1.25 Kilojoule DIY Coilgun

[Tech_Junkie]

Cool, thanks for the tip.

I'm not really that bright when it comes to electronics, but I might try that. The guy I get stuff from at the fleemarket has bags, and boxes of components. He has ham radio parts, airplane electronics, military stock, meters, gauges, oscilloscopes, and every kind of electronic component you can imagine. Its great because he has no idea what he has, so all his prices are ridiculously cheap. My problem is I have no idea what he has either.

 

[Xplorer877]

Dude I'm no pro either and I too have boxes of components of which I haven't a clue of what they are. LOL. But it's not too difficult of a project, and it makes some spectacular arcs.

-Tony

 

[ossumguywill]

BTW, that coilgun is a max of 38J according to the builder. While the caps discharge 1.25kj, he said only a max of 3% of that makes it out of the muzzle. If it was really 1.25kj, it would have more force than a hot-loaded .45 ACP (almost twice as much).

 

[hydrogenman15]

Years ago, I tried to make a rail gun to shoot a BB. Didn't work at all. This coil gun is interesting.
Is that "bullet" a magnet itself? Where's the plans?

When the field collapses, where does that energy go? Is there a damping diode to protect the SCR?

HMike

I'm working on a rail gun atm, It seems that getting a field strength strong enough to overcome the friction and keep the projectile from welding itself to the rails is proving to be very difficult.

The "bullet" is probably made of steel and is ferromagnetic. If your looking for more info on rail guns and coil guns I highly recommend this website --> Sam Barros' PowerLabs!

--Hydro15