Well, I made one today. My combustion chamber is about 4"x2'. My barrel is like 2"x5.5'. Igniton comes from the endcap. I'm letting the adhesives set up tonight...... I will test fire it tomorrow. 
Tater Guns....
- Thread starter SeventyMach1
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95WhiteVenom
Founding Member
made one out of a coleman cooler one time i dunno if that thing ever came down. we were shooting the big bouncy balls well ok flaming bouncy balls.
slo65
New Member
BlueOvalStangGT
Active Member
Thats funny you posted this. We just got into the potato gun thing and I just made mine last week. 4"x1' chamber and a 5' barrel with 2" dia. Shoots sooooo far. But my starter broke so I need to find a new one. Mines painted flat black and fades to silver at the end.
Scott_95GT
New Member
1994Vib.RedGT
Member
please help me out on this, every damn time i have made one of these i cannot get it to fire, like it will fire the first time i use it, then maybe once in a blue moon after that. I cant figure out why, i have looked, and it will still spark, and we put enough engine starting fluid in, but it will not fire, it is pissing me off.
Scott_95GT
New Member
95WhiteVenom
Founding Member
hair spry works also krylon paint does very nicely also .5oz. of gas. We were shooting them throught the woods of my friends yard all the way into a funeral home parking lot thats huge as soon as the balls hit the pavement thay took a huge ass bounce, then went out of site.
OrangeMustangGt
Founding Member
here is my special combo...it works INSANE!!....this thing goes out of sight, sounds like a shotgun going off, and the potato will stay in the air for literally 3 mins.....here goes:
2" WHITE pvc pipe....4' long
2" to 4" Pvc pipe reducer
4" White Pvc pipe....10"
4" screw end endcap
After careful planning, and many trials, this proves to be the best combo for range. What i use for ignition is a sparkplug with a nut on the inside, half way down the chamber connected to a grill clicker, so it makes a spark.
The BEST fuel is the CHEAPEST hairspray you can find, it has the most alcholhol!
If your interested i can take pics of it.
2" WHITE pvc pipe....4' long
2" to 4" Pvc pipe reducer
4" White Pvc pipe....10"
4" screw end endcap
After careful planning, and many trials, this proves to be the best combo for range. What i use for ignition is a sparkplug with a nut on the inside, half way down the chamber connected to a grill clicker, so it makes a spark.
The BEST fuel is the CHEAPEST hairspray you can find, it has the most alcholhol!
If your interested i can take pics of it.
I've made some pretty bad ass tater guns in my day. I always used WD40 for the fuel, a gas grill ignitor as the trigger, and made it out of PVC pipe, 4" for the chamber and 2" for the barrel. Those things are awesome!
MysteryMachine
Active Member
BlueOvalStangGT
Active Member
Hmmm a sparkplug.... That sounds like a good idea. I use a grill starter connected to 2 screws that gointo the end of the chamber next to each other.
My buddy built one out of lead piping back in high school. Put a rock in front of the potato and a LOT of gas in the back. Blew up a tree about four or 5 inches in diameter with the rock, just like a 30.06 would do...
Here's a cool idea since we're on the subject. Take you a tennis ball cannister. Put two tiny holes in the cannister, opposite each other, say a 1/32 of an inch or so, whatever your smallest drill bit is. Take a punch and use it to poke a bottle rocket fuse up into a tennis ball. Take a syringe with a bit of gas and air in it, squirt the gas and air quickly into a tennis ball so it atomizes as much as possible. You want more oxygen than gas, so make it like a quarter shot glass's worth or so of low grade gasolene. Place the tennis ball down into the cannister and pull the fuse out one of your small hoses (you need a long fuse for this). Spray the hairspray into the hole. About half a seconds worth should work, THEN light the fuse. Run like hell and watch the show...
Here's a cool idea since we're on the subject. Take you a tennis ball cannister. Put two tiny holes in the cannister, opposite each other, say a 1/32 of an inch or so, whatever your smallest drill bit is. Take a punch and use it to poke a bottle rocket fuse up into a tennis ball. Take a syringe with a bit of gas and air in it, squirt the gas and air quickly into a tennis ball so it atomizes as much as possible. You want more oxygen than gas, so make it like a quarter shot glass's worth or so of low grade gasolene. Place the tennis ball down into the cannister and pull the fuse out one of your small hoses (you need a long fuse for this). Spray the hairspray into the hole. About half a seconds worth should work, THEN light the fuse. Run like hell and watch the show...
GreenMustangGt said:
Yeah, I'd like to see some pics of your igniton setup.... I think thats where mine is a little faulty. I just have a grill igniter in the end cap with a piece of wire duct taped to almost connect the electrodes. I shot a tater today that went around 2 1/2 football fields! The key is combustion chamber size. Most people go too large with their chamber.....
kristopher
New Member
