the other present

[slagmaker]

this is a small sampling pic of the other present my cousin Darren brought me.  A signal canon. Home made but solid. I will have better pics and maybe video forth coming.


It has a 1.5 inch bore and has a beautifule voice to her. I am working up pyrodex "I prefer blackpowder" loads for her now so I can get the best bang per load so to speak. We were getting ready to fire them and were waiting on dark when the dew started to fall thats why the wicks are covered with the paper towls

[Jeb]

Hey I got a fence post driver , think it will work ? 

[Todd Rahm]

Lol, thats what I thought they were Jeb. 

[Yotehntr]

   Those are pretty cool Slag!... what'r the barrels from?  (were they solid then bored?) 

[KySongDog]

Hey I got a fence post driver , think it will work ? 

   Good idea.  I think I'll let someone else test that theory out first though.   

[HaMeR]

The LBL otta be interesting this year!! 

Would like to see some videos of those going off. 

[vvarmitr]

Hey I got a fence post driver , think it will work ? 

They will work if you will ....... to drive posts! 

[Hawks Feather]

So where are the night shots?  A huge flame out the end of one of those would be pretty neat

Jerry

[slagmaker]

I used to work in a ball bearing factory and picked these up from there. They started out as bearing steel. A tube about 15 foot long. These were scraps left over from a special run. So I brought them home to my uncle several years ago so he could make a couple canons for his blackpowder club. They never got built and my uncle passed away. Along comes Darren and he has them fixed up into canons. He then gave me one. I will post some pics  of the bore and breech and some dimensions here in a bit.

Night shots are cool. Ya load them up with some 0000 steele wool and they will shoot a tounge of flame like 25 foot long.




A fence post driver works best using acceteline gas. Drill you a small hole in teh side likek you would for the canon. Fill the canon with the gas either from a torch or carbid and water and then touch it off with a flame to the touch hole. Makes a real sharp bang.

[slagmaker]

As promised

The canon is 27 inches over all


The bore is 1.5 inches with a side wall of 3/4 inch


The trunyons are welded at the center of balance

[Jeb]

What was this steel tube/pipe originally for ? 

[slagmaker]

The tube stock was used in an automatic screw machine "turret lathe" and bearing rings were machined/turned out of them. That section of tubing could have made 10-20 bearing parts "inner or outer rings" depending on the bearing being made. This steel is extremely tough and can stand up to a lot of pressure.

The first canon I made had a lot bigger bore and ate a full pound of FFFg black powder at a time. That canon had the name Charlottes mouth in honor of its owner. It had a voice on it that could be heard 2 mile away easy.

[FinsnFur]

What size is that Uniroyal 

So Charlotte's still got a pretty big mouth uh? I'd have thought she woulda tamed down a mite.

[slagmaker]

14 inch I belive.

I use those when I am splitting wood. Put them up on the stump so that when I split wood by hand it stays on the stump and I dont have to bend over to pick it up off the ground. For now the tires willl be used to hold the canon at an accetable angle till I can make a carrage for it.

Charlottes mouth was stolen by her x husbands girlfriend. trying to get it back so that we can have three canons going off at new years. Along with a great many other things that go BANG.


I want to figure out how to make an air burst shell for it. BUT I think that would be illegal and the ATF boys would probably come a knocking.

[KySongDog]

Would a post driver work as a cannon as was mentioned earlier?

[slagmaker]

Not as a projectile canon but as a signal canon yes. Best thing to use is acetylene gas. Either from a oxy acetylene torch or find you some carbide rocks.


Drill a small hole near the "cap" of the post driver. Your hole should be about the size of a canon fuse. then angle your muzzle in a safe direction. If you are using the carbide just pore a small amount of water 1/4 cup in the bore and add a few of the carbide rocks. take a small amount of paper towl and plug the muzzle loosely. Give the gas a second to build you should be abel to see the gas flowing out the hole you drilled. If you are using bottled gas just run your hose to the bottom of the bore and turn it on for a few. You should see a bit of gas comming out of the flash hole. Pull the hose out slowly so as to leave as much gas in the bore as possible, stuff a little wading in the muzzle Touch your flame to this gas comming out the flash hole and  You will get a pretty good bang out of it.


The thicker the walls of the post driver the better. When first testing your "canon" use some solar ignitors like the ones used for model rocket engins. then you can stay as far back as you feel safe. The ignitors can be purchased from any place that sells model rockets. I belive Wally world sells them.

[KySongDog]

What about using pyrodex or black powder?  Too dangerous? 

[slagmaker]

I would not want to without seeing the post driver. If the walls are thick enough then maybe but only with reduced loads,. you could test it out using very light loads and using proper safety concerns. I would use the pyrodex and not the black powder due to the lower pressures that pyrodex works at.


If ya want post up some pics and dimensions of the driver and I will let you know what I think. It may work as a thunder mug at least.

[KySongDog]

Yeah, I was thinking something to make a boom.  Not going to launch anything.   

A few gallons of gasoline works pretty good but it tends to set the surrounding area on fire.   

[Bopeye]

I will personally stick with bottle rockets, but I for sure want to see some videos.