Railgun fired!

rp181, Sat Feb 21 2009, 08:11PM

First off, this is not in m project thread because i did not want to quadruple post....
Second, I accidentally did it without running the program for the rogowski coil !!grr

Now the info:

The railgun was fired today, with one digital camera and a digital camcorder (unable to connect to computer ATM). The injection pressure was probably around 50 PSI.

As most of you know, the enclosure is a 2 piece set, with a half inch bore. The projectile was a aluminum block with a V tail, 1.25" long. The target was a cardboard box packed with paper (for reference, the injection alone barely broke the first layer of cardboard) with a metal plate on the back. The projectile went through all the way, and put a .5" dent in the metal plate.

Here is the interesting bit:
I put a layer of kopr-shield corrosion inhibitor on the rails. When i opened it up, there was almost NO rail erosion. The only damage was a pit with aluminum in it at the very beginning, and a small deposit in the middle. Before i i washed it, there was still a film of the material left. Projectile corrosion was significant, so that will be main point of research from now on.

Im not very good at explanation's, so here are some picture's/video. If you have any questions, ask.

Video:


Notice two things:
1) the slow falling things. I think that is the plastic insulation on the rails.
2) The cable's. Those where zip-tied with 3 ties, and they still broke!

Pictures:






I have tons of pics, so if you want something in particular, ask.