my cat better be hiding from this one

Posted at 11:01 am on Dec 13th, 2005 by spaceout

The pictures doesnt works :(

Posted at 11:08 am on Dec 13th, 2005 by Jonathan de beir

First to post.

What would this be useful for?

Posted at 11:08 am on Dec 13th, 2005 by crash2108

The pictures doesnt works :(

Posted at 11:12 am on Dec 13th, 2005 by Jonathan de beir

Link does not work….:(

Posted at 11:17 am on Dec 13th, 2005 by bill

build a couple of increasing delay one shot TTL’s with 555 (and ample voltage dividing and current protection to get down to ~5 v and small miliamps) in parallel with some sort of small SCR’s and parallel capacitors to get multiple current spikes as the projectile travels down the rails for increased velocity.

probobly want more parallel charging circuits for shorter downtime.

I was working on parallel chargers and discharging for multiple flashbulbs in parallel separated by small inductors to excite a 4″ YAG tube.

higher voltage = shorter burst = more briliant.

limit of high voltage before flash breakdown and flash… avoid with parallel caps, one polarity leads separated by inductor and flash bulb in parallel. discharge one, immediate potential between ends of inductor and will discharge through tube.

shorter flash != more excitement.
xenon flash spectra !~= YAG absorbment spectra
longer flash better, more photon amp. time, ns/ms timer delays good.

Posted at 11:57 am on Dec 13th, 2005 by joe

google its url and get the cache. this at least provides text.

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:t7YO350tj_4J:www.geocities.com/physicsthings/microrailgu.htm+&hl=en&client=firefox-a

Posted at 12:24 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by matt walde

lol, bandwidth exceeded

Posted at 12:58 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by yurijm

Why is the person who brags about being the first poster never the first poster? It just adds insult to injury regarding their stupidity.

Posted at 1:41 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by Stevo

stevo, I agree

Is there a tutorial for this anywhere? I wanna impress my electronics teacher!

Posted at 4:06 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by Nick pannuto

God I hate geocities

Posted at 4:19 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by grant

this looks like a helluva lot of fun.

Posted at 4:35 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by dirk

teh grammer dont works :(

Posted at 5:09 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by weaszel

hmm, a few hours ago when i first saw this link on hack-a-day I of course tried to goto the site, where i got the bandwidth exceeded notice.

Posted at 5:34 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by 0xF050

I can’t believe geocities is still around. All the other popular webhosts that I can remember from the late 90s are long gone.

Posted at 5:57 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by tiuk

After reading that has he concluded saying that he made it but it doesnt have enough power to shot and actaully have some effect? from the website -

“The Micro-Railgun is capable of firing small graphite slugs, cut from a piece of drafting lead. Granted, they won’t pierce paper, but it’s a start.”

Posted at 7:55 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by Adam

the pics arent availabe in the cached version. Does anyone have the pics or a screenshot.

Geocities is so useless…

Posted at 8:01 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by nach0s

with the seemingly immense bandwidth of hack a day, why doesnt someone make a place to upload hacks from places like geocities so the owners can still enjoy being famous and using their site?

Posted at 8:41 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by Mac

So when the OP wants us to harvest capacitors from 3 other cameras, why not simply order the capacitors themselves, wouldn’t that be cheaper?

Posted at 9:11 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by Mikel

#19, not if you used the film from the disposable, removed it to be developed sepratly, then took the electronics out

just make sure to wind the wheel for a while after the last exposure, so all the film goes into the canister. then ignore the do not open warnings, and a 35mm cassette is all ready to be developed

Posted at 9:29 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by pretorious

i emailed the aothor suggesting to upgrade to premium account or if money is tight i could host it free and with unlimited bandwidth from my isp’ user homepage.

Posted at 11:43 pm on Dec 13th, 2005 by ejonesss ejonesss

#20, Or you could just get the capacitors for free… Just go into any store that develops film and ask if you can have a few cameras. Once they rip out the film, they just throw the old cameras in a box and I assume recycle them. I once had the kid at Fred Meyer’s offer me every camera in the box…

Posted at 5:02 am on Dec 14th, 2005 by TNS

If you are interested in building a railgun, go to http://www.4hv.org and search the fourms. That is the best/only group of guys out there that are building them.

Jason
http://www.rollette.com/railgun

Posted at 8:11 am on Dec 14th, 2005 by Jason

i have made the same gun as this a few weeks ago and you get a flash and a spark its fun but if you have the wrong sci staff at school they will think you are a terrorist i didnt even bring it to school and then i had to see the counsler.
these things are fun to make have a go, it took me less than a day and yess (22) just go to camera shops and just ask for them they are happy to give you as meny as you can carry
luke

Posted at 8:22 pm on Dec 14th, 2005 by luke

some friends and I are currently working on this thing, we’ve got the capacitor bank up and running, and just need a little more work on the rails to get those going nice and spiffy-like. i did some reading on railguns on my own that I think’s gonna help.

Posted at 2:55 am on Dec 15th, 2005 by dirk

I built this the day I saw the post here. but Alas, I cannot get it to function properly. The projectile does not move. it sparks, and a few sparklets come out both sides, but Its a FAR cry from “a foot long streak of plasma” that the author Describes. It makes me sad.

Posted at 6:57 pm on Dec 15th, 2005 by bob

Hey guys. I’ve been getting alot of requests for photos/data of the microrailgun, and I’m
extremely flattered by the interest in this device, but sadly this project was concluded
almost two years ago, and what little I did take note of back then has been lost (computer
failures and replacements). The original prototypes are just gone. Following this project I began (and completed) work on a larger railgun, but even that one has sat unfired for over a year. I just don’t have the time to work on these projects anymore. Considering the interest people seem to have in the microrailgun, I will put together a re-make of this device soon, and take photographs of the process. I’ll let you guys know where it’s hosted on this thread. I’ve recieved numerous, generous offers for bandwidth for this project. I’m sorry I can’t respond to these all individually, but I literally have an inbox full of these emails. Thanks again for the interest. It’s an honor to have been featured on hackaday.com. Luke, congrats on getting it to work, I hope you didn’t get in much trouble at school.

Posted at 12:23 pm on Dec 16th, 2005 by Jg Physsicsthings

I’m one of dirk’s (#25) friends helping with the project. We made a bank of 5 capacitors that came out of disposable cameras and we were unable to get the stream of plasma spoke of in the article. I’ve built a bank of capacitors out of 2200mfd caps found at a local surplus electronics store. 15 total equating to 33 farads. I’ve got the bank wired together and working, just need to get the gun from dirk who is going to be away for the next couple weeks.

Posted at 9:07 pm on Dec 17th, 2005 by Jacob

Success! Our initial failure was because we used steel bars as the rails instead of aluminum, and that the size was 1/2″ x 1/2″. Yesterday I checked the site again and the images were there! I was able to find the intended dimensions from one of the images, and built the gun this morning. It works great with 33 farads, let me tell you!

Posted at 9:30 am on Dec 18th, 2005 by jacob

I’ve been trying to get the images for the site for a while now and i’m not having any luck. Since you said you were able to see the images do you mind checking your cache to see if they are still there and if so could you upload them to a place like http://imageshack.us/ so that others can see them too.

thanks.

Posted at 11:26 am on Dec 18th, 2005 by dnv

Dunno why it worked once, but i downloaded the images as quickly as I could because I figured it would be a one-time thing. Here ya go!
hxxp://img343.imageshack.us/img343/3209/circuit0ng.jpg
hxxp://img343.imageshack.us/img343/5886/smallrailgun6ma.jpg
hxxp://img343.imageshack.us/img343/7071/howitworks3sr.jpg
hxxp://img343.imageshack.us/img343/5339/howitworks29ia.jpg

Posted at 12:31 pm on Dec 18th, 2005 by jacob

Thanks for uploading the pics.

I re-compiled the webpage with the images in their original positions to make it easier for people to view it and also for if someone wanted to rehost the page somewhere.

Here’s a link to a zip file containing the webpage: http://www.mytempdir.com/329172

Posted at 4:19 pm on Dec 18th, 2005 by dnv

Got sick and tired of spending money on batteries so I bought an LM 117 and with a 100 ohm resistor and a 10k pot created a 1.5 volt power supply out of a wall wart i had laying around. I also found an old plastic container and made a nice case for the charging circuit. If anyone’s interested I’ll post images.

Posted at 8:14 pm on Dec 19th, 2005 by jacob

Hi, i was searching in google an i find this.
there are the ignition circuit.

circuitshttp://forum.4hv.org/index.php?board=5;action=display;threadid=4232

Posted at 5:09 pm on Jan 3rd, 2006 by Daedalus

Hey, I was wondering if someone could create an “idiots guide to making a mini rail gun”? I have the cameras and stuff but I really have no clue what I’m doing ^_^ thanks

Posted at 4:05 pm on Jan 15th, 2006 by Alex

i cant wait to make this on the weekend

Posted at 5:57 pm on Jan 16th, 2006 by brent

If you don’t know what you’re doing, then you shouldn’t do anything. Those caps are dangerous; just four of them is a bit over 26 joules. You might get an idea of what I’m talking about even if you charge just one cap up to capacity and then short it with an insulated screwdriver. I don’t want to spoil your party, but it’s a bad idea to do things you have no idea about.

Anyway, if you so insist on endangering yourself… you hook the caps up in parallel and then take one lead from the (-) rail and connect it to the (-) lead of the cap. Then, take a length of wire to use as a switch, connect it to the (+) cap lead, and use something insulated (so your fingers don’t fry) to close it once the caps are charged up. Good luck and don’t hurt yourself or anyone else.

Posted at 4:34 pm on Jan 17th, 2006 by x

if that was a bit confusing (as I know I didn’t actually try to explain) here’s a diagram:

(–)|—|=====|
(+)|/ -|=====|
(crummy attempt at an ascii switch)

basically, get your projectile in, charge up the caps, and use something insulated to complete the (+) lead from the cap bank to the (+) rail. Remember, follow the right hand rule; the last thing you need is a ball of hot plasma flying at you.

Posted at 9:15 pm on Jan 17th, 2006 by x

Hey, i was wondering if somebody has a detailed step by step instructions for building a small railgun.

I think i know enough about electricity to build one, But i don’t quite get the construction part.
for ex. (how long are the welding rods)

Stuff like that

Posted at 4:46 pm on Jan 18th, 2006 by Adam

this is a wild idea, but did anyone ever consider clicking the link at the bottom of the page that says “main page,” and then clicking the link that says “micro railgun? *duh* it has photos and everything…

Posted at 5:06 pm on Jan 20th, 2006 by bgugi

could you use tv capacitors instead, or do they not release the energy as fast as flash capacitors?

Posted at 7:56 pm on Feb 6th, 2006 by char

I’ve constructed it as best I can from the directions. I got a bunch of Kodak cameras (They wouldn’t give them to me for free so I had to buy them at a whopping 48 cents each). I opened them up and I couldn’t exactly tell which was positve and which was negetive, so being that they were all pretty much were the same “chipset”, I just connected corresponding leads in parallel like the directions. They charge just fine, I can hear it power up and then the light comes on. I’ve got two aligator clips I connected to the ends of of the capacitor bank, but I leave one connected so the otherone is basically my ignition switch when I connect it. I get a little piece of tin foil “no thicker than the rails” (whatever that means. Put it in the middle, and once charged I connect the other aligator clip and…

I get a big ol’ spark at the aligator clip but Im pretty sure the foil doesn’t move. I think once it vaporized. Anybody have the foggiest whats wrong?

Posted at 10:09 pm on Feb 7th, 2006 by trinitrogen

Yeah, well I got a bag of salvaged power line capaciters, there a bout 6 incehs in height, by 3″ in diameter….

they should work fine right? just about 6 of them?

Posted at 7:10 pm on Feb 10th, 2006 by amgroben

yO GUYZ THIS IS MAD BUT!
BUT I HAVE GOT NO IDEA HOW TO BUILD IT
the instructions r kinda wacked is it aluminium bars sandwiched inbetween the lucite???????
Cheers!

Posted at 4:17 am on Mar 10th, 2006 by xAVIRZ

yo this is boring no1 is answering me and by the way is lucite american/? caus im in aus and i asked the guy at the hardware store and all he said was “fcking americans” and grunted
???? help!

Posted at 7:25 pm on Mar 11th, 2006 by Xavirz

I dont think that this is an actual device (at least not from the way you described making it). Aluminum foil is undoubtedly NOT going to be propelled forward by an EMP. It would have to be something along the lines of a steel rod, or rail.

Posted at 12:19 am on May 14th, 2006 by R34P3R

the “railgun” that you describe is not a rail gun, so much as a plasma rifle type item. a rail gun would utilize steel projectiles and launch them with magnetics coils and such.
however, I feel that this plasma rifle is friggin awesome

Posted at 10:56 pm on May 14th, 2006 by R34P3R

#46, #47: This is totally a railgun. Your confusion is the misunderstanding of what a rail gun is from the games you have played. It isn’t a railgun because it shoots rails, but rather because it has rails that the projectile moves between under magnetic forces.

A Coil gun has coils up and down the barrel that pull the projectile along the barrier with magnetic forces.

Posted at 9:48 pm on May 20th, 2006 by Anthony