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Registered Member #3358
Joined: Mon Oct 25 2010, 09:47AM
Location:
Posts: 20
For the last year i have researched railguns, coilguns etc and have finaly begun construction of my railgun. i have the circuit functioning, the charging works, got good rails and all. When i came to test fire, the projectile didnt budge. im using 8 caps from cameras, so around 8x300v (unsure on capacitance). instead of firing as it should/as i planned, the current burnt the plates and projectile and there was zero movement. im unsure as to why this is and need some input, possible reasons? any way to make sure the circuit is shortin etc
ps ill see if i cant upload some photos within a week but camera is stuffed
Well you need INSANE amounts of energy (8 camera caps store around 60J, nowhere near the energy you need to fire like 1g of aluminium) for a railgun to fire "with a pair of eggs". Also, you need to make sure your plates are going to resist the fricion+temperature+power going across them. The projectile (ball?) should be a tight fit with the rails but not too tight or it will not slide with low powers.
Also, did you wire everything in the right polarity? If you invert voltages the pellet will fly backwards (right hand rule). Remember you're essentially treating your pellet like some kind of an electron and making it go into a constant EM field to make it move.
Registered Member #2648
Joined: Sun Jan 24 2010, 12:45PM
Location: Australia
Posts: 291
Hahaha Artikbot, you remind me of when I was newbie ^^
Is actually is possible. A guy made a working very mini rail gun using 640uF of photo caps: ignore is spammy comments of moar power and that is all the info you need!
For example, let's say you have those 50 caps, but instead of arranging them in a full 50 parallel single bank, you can make, let's say, 6 smaller banks consisting of 8 caps each, or 5 banks consisting on 10 caps, or whatever.
That way you can always remove/install power with an incredible ease, leading to a more flexible solution. Maybe when you're testing it just to see if it works you won't want to have full 50 caps connected, so you connect 20 or so and you have enough.
Easier to handle also... Working with smaller modules is easier than working with one beefy huge bank xD
Registered Member #3358
Joined: Mon Oct 25 2010, 09:47AM
Location:
Posts: 20
haha dw i know my electrical safety, i've been doin this kind of thing since i was like 8 XP once bitten twice shy, and in this case my first serving of knife in a toaster (not actually but same volt/current) was enough to keep my conscious about what im dealing with for a long time
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Need help - railgun project
