pocket cannon

[vk2fro]

12" 8" doesnt matter. Anyway yes you feel it even standing well back. We set them off with a battery, some cable and nichrome wire, or if he can get them the electric matches. Saves the danger of anyone running away, and tripping and being near the blast zone. We bury them up to the lift charge in the ground. They leave decent craters! The ones I speak of are the size of basketballs, I guessed the diameter.

Oh, and yes a usual trip has us travelling by 4wd for quite a few hours, including the bit that most suburban 4wd owners dont use - actually using the 4wd's capacity to clear rocks, cross streams and other fun things. We are MILES from anything remotely classed as inhabited by humans

 

[ElectroMagneticFreak]

Just one more reason to want to visit Australia, that sounds like a really fun trek with the 4wd.

I've really wanted to go to Australia lately, I'm a fan of all the nature including the Eucalyptus trees and all the different (to me ) interesting plants and animals etc.

How often do you come across poisonous spiders and snakes?

 

[vk2fro]

Fortunatly not very often. There have been two funnelwebs, one of which we could safely relocate a couple of hundred metres away, and the other one we blew up with the sparkler bomb. We've seen a few snakes (quite a few actually) but they never venture into the campsite, and plenty of goanna's. The goanna's arent poisonous but they do have very sharp claws and when startled will make for a tree and climb up it. Too bad if your standing still and they mistake you for a tree! They are also known as perentie or Lace monitors.

They can smell the meat in the sealed esky's and are cunning buggers. Anyone operating the radios by themselves arms themselves with a large squirt gun, a baseball bat and firecrackers/starters pistol. The firecrackers are used if 2 or 3 goanna's sneak up and startle YOU - the noise scares them away (and any other living thing), for single goanna's the squirt gun is quite effective. The baseball bat is self explanitory, and only used as last resort. We've only used the squirt gun and crackers.

Usually though theres two or 3 operators, so throwing stones or the squirt gun is plenty to keep them away. They fortunatly are cold blooded and go to sleep at night!

Any leftovers from meat meals in goanna country must be taken away from the campsite and left for the monitors. Exposed half eaten sausages or the remnants of a steak attracts them more than the sealed esky!

 

[Ehgemus]

Funny you posted this, I just built this one last week. .30 cal
Mine is modeled after this one. Watch the video, it's great!
http://www.pocketcannons.com/

 

[Bionic-Badger]

There was a 14-year-old kid last year (I think) in my state who was given a toy cannon like that to play with and ended up killing himself with it. I'd also be afraid of that thing exploding.

So that would anywhere but my pocket!

 

[AUS]

How often do you come across poisonous spiders and snakes?

That also depends on which part of the country you are in.

Red back spiders are everywhere (like the black widow in the US) but there have been no deaths since the antivenom was developed in the 1950's as its a really slow acting poison. The bite is extremely painful though, I've known a few people that have been bitten.

The biggest thing to look out for is the Sydney funnelweb (and related species). People have died 15 minutes after a bite. They are mainly found in NSW and southern QLD but they only dangerous when they roam in mating season.

When I was up in the tropics you had to be careful of crocodiles, marine stingers, and box jelly fish. We occasionally had croc's turn up on the beach in Townsville and at the AM transmitter site in Cairns.

Snakes seem to be all over the country but in the colder parts of the country you only see them during summer and they're pretty sluggish. In warmer parts they can be nasty, although they usually stay clear or people. We used to get taipans in some of the remote transmission sites when I was in QLD. THAT was a bit hairy at times :S Here is one the other day from the Griffith AM site after flooding, this is a black snake. They are pretty timid and the venom is pretty mild so you would have to be unlucky to die from one unless you were sick.

 

[vk2fro]

The funny thing about a funnel webs venom is it wont affect your pet. If fido or meow gets bit, they'll be sick, but will recover from the bite. The component in the venom that is dangerous to humans (and other primates) is just a freak evolution. The spiders certainly don't go seeking out primates as prey, and like AUS said, the danger comes when they wander into back yards and houses, and its usually the males looking for a mate in the breeding season. Atratoxin can kill a grown man in about half an hour if no treatment is given. They can stay submerged in a swimming pool for up to half an hour to an hour, so look before you dive in, they are just as fast under water as they are on land.

They're a fairly big spider, quite hairy and have large downward pointing fangs. They can move pretty darn quick, but cant outrun the blast wave of one of those D battery sized salutes! To bite, they rear up like a horse on its hinds legs and strike downward, in similar fasion to a horse trampling something with its front legs. The fangs can easily penetrate a toenail, so the only way to deal with them is to belt them with a shovel, or catch them with a suitable container and call the CSL to come and collect them (to make antivenom).

Australia has the most venomous creatures on the planet. We also have a nice selection of cute and furry prey animals that can move quite quickly, so hence some of our snakes and spiders are bloody lethal (hehe aussie tongue) so the prey can run, but it wont get far once the venom kicks in.

Those nature doccos that show a viper attacking a mouse are pretty accurate. The snake bites and then retreats to allow the venom to overcome the prey animal. Then the snake zero's in to eat using its sense of smell and in some species, heat sensors in the snout (yep some snakes have their own thermal camera's built right in). Most snakes are pretty deaf but can feel vibrations, so its a common practise on a trail if we see a snake, keep our distance and stomp our feet. A snake would rather run from a heard of large animals, than stand and fight.

Funnel webs on the other hand are agressive little buggers in the breeding season and will give chase, even to a full grown adult person.

I admit blowing up that spider was downright mean, but I didnt have something handy to trap it, and it was either him or possibly one of us getting bit.

Box jellies are incredibly hard to see, and the tentacles can trail out 15 feet or more from the bell. Their venom doesnt usually kill, but the shock of the searing pain, and that with being in the water can result in drowning. The way to neutralize the venom is household viniger. Once neutralized, the tentacles can be removed. The pain is apparently incredible, and even morphine has little effect, so its no surprise that a swimmer stung badly can pass out and drown from a sting.

*phew* yep I like my nature as well, especially the not so furry types like snakes, spiders and other crawlies. So its fitting that I call my projector the Tiapan, deadliest snake in australia (and apparently 3rd in the world).

Now, back to pocket canons!

 

[Fiddy]

if a funnel web chases me in my backyard, its catch it in a glass container time, then have at it with some 445's!

Done that once

I was building a laser outside on a nice day and this big ass blow fly kept flying near/landing on my feet, i kicked it away a few times then forgot about it...

Then it bit me on the foot and there was blood WTF!

I was enraged, no-one makes me bleed my own blood! i devised a plan to catch a kill that mofucker, i caught it in a glass jar, it was going mental flying around in there as i taunted it by pulling faces at it, then i got my 2W+ 445nm out.
I put my glasses on, then put the dot on the blow fly, he went even more mental trying to avoid the laser.

He lay on the bottom of the jar doing roflcopters as i burnt its face off, when i was done it looked like it had been put in a fire...

I was so satisfied with my revenge.

Needless to say, that blow fly isnt going to bother anyone else again.

 

[benmwv]

^ :crackup: That is one of the funniest things I've ever read!

Is a "blow fly" the same thing as a "horse fly" or is it something else?

 

[Fiddy]

yeah i think there the same thing.

 

[vk2fro]

Nah they're not - a blow fly or "blowie" is just a big house fly. It cant bite or sting. Fiddy, what you probably got bitten by was a horse fly or sand fly. And they hurt a lot more than a damn mosquito, but arent as painful as say a european wasp sting.

 

[Fiddy]

Nah they're not - a blow fly or "blowie" is just a big house fly. It cant bite or sting. Fiddy, what you probably got bitten by was a horse fly or sand fly. And they hurt a lot more than a damn mosquito, but arent as painful as say a european wasp sting.

hmmm, it didnt hurt at all, lol

 

[Blord]

We have an Australian psycho.

The horse fly can bite. I know because my neighbor has a horse as pet. It attracts flies from everywhere.

 

[jakeGT]

Horse flies that have bitten me hurt like a mother f***er.

 

[blue led]

A nice addition is some "exploding" ammunition.
If you can get a hold of them a small rifle or pistol primer is a nice fit in a .177 or 4.5mm barrel so all you need to do is use a tiny bit of super glue on the bb or air rifle pellet and glue the primer to the front of it.
Then when they are fired and it hits something solid you get a nice bang from it.Its not that much louder that a good cap gun going off but it adds a nice touch.
I have used these in a 1000fps air rifle with no problems.