Coil Gun Mach 1
- Project Start Date: April 2006
- Project End Date: July 2006
- Current State: Completed
This is my first attempt at a coil gun.
- Switch: 2x 600V 3300A (non-repetitive pulse) SCR
- Capacitor Bank: 24x 330V 80uF Capacitors
- Total Energy: 209.1J
- Target Efficiency: 3% (6.27J of kinetic energy)
- Projectile: Steel rod 30mm long, and tipped
- Projectile Mass: 15g Target Velocity: 28.9m/s (104km/h)
Capacitor Bank
The capacitor bank was built from capacitors scrounged from used disposable flash camera's. I got the cameras for free from a Kodak photo processing store just by asking nicely :-). Each camera has one 330V electrolytic capacitor ranging from 80 to 120uF. These can easily be unsoldered and hooked together for an el-cheapo capacitor bank.
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The Coil
- Wire Diameter = 1.00mm (18AWG)
- Coil Resistance = 0.3Ohm
- Coil Inside Diameter = 12.5mm
- Coil Outside Diameter = 30.0mm
- Coil Length = 30mm
The coil was made with enamelled copper wire and wrapped around a coil former. Two slotted metal sides contain the wire and provide some structural strength. The coil was covered in two-part epoxy to hold the wire in place. The coil is designed to be slipped onto the projectile tube.
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