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Registered Member #1523
Joined: Sat Jun 07 2008, 02:05PM
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Posts: 97
Recently, I have become interested in Railguns.
And I have learned (like everyone else) that the key to a RailGun is Amperage, which is usualy supplied by a large bank of capacitors.
My question, is why can't Railguns be powered by a big stepdown transformer? Like a large Solenoid for the primary, and only one turn on the secondary?
I have seen a video (on youtube, called MIT Physics Demo, Jacobs ladder and nail) where someone used this setup to create enough current to melt a nail. That seems like plenty of current to power a rail gun.
Registered Member #1062
Joined: Tue Oct 16 2007, 02:01AM
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Posts: 1529
A rewound MOT can melt a nail. My ~800W one can make .25" bolt's glow bright orange. This is only around 600A, vs. the many thousands of a capacitor pulse. I was thinking of running a rewound MOT (1 turn, 2 AWG) in parallel with the bank, to give it that extra boost. It would work with a coilgun, where lower powers are used.
banned on 5/26/2009 Registered Member #1877
Joined: Mon Dec 22 2008, 02:03AM
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Posts: 147
They most certainly can, the only problem with getting high current at a decent voltage, is that it would be hard to find a power source for the transformer itself, at least in my books. if you are able to, you could get a pole pig transformer, or just make another power panel to your house/garage so you can power it directly. i know me and a friend made a small coil gun that shot decently considering we used rectified AC straight from the wall, we found an inductor in a dish washer and shot a few projectiles one after another, although we ended up melting the solenoid and getting a nasty burn, xD. but what RP was saying is deffinatly possible, a friend of mine rewound a MOT to have 2 or 3 turns of 4 gauge, not sure about the results though. good luck.
Registered Member #222
Joined: Mon Feb 20 2006, 05:49PM
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Posts: 96
Amperage is not the key. It helps, but it's more complicated than that.
You can make a simple railgun with 10 amps from a battery if you use permanent magnets to augment the field and use a rolling nonmagnetic projectile. If you use 600A, it would have to be rectified if you use magnets, and it probably won't even need to roll to overcome friction, but I don't recommend using a tranny.
Registered Member #1523
Joined: Sat Jun 07 2008, 02:05PM
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Posts: 97
Thanks, I'll mess around with it to see what I come up with.
Bad Astronaut- I understand most of what you said. But when You don't recomend using a tranny, what exactly are you talking about when you say "Tranny?"
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Simple rail Gun question
