You have heard about people using a potato gun and want to build your own. You are in the right place to learn all the steps to constructing your own potato gun. First thing you will need to decide is are you going to be using compressed air or another source of fuel for your potato gun. In order for the system to work it needs a catalyst to make the air compress and drive the projective (potato) out of the cannon at a high enough velocity to overcome gravity.

This may sound really technical but it is really easy to build a potato gun the hard part is making sure that everything is air tight. If your cannon is not airtight no amount of fuel is going to make it work properly so if you are on a budget you can use PVC piping for your needs. Make sure it is at least a few feet long if it is not your potato gun will not be long enough for the potato to gain enough speed to launch. Think of it like a shotgun, if the barrel is not long enough the bullet won’t travel properly or accurately.

Once you have your potato gun piping set up you will need to design your ignition system, if you are using compressed air it can be as simple as valve that is connected to a hose which you can activate. If you are using a combustible fuel such as propane or aerosol spray which works best then your potato gun must have an ignition system that generates a spark. It is not recommended to use steel wool and a battery, best to find a small spark plug and a batter with enough voltage to create the spark. Do not try to light the potato gun with a lighter even though it seems like the easiest way you want to give yourself a safe distance between yourself and the potato gun when firing the first time.

You want your potato gun to have a good quality potato in it so you get the best distance and control of your shot. Idaho potatoes are the best to use since they are firm and solid. When you put your potato into your potato gun it should be snug but not so tight it cannot budge. The reason for this is you want it to be snug enough for the pressure to drive the potato out of the gun. But not so tight that you have a back draft of pressure and the flame comes out the back of the gun.The best way to determine this is by trial and error with your potato gun the more you use it the better able you will be able to tweak it to get more distance and better accuracy from it.

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Filed under: Potato Guns

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