How to assemble a gauss cannon at home. Do-it-yourself powerful gauss cannon

The scope of application of thermal electric guns is quite wide. Industrial units are used to heat production, warehouse and even residential premises. And in small areas you can get by with homemade design a heat generator that is quite capable of heating a garage or country house.

If made electric heat gun with your own hands, it will cost literally pennies. However, in production useful homemade product rules must be followed. Only in this case will the device serve no worse than the factory product.

We will tell you how to properly make an electric gun. From the article we have proposed, you will learn what materials and components will be required to assemble the unit. Our advice will help in the manufacture of efficient and economical equipment.

Unlike other types of heat guns, electrical appliance Can be done by almost any home craftsman familiar with the basics of electronics.

Although the efficiency of an electric gun is much lower than diesel or, it does not emit combustion products harmful to health and can be installed in any room - a residential building, a greenhouse, ancillary buildings.

Gun power industrial use varies from 2 to 45 kW, and the quantity heating elements they can contain up to 15 pieces

Let's look at how an electric unit works.

Design and principle of operation of the heat generator

Any electric gun consists of three main components: a housing, an electric motor with a fan and a heating element. The varieties of this type of device are described in detail, devoted to the classification and principles of operation of heat guns.

Additionally, the device can be equipped with any “bonuses” from the factory units - speed switch, heat regulator, room thermostat, housing heating sensor, engine protection and other elements, but they increase not only comfort and safety during operation, but also the cost of the homemade product.

The rate of heating of air throughout the entire volume of the room depends on the number and power of heating elements - the larger their area, the more active heat transfer will occur

An electric gun works like this:

when connected to the network, the heating element converts electric current into thermal energy, due to which it heats itself up;
the electric motor drives the impeller blades;
the fan forces air from the room inside the case;
the cold air flow comes into contact with the surface of the heating element, heats up and, forced by the fan, is removed from the “barrel” of the gun.

If the appliance is equipped with a thermostatic element, it will stop the heater when the programmed temperature is reached. In primitive devices you will have to control the heating yourself.

Advantages and disadvantages of homemade guns

The main advantage of a thermal electric generator is the ability to use it in any room where there is a network of at least 220 W.

Such devices, even in a home-made version, are mobile, weigh little and are quite capable of heating an area of up to 50 m2 (theoretically, more is possible, but it is better not to experiment with high-power devices and buy a ready-made unit, and a gun from 5 kW will already require connection to a three-phase network ).

The performance characteristics of the device must correspond to the heated area. On average, for every 10 m2 you will need 1 kW, but much depends on the room itself - building materials, quality of glazing and presence of insulation

Pros of a homemade electric gun:

Saving money– factory units are not cheap, and a heating device can be assembled with a minimum of purchased parts or even entirely from improvised means, removing the missing elements from old devices.
Safety– of all homemade heat generators, the electric device is the easiest to operate, since it does not require a connection to gas or refueling with flammable fuel. With proper assembly of the electrical circuit, the risk of spontaneous combustion for such guns is minimal.
Fast room heating– the operation of a heat gun is much more efficient than other options for homemade electric heaters, for example, fireplaces or oil radiators.

One of the disadvantages is the high energy consumption (the amount depends on the power of the engine and heating element). In addition, the operation of the fan is quite noisy, and the larger the wingspan and rotation speed, the stronger the noise produced.

Well, any disadvantage of homemade electrical device– the likelihood of an error during assembly or connection, which can cause a short circuit in the network, electric shock and spontaneous combustion of the device.

Electric gun manufacturing options

The most difficult stage in assembling the device is to make correct scheme electrical circuits for connecting the device to the network. Therefore, we suggest using already ready-made example, taking it as the basis for a future heat gun. As can be seen in the diagram, the toggle switch and thermostats must be connected in series, and the circuit must be closed on the heating element and the electric motor with the fan.

The thermostat is responsible for the heating level of the heating element and automatically disconnecting the circuit when the desired room temperature is reached, and if you exclude it from the circuit, you will have to independently monitor the equipment to avoid overheating

Let's look at the manufacturing features of two simple options.

A simple fan heater with a ready-made heating element

For the body of the future gun, you can select a piece of metal or asbestos-cement pipe of a suitable diameter. It is best to adjust the size according to the span of the fan “wings”, because it should overlap one of the ends of the device.

If desired, the heat generator can be made from a small metal tank, a galvanized bucket, an old saucepan or a waste gas cylinder, the main thing is that the walls of the “casing” are not thin.

The power of the fan for a heat gun is not decisive, because the speed of heating the air depends solely on the heating element, and the impeller only disperses the warm flow throughout the room, so you can safely take a fragment from a household hood or vacuum cleaner

As for the heating element, you can remove this element from a used tile or boiler, or purchase it in a store - now it’s not a problem to find a heater of any shape. If you buy ready-made, the best option there will be a finned part specifically designed to quickly warm up the moving air flow.

The power of the heating element must be stamped on its body or stated in the accompanying documentation, but if this old device, you can measure its resistance with a multimeter and determine the power using the above formula

In addition to the three main elements (housing, motor and heating element), for work you will need a three-core cable, bolts, and an RCD that disconnects the network in a dangerous situation.

Step-by-step work plan:

Determining the required power for a future electric gun. As a starting point, you can take the common formula, according to which 1 kW is required per 10 m2 (with a ceiling height of 2.5-3 m). And if the room is not insulated, is located in the basement or has a large glass area, feel free to add another 20-30% to the data obtained. But if the required power exceeds 2.5-3 kW, think about whether your wiring can withstand such a load.
Case manufacturing. If this metal sheet– it needs to be bent and fixed in shape by welding, hoops or rivets. For a bucket, cylinder or pan, saw off the bottom and lid. In a word, the result should be a cylindrical or rectangular frame with two open holes at the ends.
Checking the resistance of the heating element and comparing it with the calculated one. If necessary, you can add 1-2 more elements by connecting them in series, or increase the power by shortening the element.
Mounting the electric motor with fan(you can use standard fasteners). The impeller should close the gap as tightly as possible, but at the same time rotate freely. The wires are connected to the network through a 6A fuse and are equipped with a switch.
Securing the heating element inside the pipe(approximately in the center) using rivets or plates made of refractory materials. The distance should be far enough away from the fan so as not to overheat the electric motor. The wires are led out of the housing and are also connected to the network, but through a 25A fuse.

After checking the insulation of all connections, you can test run the device. If everything is assembled correctly, when you plug the plug into the socket, a fan will begin to rotate at one end of the gun, and warm air will come out of the other, gradually increasing in temperature.

Device with nichrome heater

If in your arsenal home handyman there was no old one household appliance, from where you can remove the heating element, but for some reason you don’t want to buy a ready-made heater, you can make it yourself from a nichrome spiral.

In addition to low cost, such an element has an important advantage over factory copies - the ability to independently adjust right size according to the housing format and increase the heating speed to a safe maximum.

Devices with an open spiral are considered fire hazardous by default, therefore self-production The heating element requires good electrical skills

For homemade products, you will need to buy nichrome wire with a suitable diameter and resistance parameter. And this depends on the planned power of your device (for household devices and 220 V network it is advisable not to exceed 5 kW).

For example, for a gun up to 2 kW you will need wire with a resistance of 27-30 ohm, which must be wound on a ceramic rod or other heat-resistant material (in extreme cases, you can break off a plate of refractory brick).

The size of the spiral can be determined experimentally by selecting the number of turns according to the degree of heating of the wire, but it is much easier to use the table, where D is the diameter of the rod on which the wire of length L will be wound

Another option is to make a homemade heating element from a small piece of asbestos-cement pipe, placing a coiled spiral of the same nichrome wire inside. The coils can be arranged horizontally and vertically to cover a larger area.

Homemade heating element for 1.6 kW from six spiral fragments that almost completely block the lumen of the pipe, which ensures rapid heating of the air flow

The assembly of the structure is carried out by analogy with the instructions described above, so we will not repeat the same points, but will only consider the nuances of connecting a homemade heating element:

To keep the spiral in the correct shape, make special notches on the rod for each turn. The wire must be wound tightly enough, but always in one layer.
The ends of the wire must be connected to electrical wires using bolted connections and insulated.
The wires brought out through the holes drilled in the housing must be connected to the network through a 25A fuse.

A significant drawback of such a homemade product, in addition to energy consumption and other disadvantages of electric guns, is the unpleasant burnt smell that arises from the combustion of dust on an open coil.

The rules for the safe operation of a homemade gun are practically no different from the operation of other electrical appliances: you must avoid tipping the device and getting moisture inside it, do not touch the heated body and do not leave the unit working unattended.

From important features– before turning off, you must first stop the operation of the heating element, let the fan run idle for a few minutes and only then pull out the plug from the power supply.

Homemade heat guns without thermostats are not intended for long-term operation - they can cause a short circuit in the network or ignite from a hot spiral, in addition, electrical appliances dry out the air very much, so it is recommended to ventilate the room more often

Tips for assembling homemade products:

The body for any type of electric gun is best made of metal with a wall thickness of at least 1 mm or asbestos cement. Although you can buy a thermoplastic container of suitable size, such a “casing” can make unpleasant odors when heated, and will require strict control over the temperature of the coil.
The annoying noise from the operation of the impeller can be reduced if relatively quiet car fans are used for the design.
To prevent the hot surface of the housing from causing a fire, it can be installed on a frame made of reinforcement, an asbestos-cement stand, or a heat-absorbing coating can be applied.
The power supply to the fan and heating element is always carried out separately.
Monitor the quality of the insulation of all wires protruding beyond the gun body.

Grounding the metal body of the device will help prevent accidental electric shock.

And the last piece of advice - if your knowledge of electrical equipment is at the level of an amateur beginner, then before connecting homemade apparatus to the network, consult with a master who will evaluate the performance and safety of your creation with a professional eye.

With selection criteria electric fan heater factory production will introduce . If you doubt your own abilities or you don’t have time to assemble a homemade product, read the material we recommend.

Video #3. 2 kW heat gun from an old fire extinguisher:

As you can see, make it yourself electric gun really easy. But if you are not confident in your skills in working with the electrical part, it is better to consult an experienced electrician or buy a ready-made device.

If you have recommendations or have any questions while reading the material, leave posts in the block below. Please comment on the material we present and post photos on the topic. Perhaps your advice will be useful to site visitors.

Possess a weapon that, even in computer games can only be found in a mad scientist's laboratory or near a time portal to the future - it's cool. Watching how people indifferent to technology involuntarily fix their gaze on the device, and avid gamers hastily pick up a jaw from the floor - it’s worth spending a day on assembly for this DIY Gauss guns.

As usual, we decided to start with simplest design – single coil induction gun. Experiments with multi-stage projectile acceleration were left to experienced electronics engineers capable of building complex system switching on powerful thyristors and fine-tune the moments of sequential switching of the coils. Instead, we focused on the ability to create a dish using widely available ingredients.

So, to build a Gauss cannon, first of all you have to go shopping. In the radio shop for homemade products need to buy several capacitors with tension 350–400 V and total capacity 1000–2000 microfarads, enameled copper wire diameter 0.8 mm, battery compartments For « Crowns"and two 1.5 volt C batteries, toggle switch and button. Let's take five in photo products disposable cameras Kodak, in auto parts - the simplest four-pin relay from “Zhiguli”, in “products” - a pack straws For cocktails, and in “toys” - a plastic pistol, machine gun, shotgun, shotgun or any other gun that you want to turn into a weapon of the future.

Let's keep talking...

The main power element of our gun is inductor. With its manufacture it is worth starting assembling the weapon. Take a length of straw 30 mm and two big ones washers(plastic or cardboard), assemble them into a bobbin using a screw and nut. Start winding the enameled wire onto it carefully, turn to turn (with a large wire diameter this is quite simple). Be careful not to allow sharp bends in the wire or damage the insulation. After finishing the first layer, fill it superglue and start winding the next one. Do this with each layer. All you need to do is reel 12 layers. Then you can disassemble the reel, remove the washers and put the reel on a long straw, which will serve as a barrel. One end of the straw should be plugged. It is easy to check the finished coil by connecting it to 9 volt battery: If it holds a paper clip suspended, then you have succeeded. You can insert a straw into the coil and test it as a solenoid: it should actively draw a piece of paper clip into itself, and when connected pulsed, even throw it out of the barrel for 20–30 cm.

Dissecting values

It is perfectly suited for the formation of a powerful electrical impulse (in this opinion we agree with the creators of the most powerful laboratory railguns). Capacitors are good not only for their high energy capacity, but also for their ability to release all the energy within a very short time, before the projectile reaches the center of the coil. However, capacitors need to be charged somehow. Fortunately, we need charger found in any camera: a capacitor is used there to form a high-voltage pulse for the ignition electrode of the flash. Disposable cameras are best for us, because the capacitor and “charging” are the only electrical components they have, which means getting the charging circuit out of them is as easy as shelling pears.

Disassembling a disposable camera is the stage at which you should begin to develop caution. When opening the case, try do not touch the elements electrical circuit: The capacitor can retain charge for a long time. Having gained access to the capacitor, the first thing to do is close its terminals with a screwdriver with a dielectric handle . Only after this can you touch the board without fear of getting an electric shock. Remove the battery brackets from the charging circuit, unsolder the capacitor, and the jumper to the contacts of the charging button - we will no longer need it. Prepare the minimum in this way five charging boards. Pay attention to the location of the conductive tracks on the board: you can connect to the same circuit elements in different places.

Setting priorities

Selection of capacitor capacity is a matter of compromise between shot energy and gun charging time. We settled on four capacitors 470 microfarads (400 V), connected in parallel. Before each shot, we spend approximately minutes We are waiting for the signal from the LEDs on the charging circuits, indicating that the voltage in the capacitors has reached the required level 330 V. You can speed up the charging process by connecting several 3-volt battery compartments in parallel to the charging circuits. However, it is worth keeping in mind that powerful C-type batteries have excessive current for weak camera circuits. To prevent the transistors on the boards from burning out, each 3-volt assembly should have 3–5 charging circuits connected in parallel. On our gun, only one battery compartment is connected to the “chargers”. All others serve as spare stores.

Defining safety zones

We would not advise anyone to hold a button under their finger that discharges a battery of 400-volt capacitors. To control the descent it is better to install relay. Its control circuit is connected to a 9-volt battery through the shutter button, and the control circuit is connected to the circuit between the coil and the capacitors. It will help to assemble the gun correctly circuit diagram. When assembling a high-voltage circuit, use a wire with a cross-section of at least millimeters, any thin wires are suitable for the charging and control circuits. When experimenting with the circuit, remember: capacitors may have residual charge. Before touching them, discharge them by short circuit.

Artem

Let's sum it up

The shooting process looks like this:

turn on the power switch;
wait for the LEDs to glow brightly;
lower the projectile into the barrel so that it is slightly behind the coil;
turn off the power so that when firing, the batteries do not take energy from themselves; take aim and press the shutter button.

The result largely depends on the mass of the projectile.

Be careful, the weapon is real danger.

What would a holiday be without fireworks? It will be great if an artillery salvo sounds on your mother or grandmother’s birthday. And there is also New Year, Defender of the Fatherland Day, March 8 and other holidays, or you can just play pirates. So a fireworks cannon in the house is necessary.

I propose to make an antique ship cannon. The guns are loaded with ordinary firecrackers. Therefore, the main condition of our work is internal diameter The gun barrel should be slightly larger than the diameter of the firecracker. I don’t give the size of the gun - it depends on your desire and capabilities.

To work you will need:

mold for making a gun barrel
unnecessary newspapers (or wallpaper)
PVA glue
stationery knife
putty
skin
wooden blocks or plywood
dye
cellophane film
packaging corrugated cardboard
firecrackers

The structure of a real ship's cannon

How to make a papier-mâché cannon

1 . We are looking for a suitable base. You can take a tube from a vacuum cleaner or a wooden handle from a shovel. And the best thing is a cone-shaped leg from a coffee table.

2 . In order for our barrel to be easily removed from the mold at the end of work, we wrap the mold with cellophane film.

3 . On the form, mark the length of the gun and add another 2 centimeters on both sides.

We begin to cover the form with paper. You can take unnecessary newspapers, and if you can find wallpaper, that will be even better. We cut the paper into strips 4–5 cm wide and begin to paste over our form. For work we use liquid PVA glue or any wallpaper glue. We try to glue smoothly, without folds. After 5-6 layers, let the trunk dry. And so we glue it to a thickness of 1 cm. To make it more similar to a real cannon, we will try to give our barrel a cone-shaped shape.

4 . When the trunk reaches the desired thickness, let it dry completely. To achieve a smoother surface, use wood putty. After letting the putty dry, we remove the errors in our work with sandpaper.

5 . Using thin strips of paper, we form belts and rims. And we skin again. After cutting off the excess paper, carefully remove the barrel from the mold.

6 . An important element of the barrel are the trunnions - they hold the barrel on the carriage and must be “strong”. They can be made from wood and glued into holes cut in the trunk.

7 . Our trunk is almost ready. All that remains is to paint it. You can paint it with any paint. I painted it with spray paint. This type of paint goes on smoother and dries faster, although it has a strong odor, so it’s better to do it outside.

8 . The time has come to think about the combat capabilities of our gun, or rather, about ways to load it.

We will use firecrackers as a projectile. As you know, they shoot when you hold the firecracker with one hand and pull the string with the other. Right hand we will pull and left hand we need to replace the barrel. To do this, you need to come up with a locking device, or shutter.

If you decide to load the gun through the barrel, as they were loaded in the old days, then you need to make sure that the projectile does not pull out along with the string. To do this, in the back of the barrel, inside in a circle, we will glue a collar (small protrusion), which will not allow the firecracker to jump out when we pull the string.

9 . If you want to load a gun from the rear, “breech” part of the barrel, then you need to install a bolt. This method reduces the time it takes to load the gun and makes it much easier. But for this you need to show inventive abilities.

In my gun, the bolt is made according to the principle of a hook, which at one end is attached to the end of the barrel with a screw, and at the other end it is attached to a ledge located on the opposite side. So far it's working fine.

And also very important advice. To prevent your mother from scolding you and forcing you to clean the room after a salute, you can modernize the firecracker: carefully remove the safety paper and carefully pour the contents of the firecracker (confetti) into the trash basket. The effect of the shot will remain (there will even be a smoky cloud), and there will be less or no debris at all.

10 . Now about the gun carriage.

The carriage can be glued together from wooden blocks - it will be more believable and reliable, for this we will need a saw. But this is a troublesome matter. Let's look for something to replace the tree with.

Let's take packaging corrugated cardboard. It’s better if you get a two-layer one. In accordance with the dimensions of the trunk, we will approximately mark the sheets of cardboard and glue them together. It is advisable to select cardboard so that the direction of the corrugation does not coincide: this will increase the strength of our carriage. When the workpiece reaches a thickness of 4–5 cm, we make the final cutting of the carriage parts and glue it together. Don’t worry about the strength of the carriage - craftsmen make furniture from such blanks.

For beauty, we cover it with paper with a wooden texture.

11 . And finally, we assemble the cannon. We connect the barrel with the carriage. We place it on the pins in the grooves and secure it (you can use a thick cardboard overlay, or you can just glue it in).

We charge and BANG!!!

DIY Gauss Gun

Since they have already started to appear in one of the articles with Gauss guns, or in another way Gauss Gun which are made with your own hands, in this article I publish another design and video footage of a Gauss gun.

This Gauss gun powered by battery in 12 Volt. You can see it in the picture.

This article can also be used as an instruction, as it describes in detail the assembly of the gun.

Gun characteristics:

Weight:2.5 kg
Projectile speed: approximately 9 m/s
Projectile weight: 29 g
Projectile kinetic energy: approximately 1.17 J.
Charging time of capacitors from the battery through the converter: 2 sec
Charging time of capacitors from the network through the converter: about 30 seconds
Dimensions: 200x70x170 mm

This electromagnetic accelerator is capable of firing any metal projectiles that are magnetic. A Gauss gun consists of a coil and capacitors. When leaking electric current through the coil, an electromagnetic field is formed, which in turn accelerates the metal projectile. The purpose is very different - mainly to scare your classmates. In this article I will tell you how to make such a Gauss gun for yourself.

Block diagram of Gauss Cannon

I would like to clarify this point. structural diagram the capacitor is 450 Volts. And 500 Volts come out of the multiplier. Absurd. Isn’t it? Well, the author didn’t take this into account a bit. We set the capacitor to at least 500 Volts.

And now the multiplier circuit itself:

In the scheme field is used transistor IRF 3205.With this transistor charging speed a 1000 uF capacitor for a voltage of 500 volts will be approximately equal to 2 seconds(with 4 amp/hour battery). You can use the IRL3705 transistor, but the charging speed will be approximately 10 seconds. Here is a video of the converter working:

The video multiplier contains an IRL3705 transistor, so the capacitors take a long time to charge. Later I replaced the IRL3705 with the IRF 3205, the charging speed became equal to 2 seconds.

Resistor R7 regulated output voltage from 50 to 900 volts; LED 1 indicates when the capacitors have been charged to the required voltage. If the multiplier transformer is noisy, try reducing the capacitance of capacitor C1, inductor L1 is not necessary, the capacitance of capacitor C2 can be reduced to 1000 µF, diodes D1 and D2 can be replaced with other diodes with similar characteristics. IMPORTANT! Switch S1 is closed only after voltage is applied to the power terminals. Otherwise, if voltage is applied to the terminals and switch S1 is closed, the transistor may fail due to a sudden voltage surge!

The circuit itself works simply: the UC3845 microcircuit produces rectangular pulses, which are fed to the gate of a powerful field-effect transistor, where they are amplified in amplitude and fed to the primary winding of a pulse transformer. Next, the pulses, pumped up by a pulse transformer to an amplitude of 500-600 volts, are rectified by diode D2 and the rectified voltage charges the capacitors. The transformer is taken from computer unit nutrition. The diagram shows dots near the transformer. These points indicate the beginning of the winding. The method of winding the transformer is as follows:

1 . We cook a transformer taken from an unnecessary computer power supply (the largest transformer) in boiling water for 5-10 minutes, then carefully disassemble the W-shaped ferrite core and unwind the entire transformer.

2 . First, we wind HALF of the secondary winding with a wire with a diameter of 0.5-0.7 mm. You need to wind it from the leg at the point indicated in the diagram.
Having wound 27 turns, we remove the wire without biting it off, insulate 27 turns with paper or cardboard and remember in which direction the wire was wound. THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! If the primary winding is wound in the other direction, then nothing will work, since the currents will be subtracted!!!

3 . Next we wind the primary winding. We also wind it from the beginning indicated in the diagram. We wind it in the same direction in which the first part of the primary winding was wound. The primary winding consists of 6 wires soldered together and wound with 4 turns. We wind all 6 wires parallel to each other, laying them out evenly in 4 turns in two layers. Between the layers we lay a layer of insulating paper.

4 . Next, we wind the secondary winding (another 27 turns). We head in the same direction as before. And now the transformer is ready! All that remains is to assemble the circuit itself. If the circuit is made correctly, the circuit works immediately without any adjustments.

Converter parts:

The converter requires a powerful energy source such as a 4 amp/hour battery. How more powerful battery, the faster the capacitors charge.

Here is the converter itself:

Converter printed circuit board - bottom view:

This board is quite large and after a little work, I drew a smaller board in Sprint-layout:

For those who are not able to make a converter, there is a version of the Gauss gun from a ~220 volt network. Here is the circuit of the multiplier from the network:

You can take any diodes that maintain a voltage above 600 volts; the capacitance of the capacitor is selected experimentally from 0.5 to 3.3 μF.

If the circuit is created correctly, it will work immediately without any settings.
My coil is 8 ohm. It is wound with varnished copper wire with a diameter of 0.7 mm. The total length of the wire is about 90 meters.

Now that everything is done, all that remains is to assemble the gun itself. The total cost of the gun is about 1000 rubles. The cost was calculated as follows:

Battery 500 rub.
The wire can be found for 100 rubles.
All sorts of little things and details 400 rubles.

For those who want to make the same gun as mine, here are step-by-step instructions:

1) Cut out a piece of plywood measuring 200x70x5 mm.

2) We make a special mount for the handle. You can make a handle from a toy pistol, but I have the handle of an insulin injection pistol. A button with two positions (three outputs) is installed inside the handle.

3) Install the handle.

4) We make fastenings on plywood for the converter.

5) Install the converter on the plywood.

6) We make a protective shield on the converter so that the projectile does not damage the converter.

7) Install the coil and solder all the wires as in the block diagram.

8) We make the body from fiberboard

9) We install all the switches in place, secure the battery with large ties. That's it! The gun is ready! This gun fires the following projectiles:

The diameter of the projectile is 10 mm, and the length is 50 mm. Weight 29 grams.

Raised body gun:

And finally, a few videos

Here is a video of a Gauss gun in action. Shot into a corrugated cardboard box

Shot at 0.8mm thick tile:

Hello. Today we will build a Gauss cannon at home using parts that can easily be found in local stores. Using capacitors, a switch and a few other parts, we will create a launcher that can use electromagnetism to launch small nails up to a distance of about 3 meters. Let's get started!

Step 1: Watch the video

Watch the video first. You will study the project and see the gun in action. Read on to learn more detailed instructions for assembling the Gauss Gun device.

Step 2: Gathering the necessary materials

For the project you will need:

8 large capacitors. I used 3,300uF 40V. The key point The point here is that the lower the voltage, the less danger, so look for options in the region of 30 - 50 Volts. As for capacity, the more the better.
One high current circuit breaker
One coil of 20 turns (I twisted mine from 18awg wire)
Copper sheet and/or thick copper wire

Step 3: Glue the capacitors together

Take the capacitors and glue them together so that the positive terminals are closer to the center of the glue. First glue them into 4 groups of 2 pieces. Then glue two groups together, resulting in 2 groups of 4 capacitors. Then place one group on top of the other.

Step 4: Assembling a group of capacitors

The photo shows what the final design should look like.

Now take the positive terminals and connect them to each other and then solder them to the copper pad. The cover can be a thick copper wire or sheet.

Step 5: Solder the copper pads

Use directed heat if necessary (a small industrial hair dryer), heat the copper strips and solder the capacitor terminals to them.

The photo shows my group of capacitors after completing this step.

Step 6: Solder the Negative Terminals of the Capacitors

Take another thick conductor, I used an insulated copper lead with a large cross-section, removing the insulation from it in the right places.

Bend the wire so that it covers the entire distance of our group of capacitors as efficiently as possible.

Solder it in the right places.

Step 7: Prepare the projectile

Next you need to prepare a suitable projectile for the reel. I wound my reel around the bobbin. I used a small straw as a muzzle. Therefore, my projectile must fit into the straw. I took the nail and cut it to about 3cm long, leaving the sharp part.

Step 8: Find a suitable switch

I then needed to find a way to dump the charge from the capacitors onto the coil. Most people use rectifiers (SCRs) for such needs. I decided to keep things simple and found a high current switch.

There are three current ratings on the switch: 14.2A, 15A, and 500A. My calculations showed a maximum force of about 40A at a peak lasting about a millisecond, so it should have worked.

NOTE. Do not use my switching method if your capacitors are larger. I pushed my luck and it all worked out fine, but you don't want a breaker to blow because you ran 300A through a breaker rated for 1A.

Step 9: Winding the Reel

We're almost done collecting electromagnetic gun. Time to wind the reel.

I tried three different coils and found that about 20 turns of 16 or 18 awg insulated wire worked best. I used an old bobbin, wrapped some wire around it and threaded a plastic straw through it, sealing one end of the straw with hot glue.

Step 10: Assembling the device according to the diagram

Now that you have all the pieces ready, put them together. If you have any problems, follow the diagram.

Step 11: Fire Safety

Congratulations! We made the Grasse cannon with our own hands. Use a charger to charge your capacitors to near maximum voltage. I charged my 40V setup to 38V.

Load the projectile into the tube and press the button. The current will flow to the coil and it will shoot a nail.

BE CAREFUL! Even considering that this is a low-current project and that it will not kill you, such current can still harm your health. The second photo shows what happens if you accidentally connect plus and minus.