Rail Guns

[Tycho?] · May 17, 2004

First off, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this topic, but I didn't see an electromagnetic forum. If one exists, then I am blind and i will repost this there.

Anywho. For a school physics project I am doing rail guns. I know the basics principals of how they work, and how to build one. The one I will build need only be very small, just big enough to demonstrate that they can work, so my projectile will probably be a penny or something of similar mass. What I am wondering is, what sort of power am I looking at to get this thing moving? I know the more current the better, but how much, and where might I aqquire this? I am considering a car battery, but this may be over kill or not enough, I do not know. Any help would be appreciated.

blike · May 17, 2004

Tycho, is this for a highschool or college physics class?

Lance · May 17, 2004

When it comes to rail guns there is no such thing as overkill. They need massive amounts of power to function. You also need a bit more electronics than a battery. You’re going to need some very large capacitors. A working rail gun would also use lethal amounts of current not to mention the high voltage aspects of it. If you use smaller amounts of power then it will most likely not do much of anything. You will also need a substantial amount of money.

Have you considered making a coil gun instead? Coil guns can be effective with small amounts of power and most of the parts can be obtained for free.

If you decide to go the coil gun route I can post a better explanation on how they work/ how to make them on request.

If you decide to go the rail gun route all I can say is good luck and be careful. I have never constructed one because of the costs involved.

Dave · May 17, 2004

Bear in mind that if you make this for a physics class, you don't want to use lethal voltages/currents, and you don't want to be firing anything at extremely high velocities - they'll penetrate most things, like walls and more importantly, people. On the other hand, it's pretty easy to get hold of things like large capacitors (maplin are flogging a 1 Farad capacitor on their site for about £30) and things like that.

Good luck

[Tycho?] · May 17, 2004

Uh, perhaps I should elaborate here. This is just a grade 11 physics class. I am not planning on making so much a rail "gun" as a rail "move a penny a bit". If I can get my projectile to move the length of the rails, I will be happy. I'm not looking for some super power thing here. What would be the minimum current requirements for this, just to move a coin a little bit.

Sayonara · May 17, 2004

Use the mains as your power supply, and a sharpened lawn umbrella as your projectile.

:thumbsup:

[Tycho?] · May 17, 2004

Use the mains as your power supply' date=' and a sharpened lawn umbrella as your projectile.

:thumbsup:[/quote']

I... see.

Dave · May 17, 2004

'']Uh, perhaps I should elaborate here. This is just a grade 11 physics class. I am not planning on making so much a rail "gun" as a rail "move a penny a bit". If I can get my projectile to move the length of the rails, I will be happy. I'm not looking for some super power thing here. What would be the minimum current requirements for this, just to move a coin a little bit.

That's not so bad then, but it's still a pretty challenging project.

Dave · May 17, 2004

True; hence I didn't say "don't do it". However, from a work point of view, it requires a lot of effort to get working so expect to spend quite some time doing it

Hades · May 17, 2004

Use the mains as your power supply' date=' and a sharpened lawn umbrella as your projectile.

:thumbsup:[/quote']

Tesseract · May 17, 2004

Well I hope you get a good mark Hades.

Dave · May 17, 2004

I think [Tycho?] is the one building the railgun

BPHgravity · May 17, 2004

Have you considered making a "Gauss Rifle?" The principles are the same except you don't have to worry about producing electrical energy. Its fun to build and use, plus it would be easy to use as a model of an electromagnetic system.

Check one out here:

http://www.scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/magnets/gauss.html

Tesseract · May 17, 2004

F**k, well I screwd that one up.Hades is the one with the cellphone thread right....????

sorry.

Tesseract · May 17, 2004

Have you considered making a "Gauss Rifle?" The principles are the same except you don't have to worry about producing electrical energy. Its fun to build and use' date=' plus it would be easy to use as a model of an electromagnetic system.

Check one out here:

http://www.scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/magnets/gauss.html

[/quote']

Wow those look niffty.

Dave · May 17, 2004

F**k' date=' well I screwd that one up.Hades is the one with the cellphone thread right....????
sorry.[/quote']

Yeah, I think so.

**swansont** · May 17, 2004

Have you considered making a "Gauss Rifle?" The principles are the same except you don't have to worry about producing electrical energy. Its fun to build and use' date=' plus it would be easy to use as a model of an electromagnetic system.

Check one out here:

http://www.scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/magnets/gauss.html[/quote']

Wow. Deja vu.

They even have a section on how you couldn't make a perpetual motion machine out of that device.

[Tycho?] · May 17, 2004

That would be me (the one who is doing the rail gun).

So... nobody can offer me any sort of energy estimate at all? Not even for a super tiny one?

Dave · May 18, 2004

You mean the amount of energy transferred to the ball? If you have a big railgun, then some can throw out bits at extremely high velocities. I don't have a clue to the actual figures though.

Tesseract · May 18, 2004

He means the amount of enery needed to power the device.Look at this site Tycho:http://www.powerlabs.org/emguns.htm

Its good.

YT2095 · May 18, 2004

you`ll need a huge capacitor! with a fast duty cycle, charge it from and NST or OBIT and that`ll work well, as for the car batt, you`ll risk overheating it as the current drain to stepup would be enormous! for a workable charge.

failing that, maybe you can get a pole pig from a scrap yard? some have them to burn out and strip the copper, Army/Navy surplus stores are also handy if you can get an old Radar transformer and the caps used in them, all or any should work just fine

Tesseract · May 18, 2004

you`ll need a huge capacitor! with a fast duty cycle' date=' charge it from and NST or OBIT and that`ll work well, as for the car batt, you`ll risk overheating it as the current drain to stepup would be enormous! for a workable charge.
failing that, maybe you can get a pole pig from a scrap yard? some have them to burn out and strip the copper, Army/Navy surplus stores are also handy if you can get an old Radar transformer and the caps used in them, all or any should work just fine [/quote']

You know alot about machines.Are you in engineering?

YT2095 · May 18, 2004

yes and no, I`m just The Resoucefull One

Tesseract · May 18, 2004

yes and no, I`m just The Resoucefull One

Yes and no?Whats your career?

YT2095 · May 18, 2004

lets just say I solve practical Problems.

AND Grow Chili Peppers

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