Cannonman pic

[CANNONMAN]

Greetings friends! Thought some of you might want to see what all the fuss has been about. This is my latest and greatest cannon creation. Took me about a year of now & then to complete it. I can't tell you how much fun it is to shoot.

"I looked before I lept only to find out that he who hesitates is lost." CANNONMAN

 

[zxcvbob]

It's pretty, but the breech is not as thick as I would've expected. What bore is it?

I can't tell, do the wheels have steel "tires"?

 

[damoc]

Cool

Im going to need to see some smoke before I can pass judgment on the cannon though

your yard looks kinda like mine

 

[Geno]

Cool. We need video clips.

Geno

 

[zxcvbob]

+1 on the video!

 

[CANNONMAN]

Breach big enough?

The configuration of what allowable breach pressure this cannon could take approaches 850,000 psi. This is several thousand times more then the best of BP's can generate in this bore and length. In essence, you cannot make a "pipe bomb" with BP in this cannon. "Safety First!" CANNONMAN

ps, anybody wanna see the equation for this?

 

[Pete D.]

bore

Bore size?
Did you bore it yourself? Material?
Neat looking item it is.

 

[Malachi Leviticus Blue]

cool
'Build a Cannon" is one of the things on my list to do before I enter the clearing at the end of the path.

 

[CANNONMAN]

What is it?

I live in gas and oil country. Fracking is soon to be a standard of life around here. This cannon came from a leftover piece of stock used in the oil field. The makeup of this stuff was designed to be milled for an ultra high pressurization where "water hammering" was going to devastate the product after about one year of use. WOW! This is actually a rather small piece and was discovered in a remnant pile. Lucky me! I'm told this stuff is somewhere between extremely expensive to if you got to ask, ys can't afford it.I made friends with the shop manager and soon we were discussing cannons. [Turns out he's a closet case cannoneer himself.] Anyway, It's got a Brinell of around 600 and a tensile of over 300,000. Awesome strength with all the elasticity I should need for trying out my own BP. It's got a 3" bore and was formed that way. If it were something else, I most likely would have sleaved it. Yes it does have steel tires. 4" X 3/8 strap rolled to a 4' diameter. I put in 3" bolts into the 12 spokes for looks, extra carriage mass and traction. The elevator was an item I planned on welding up myself. When some of the oilfield guys got wind of the cannon they sent me an old pump handle. [The round thing with the spokes.] It's cast and has arrows for on and off on it. The mold for the ball is aluminum and have an odd tendency for wanting to create a "hollow" within them when casting. I have tried different temps of preheating the mold and also changing the temp of the lead - wheel weights - when casting. Anybody got an idea as to why? Never got this in the ten's of thousands of bullets I've cast. Fun to shoot? I guess its the most fun I've had with my pants on. There is just enough delay in the roar of the cannon and then hearing the ball splat on the cliff walls to know that I just gotta chrono this thing. I'll get some video up as soon as I can. In the meanwhile, if

 

[au_prospector]

Now you need some horses, a limber, a caisson, and a battery supply wagon. Add a half dozen guys dressed in Confederate uniforms and you can travel the battlefields of the South.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

How many vents does the mold have in it? How big is the pour hole? If it is small perhaps the liquid lead is clinging to the surface of the mold as it runs to the bottom of the cavity instead of travelling through the center. Maybe some type of flux or releasing agent on the mold cavity would help. Perhaps soot from a candle or kerosene lamp?

 

[kBob]

Good work! If I could change anything it would be to add an axle tree. Wooden covering for the steel axle.

-kBob

 

[j1]

You have built a beautiful canon. Thanks for posting here. Have you fired it yet?

 

[zxcvbob]

I'm curious how you plugged the breech, formed the chamber, and all that. I'd really like to build a cannon someday -- starting with a piece of drill pipe would be a good shortcut. All the drill pipe I've seen back in the day was smaller than yours; about 3" O.D. and weighed maybe 1000 lbs per section. (That was 30 years ago)

Is the stuff you used called "transition pipe"?

 

[rcmodel]

I'm curious how you plugged the breech,

Me too!

Details please!

rc

 

[dagger dog]

The wheels are interesting to me, were the iron tires shrunk fit and are the spokes tenoned into the hub and felloes ?

 

[CANNONMAN]

Breech plug. I took a ram, hydraulic from an old coal stripping bucket, and turned one end 3 thousand over the diameter. This looks kind of like a mushroom. The turned end, which is about 5" long was pressed into one end. This required heating the end to allow for the press. Air cooled to retain elasticity. 3/4" bore holes were placed from the breech end into the plug by 1". One inch rods, over by 1ooo, were pressed into these. [3 rods] The "mushroom" of the cap was then welded as well as the pinning rods. The breech plug is pressed, pinned and welded. It's not going anywhere! I really cheated on the 12 spoke wheels. They are laminated OSB with MDF in between. These were cut with a 6" jigsaw and then routed for effect. The 4' diameter was by a center pin and a 2' string drawing a perfect circle. I rolled 3/8" into a 4' circle and added wheel-to-spoke bolts for looks and traction. An axle tree would be nice and might hide that I cut a trailer axle. Shooting it is unbelievably fun! You outta see the looks I get trailering it out to the range. Thanks!