[jimsl78]

http://platinumchromatography.com/potato.htm

Ive been thinking about making one of these.
has anybody tried this here?

 

[derrick36]

Talk to Potamus.

He knows quite a bit(maybe too much) about them.

 

[Potamus]

That page looks pretty ameture, but the data looks fairly solid at a glance. I do recommend pneumatics over cumbustion, unless acess to compressed air is a problem.

This guy has his stuff together, and I would trust his info (I did notice a general lack of mention that SCH 40 or better pipe is required on the page you refferenced)

 

[Gtndrty]

The one we had when I was younger you sprayed right gaurd in the end then capped it and pushed the ignitor button and watch the spuds fly. We used a 4 inch adapter with about a 2 inch y coming off of it for the handle. We put the ignitor button in the 2 inch handle.

 

[GearHead]

we were told in college that it was a 3rd degree felony just to own it.
let alone lauching taters over seminole hall.:doh0715:

 

[Big_Sean]

we use propane to launch ours, we used a 5 inch bottom, and a 2.5 inch shaft, i bet we cleared at least a mile, maybe more

 

[Weber]

5" bottom, 2.5" barrel, spinny flint thing to ignite... Put potato in, ram down the barrell, fill base with aqua net, cap it off, spin the ignighter... phhhhboom! bye bye birdie

 

[BroncoSka]

check out www.spudtech.com

we have had massively sucessful results from some of these designs.

 

[MyFullSize]

Plan looks solid. Id build it if I werent skeered of getting caught with it!

 

[broncolade]

A dude here at work got bored on day and made a mini version of a potato gun. He used a asprin bottle, a electric lighters top a pen and some electrical tape. He puts some rubbing alcohol into the back shoves a q-tip into the barrel puts the cap back on lets it sit for 30 seconds I forgot to add the reason it sits for 30 seconds is so the alcohol turns into fumes. Then a click of the trigger a small pop and he can shoot q-tips all the way across the call floor.

 

[Drilim]

Me and a buddy built one at work last week. 3 inch aluminum barrel, 4 inch combustion chamber. We used oxy acetylene to launch them. Hahah

 

[Davids78Bronco]

Me and a buddy built one at work last week. 3 inch aluminum barrel, 4 inch combustion chamber. We used oxy acetylene to launch them. Hahah

I've been wondering about using that. how do you meter how much gas you use? What length is your combustion chamber and barrel? I want to see pictures of that one

 

[Potamus]

we were told in college that it was a 3rd degree felony just to own it.
let alone lauching taters over seminole hall.:doh0715:

Here.
It's not illegal on the federal level at least, just contact the local authorities.
Good rule of thumb is if you can fire a shotgun, you can fire a tater gun.:toothless

 

[TallGuy]

Wow, memories. I like to use spark plugs to ignite, use a coil and we could plug them into the cigarette lighter. We also roughed up the inside of the barrel at the end, so the potato would stay in there after compressing the air down. Otherwise the potato would just come shooting back out after compressing it down. Butane or oxy-acetylene works good. I don't trust plastic pipe though.... Not after seeing how far it launches a potato. :shocked

 

[Larston]

I used to make mine out of water pipe and used oxyacetylene for the fuel. You can launch a golf ball about 1/2 mile with one of those, or through a two layer concrete block wall :toothless The cops get all excited when you make that much noise at 3:00 in the morning.

 

[[email protected]]

5" bottom, 2.5" barrel, spinny flint thing to ignite... Put potato in, ram down the barrell, fill base with aqua net, cap it off, spin the ignighter... phhhhboom! bye bye birdie

Same style here. :rockon

I wonder if it is really illegal to own one...I'm not sure why it would be. :shrug

Bill

 

[GearHead]

Here.
It's not illegal on the federal level at least, just contact the local authorities.
Good rule of thumb is if you can fire a shotgun, you can fire a tater gun.:toothless

i think it had something to do with being on universtiy property or something like that.

ahh the good old days, beer bongs, tater guns and lots of loose women.

 

[XLTbeast]

we used to rock the hairspray back when but now we have upgraded to the propane tank on my grill. works good but please inspect your pvc before you begin when it cracks it bad. if you got the compressor use air it is far superior:thumbup

oh ya do not shoot it at a local school bus or anyhting of that nature. the police will come.:brownbag

 

[miketrains03]

i used to build these things like 5 or so years ago.

i stuck with air powered because from what i heard, their not illegal whereas the ones you use gas or hairspray or whatever and ignite are. they put them in the same catagory as a gun because there is propellant and its ignited and whatever. since u cant have a gun thats not registered, u cant have that type of potatoe gun. so they say.

my first one was made with 2" sch 40 pvc with a 3' barrel and equal sized chamber. hooked up to a 3/4" electric gardening solenoid, 3 9V batts and a two switches for safety. about 110psi in the chamber easily shot a 1 1/4" pvc end cap 200'.

i also have two smaller ones with 1/2" and 3/4" barrels and 1 1/2" and 2" chambers that i made interchangeable. just screw on the combo u want and its all good. made em out of sch80 PVC (the dark grey one) and is good for some seroius PSI. the walls on this stuff is seriously thick. i'd say they could handle at least 200psi without a problem.

the last one i have is quite large. its a 7' section of 4" sch40 pvc. it has a 2" sch. 40 pvc pipe INSIDE of it as the barrel. There is a piston inside that allows all the pressurized air to rush out the full 2" barrel and not the smaller valve. the way it works is when you hook up the pressurized air, it presses the pistion against the barrel, sealing it and allowing pressure to build behind it. then, to fire, you open a small valve behind the piston which throws it back from the force in front of it, seals the piston back, and the air rushes through the barrel. Im pretty proud of this thing as i didnt use any plans or anything for it.

if anyone wants pics of how i build the last one, i'll be happy to share.

also, with any of these things, its a good idea to wrap an old pant leg off a pair of jeans around the chamber just in case it decides to explode. which does happen. it will hopefully save you from many sharp pieces of pvc from passing through or getting stuck in your person.

 

[pissrpr]

As an undergrad a bud and I built one using dry ice instead of anything combustible. A small chunck of dry ice and a few squirts with a spray bottle filled with water were all that was needed(ie. no ignition). Even with a hand operated valve it would shoot fairly far (don't recall the distance.) After getting a saftey a** chewing from one of the profs we decided to install a pressure guage to 'fine tune' it. You wouldn't believe how fast evaporating dry ice can build up pressure! We kinda chickened out ofter that and wouldn't let it get up too high, but even so we still easily cleared a rugby field (330') post to post.