing, etc.
Always use caution and practice extreme safety measures when dealing with a potato cannon. They are unpredictable. Treat is as a real firearm.
So, we embarked on our mission. It was decided that our first stop would be to the local Home Depot. Chadwick was behind the wheel of the vehicle, so the ride there was saturated with power turns and shocked motorists. Nonetheless, we arrived at the Home Depot in one piece, with Handley bursting out the door saying something along the lines of "Get me the hell out of this crazy ride!"
We were inside the store, whereas we were in the midst of scoping out the PVC piping isle when a noble employee came and asked if he could help in our search. Well, when he looked what we had amassed so far in the cart, he immediately asked, "By any chance, are you guys making a potato gun?!" Not seeing any present wrong doing in our actions, we replied "Uh, why yes we are, nobleman, sir!" The man then proceeded in helping us in our piping selections and the correct fittings... he was a cool old man. Ok, our PVC selection was complete.
Next stop, duct-tape. We looked for the meatiest duct tape that the store had to offer, and got a lot of it. A 3-pack to be precise, as too much is never a bad thing.
Now, seeing it was a new store and it was our first time at the new location, we decided to check around the store a bit. Recalling some research, we decided to look for some solidox, as it is an oxidizer used to fuel some good pyrotechnics. Well, we were in thy plumbing isle when we heard the unmistakable "whirr" of an electric cart quickly approaching us from behind. Fully expecting to be drilled in the back of the legs, we spun around to see an old man awaiting to speak with us. Old civilian dude to the rescue. He randomly requested, "what are you fellas looking for? I used to be a plumber back in my day..." We then replied, "solidox". A confused look came about his face and he replied, "well, you aren't going to find that here... maybe you should try some specialized plumbing store... but what do you need solidox for?!" Chadwick and Handley shared glances at each other, and then blurted out the best BS they could at the time, "Well, our basketball hoop fell down and broke, and we need to weld it back together because we do not have the money to buy another one." God we're pathetic.
Having acquired all necessary supplies from the Home Depot, we paid at the checkout (only like $8.00) and proceeded across the street to the Target store.
Reason for going to Target: we needed hair spray to fuel our combustion craving abomination. We grabbed many different cans of unscented- cheap hairspray, so that we can test for the best *bang*. We also managed to pick through the candy and snack isle for some victory food for when we completed our project...
We checked out of the Target store for $16.00 in goods.... While we only had around $6.00 in hairspray, we had multiple packs of white chocolate Reese's peanut-butter cups (better than crack), chocolate filled Hershey bars, and bags of Munchies (the red bag, because the other varieties suck).
Okay, onto the construction phase: (the boring part):
Pondering the best place to construct our soon-to-be stunning success, we opted to go to Handley's office building, which has a loading bay out back with many necessary tools. Now, this was around 7:00 or so, and it was dark outside. Being part of an office complex, we were the only ones that were lit up and had the loading bay open for all to see... inconspicuous activity does not ensue. Nonetheless, we began construction.
First things first, we cut the first PVC chamber to size. This was easily done with the beast of a chop saw donning a 24" saw-blade, a manly tool is an understatement.
We then took the assorted reducer fittings to take the chamber down to the barrel, filed down the insides of them with a file, and stuck them within each other.
Back to the colossal chop saw to cut the next pipe into our barrel.
Okay, the brute work was now done.... it was time for the duct-tape.
We assembled all the parts to their final resting places, Chadwick grabbed a hold of it and Handley applied the immense amounts of tape, covering the whole chamber length with many many layers of duct tape..... approx. a half an hour to build the whole thing... ANYWAYS, SHE'S DONE - time to test her out.
This is her, without all the duct-tape...
This is her, all duct-taped up...
Testing/ Awesomeness: (the fun part):
Not sure of our own craftsmanship, we got some long wires for the igniter, loaded the cannon, closed the heavy metal garage door between us and the cannon on the dock outside, and pushed the button...
Not hearing anything, even after pushing the button as if we were going epileptic, we opened the door to inspect our machine.
Not only did it fire on the first shot, BUT it was basically SILENT! This is cool, cause now we won't attract any unwanted attention from loud explosions, as our other cannons had in the past (see the Über Roar Tube).
Our imaginations then ran rampant: we fired everything from pens wrapped with paper around the back, to small wrenches and screws (crazy dangerous).
Amazing Feats::
1.) We discovered a balloon in the office, so we taped it to an easel with thick 1/2" sign board on it. We took aim at it with crayon-shot, and gave it hell. Not only did we manage to hit the balloon on the first shot from 60ft. away, the crayon, yes a wax crayon, managed to blast through the 1/2" sign board and embed itself into the 1/2" sign board on the other side. HS, this thing was firing children's art supplies faster than the time it took me to add Michael Moore to my shit list (though close). God it's awesome when something works almost perfectly right off the drawing board.
2.) We had a jam... those are bad, but surprisingly she didn't explode. It is times as such when you are grateful that you have been taking the necessary safety precautions. Nonetheless, fearing for our lives, and our precious device, we quickly noted not to jam down tape wrapped wooden dowels into the barrel anymore.
3.) Cool thing! Since we were firing it at night, you can see the flame of combustion travel down the INSIDE of the barrel behind the object it is propelling! I guess the PVC is semi-opaque, allowing a bright enough light to pass through. It was definitely cool to watch. Pictures will be posted if we can catch it on camera.
FIN
