This coil launcher is based on a disposable camera flash system. It uses the charging system from one camera plus the the flash capacitors from four cameras. The coil is 200 turns in 10 layers wrapped around a glass tube with a 3mm inside diameter. The projectile is a 2.5mm diameter nail. It certainly isn’t as high powered as some of the systems we’ve featured, but firing at 20-25m/s it can still be dangerous.
[thanks phuzzy3d]
Sweet jebus,
bring on the disposable camera hacks!
Now THIS is the kind of thing I come here for! Lately things have been slow, and the few hacks that have been posted I couldn’t care less about. Perhaps things are looking up, keep it up HAD.
its times like this i like working at the drug store. time to make a mini nail launcher.
great hack! i love low-cost hacks like these! keep them coming! i cant wait to try this out.
I made one of those! I murdered a little squirrel with it!
Ive been using disposable cameras for ages with my coilgun – I use a larger, custom made slug, and a bank of 4-8 caps, depending on what slug im using and what im doing.
There are obvious limitations, but the self-charging circuit is a BIG plus for someone like me – Im thinking of building a new coil – Ive got around 400 feet of 17ga wire left..
i would like to point out that used disposable cameras can be had for free if you ask nicely at a mall camera shop or cvs
I put one of these together one afternoon last summer. Nothing nearly as fancy, as I did no math for it, and I got lazy so just pulled coils off an old HDD instead of winding my own, but it works as well. The CoralCDN cache is here: http://elpac.kicks-ass.net.nyud.net:8090/~pat/projects/gaussgun.html
or, if you feel like hammering my poor DSL line, you check it out here: http://elpac.kicks-ass.net/~pat/projects/gaussgun.html
The way I did (with minimal work) was real easy and quick, and while it can’t pierce skin at the moment, I’m sure that if I actually wound coils, as opposed to have a couple that are a good half-inch away from the barrel, there would be considerably more ooomph to it.
Very nice project. The stores are going to start to wonder why they are selling so many cameras that never come back…
PELASE PLEASE PLEASE GIVE US SOME LINKS.
that girl on the “find true love” ad has me lingering at this sight longer than i should….
what happened to daily links?
Now THAT’s a hack!
I think the daily links taken down because hack-a-day is running out of hacks! GASP!
I too want daily links to come back, even if it’s just little blurbs about interesting tech/hardware stuff.
In other news, are there any hardware hackers/pc modders in the Western PA area? I’ve been aching to do some kind of project and I’m off work until almost Thanksgiving so I’ve been trying to find someone for some creative input and collective hijinks. Hit me up with an e-mail to seanporter at gmail.com if you’re interested, or even if you’re not from around here and just have some ideas.
That is really cool man.
It’s a gauss gun for the common man!
(cue “theme for the common man”)
ive made a few of these. to get the cameras just ask at a photo development place for emptied disposable cameras needed for a[little brothers] school project on recycling or some piece of bs like that. you can desolder the capacitors from other cameras and wire them in in parellel. i took a highvoltage switch from a microwave oven and wired it in with a coil, also in parellel. it works best if you have about 1-2mm of your projectile sticking into your coil about 1-1.5 cm in lenghth. i was able to drive a nail into a block of styrfoam/my skin using 3 capacitors parellely charged. good luck and send me some feedback @ itd_91@yahoo.com
happy building
Anyone got a video or pics of what one of these things can do? I’m off to find used disposable cameras tomorrow I think. :)
ha make sure you discharge the capacitor before opening it up and fucking with it.
i nearly killed myself with a flash capacitor, i was being stupid, disassembling a disposable camera.. battery out but capacitor full, i was holding the camera with my left hand and fiddling with it with my right, touched a no no piece accidentally and it sent a surge of electricity through my right arm, through my heart and back down my left arm.
not fun.
Photography stores just rip the film out of disposable cameras and toss the rest into a bin, where they later send it off. They will give them away free if you ask politely, just as with empty film canisters.
Photography stores just rip the film out of disposable cameras and toss the rest into a bin, where they later send it off. They will give them away free if you ask politely, just as with empty film canisters.
Has the link been disabled?
As to what 18 said, I’m not sure it’s lethal. I know you don’t want to be doing it with a pacemaker, but this is relatively low current. I’ve given myself Numerous shocks in the past week or so after reading this, but aside from that moment of pain, there are no noticable side effects.
I don’t spose anyone can test to find out the amperes this would actually put through a person? I believe it’s 40mA that is lethal, but I am not positive.
I picked up a board sitting on a friends desk without knowing what it was and not only got shocked but it burned 2 holes pretty deep. I give all capacitors a wide berth now.
Link does seem to be down. Heres Googles cached version
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:E69NfEW0xjQJ:www.electronics-lab.com/projects/science/017/+&hl=en
link is back up. btw does anyone have better info for how to make this.i have 4 capacitors and a camera flash board but i need more info. please send details to me at Magicride025@aol.com
-tia
–>PSP005<--
just made this bored college student’s day
hey in response to the guy asking about how much these things put out for voltage and current; i made a stun gun out of a disposable as im sure many of you have and will be in the electronics lab tomorrow morning. ill run some tests on the discharge for you guys( and myself because i too have been shocked waaay to many times with it. haha) ill post the numbers tomorrow if i remember.
Later,
Tyler
im really interested in this thing but im just 14 yrs. old i dont really understand which MOSFET and all bunch of other stuff and where i can get it.can anyone send me a guide and definitions to make a coil launcher
PLS PLS PLS PLS PLS PLS PLS help me i really appreciate it if you can :)
e-mail me in aljeromed@sbcglobal.net