Homemade Mini Black Powder Cannon

[spudkilla224]

Hello everyone, I made a 7" long 3/4" black water pipe cannon that will use fuses, when i'm able to get some. And I was wondering how safe is it to fire? And how many grams of BP should I test fire it with first? It has a solid steel rod endcap welded into the end with plug welds in the end of the cannon tube itself and a weld all along the back edge of the plug. It won't be firing anything, just a paper towel ball to hold the powder back.

I really hope it doesn't blow up!!!

 

[freakboy]

if it dont have something cramed in the barrel it wont blow all the force will go out the end and if theres enough it will move from the force.

 

[KieranM]

could you post a pic up?, never seen a homemade one before

 

[Kenny_McCormic]

Dunno if I would trust waterpipe.

 

[elfonzo91]

go for thick wall pipe .5" minimum
your best bet would be 3/4inch think

 

[lemegacool]

as freak said if there is no blocking object there will be no backpressure therefore no catastrophic explosion...

what about using these electric model rocket igniters ... it would work perfect plus you could remote control it...

 

[mike75925]

about 15years ago, me and my bros took a bicycle seat with post. drilled a hole for the fuse, and blocked up the back end. it probably should have blown on us, but it didn't. we started firing blanks, and progressed to marbles and the small super bouncy balls. we started by making our own powder. they no longer sell the components in the pharmacies. anyway, a friend down the street had some musket grain. and some of the green firework fuse. it was so loud that our friends dad came running out with a shotgun. our first fuses were aluminum foil with a bit of powder in it. the cops told us no more than one inch of musket grain (in a one inch pipe, do not use this as a guide. different powders have different consumption rates and rates of expansion) or they would hear it at the substation and come arrest us. we were more afraid of our friends dad!!

 

[Kenny_McCormic]

Trust me, there is pressure there, that's why it makes noise.

 

[dpaxson]

ya just cuz there's no end cap doesn't mean it couldn't explode. you can make a pipe bomb without an end cap and have it explode. that being said though, if you don't use more than a few grams of powder you should be fine.

 

[freakboy]

a pipe bomb with out a end cap would suck if ur usin black powder it would just fizzle cause it all would fall out.

 

[lemegacool]

just use common sense and dont fill up the whole tube with powder... a small amount will make a loud thump but probably not shearing the tube

 

[Kenny_McCormic]

Don't be a dumbass and make a cannon from something made to take more than 150 psi. Heavy wall seamless tubing, or bored out round stock, is 10 million times more suitable.

But if you are really set on using a piece of pipe. Mic the pipe in several places, take good notes, then fire with double the charge you intend to use. With a double ball, or use bird shot, same as the amount of powder you put in, by volume(in other words, if you plan to use 1 Tbsp of 2FG normally, load 2 tbsp of powder and 2 tbsp of shot). Repeat 10 times, then mic it again, if no change is found, its safe.

 

[mike75925]

nah our dad's friend with our dad watching shored up the back end with a wad of probably foil and some sticks for bracing. i don't recall how much he used, but it did the job. if your wadding is packed to tight, you will get a firecracker instead of a roman candle.