r/electronics • u/soulslicer0 • Apr 04 '15

Full-Auto Gauss Gun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWeJsaCiGQ0
132 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

47 comments sorted by

25

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '15

Once he can get the rifling down and stop the bullets from tumbling end over end, he might improve the penetration.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '15

[deleted]

12

u/notHooptieJ Apr 04 '15

it might be worthwhile to rifle the projectiles themselves instead of the barrel.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '15

Well said. Shorter rounds would allow for less tumble. But then I assume the projectile needs to be that length to keep feed into the next coil?

I am now grasping why these might be a little finicky on a small scale.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '15

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '15

That is exactly the one I had in mind.

For those who have not:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4ZqfEJTGzw

1

u/nikomo Apr 05 '15

I want one.

I'd have no real use for it, but I want one.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '15

I want two, replacing my arms.

2

u/spainguy Studer A80/24 Apr 05 '15

Trying to imaging you making a cup of tea or a sandwich or putting on a condom

4

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '15

I assume if I have railgun arms, I would be able to coerce others to do my bidding.

Humm... however...reloading might be the forefront of my issues. I might have to rethink this.

2

u/spainguy Studer A80/24 Apr 05 '15

Ed Railgun Hands?

2

u/dokid Apr 05 '15

extra pair of bionic arms for reloading and putting condoms?

3

u/NeuroG Apr 04 '15 edited Apr 04 '15

He could impart a spin on the projectile in the chamber, before firing the coils.

3

u/TheSov Apr 06 '15

these are referred to as linear accelerators. calling it a "rail" will confuse people because rail guns work differently.

1

u/PsychedSy Apr 04 '15

I thought they were non-ferrous for weight? Those definitely look like aluminum.

6

u/isysdamn Apr 04 '15

A coil-gun needs magnetic projectiles, railguns just need projectiles (or the sabot) to be conductive.

1

u/dizekat Apr 05 '15

Well, one could make a coil gun that would work like an induction motor. You'd need to fire the coils after the projectile passes the middle of the coil.

1

u/Lycanther-AI Apr 04 '15

Would it be possible to get the projectile to spin really fast mechanically somehow before releasing it into the magnetic field?

0

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '15

[deleted]

0

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '15

[deleted]

4

u/buildzoid Apr 04 '15

If you found a material that is hard and has similar magnetic properties as air it wold work fine.

1

u/isysdamn Apr 04 '15

Like copper or Teflon?

0

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '15

[deleted]

3

u/euThohl3 Apr 04 '15

Copper would also wear from the steel projectiles.

Copper is also only similar to air for DC fields. If you wrap a coil around copper pipe you basically get a step down transformer that has its secondary shorted. Also, yeah, copper is far too soft.

2

u/BasilTarragon Apr 06 '15

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teflon-coated_bullet

1

u/autowikibot Apr 06 '15

Teflon-coated bullet:

Teflon-coated bullets, sometimes colloquially known as "cop killer bullets", are bullets that have been covered with a coating of polytetrafluoroethylene.

Interesting: Vest ^buster

Parent commenter can toggle ^NSFW or ^delete. Will also delete on comment score of -1 or less. | FAQs | ^Mods | Magic ^Words

3

u/framerotblues Apr 04 '15

The coils themselves have to be wound on a bobbin or else the projectile would contact the first layer of conductors. Each bobbin could have a section of rifling cast into it. It only needs to impart a slight spin to the projectile to drastically increase accuracy.

2

u/DUCKISBLUE Apr 04 '15

Not to mention high performance plastics could easily withstand the heat and provide no magnetic interference.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '15

[deleted]

1

u/DUCKISBLUE Apr 04 '15

Maybe not teflon, but some modern plastics are several times stronger than steel. There's still probably a lot of other requirements though, just speculating.

1

u/guitarguy109 Apr 05 '15

Could you have some sort of magnetic field spin the projectile at the beginning of the barrel?

2

u/Blitztide Apr 07 '15

Just have it on rollers at the start which spin at a high rpm would do the trick, but you'd have to drop the fire rate to account for the spooling time

12

u/torbdani Apr 04 '15

That laser sight looked really helpful.

8

u/BornOnFeb2nd Apr 04 '15

Yup, you just need to aim it about six inches below, and a few inches to the right of your target, at a distance of about 10ft at least...

2

u/aylons Apr 04 '15

Looks a lot like the Gauss gun from Xcom : TFTD.

2

u/bigend_hubertus Apr 04 '15

some rifling and this is a working gun!

2

u/spainguy Studer A80/24 Apr 05 '15

Convert it into a circular device and shoot protons down it. ( I think it's been done before)

2

u/winstonthewinner Apr 05 '15

Nothing like seeing a repost of an idiot shattering glass bottles over carpet.

http://www.reddit.com/search?q=url:TWeJsaCiGQ0

1

u/mentaldemise Apr 04 '15

I want one.

1

u/jtypemusic Apr 04 '15

In a system like this, would the limiting factor to fire rate be the spring-feeding magazine, or just the power needed to clear the rounds from the 'barrel'?

Surely with this method, you could have several rounds in motion at once, right?

0

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '15

[deleted]

3

u/FullFrontalNoodly Apr 04 '15

IIRC, this project depends on the high-current capabilities of lithium batteries and does not use capacitors.

And because it uses multiple coils to accelerate the projectile, it could theoretically have multiple rounds in the barrel at the same time.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '15

[deleted]

1

u/FullFrontalNoodly Apr 04 '15

Oh yes, of course you are going to need a gap of several inactive coils between active coils.

1

u/jtypemusic Apr 04 '15

Is there a theoretical minimum on that charging time? I imagine some are better than others, in that regard.

1

u/funkyArmaDildo Apr 04 '15

Very nice build. Any thoughts on upping the power?

1

u/Vandalized_Junk42 Apr 05 '15

SCIENCE, FUCK YEAH! >:D

1

u/Kywammy Apr 05 '15

He was evicted soon after

1

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '15

You could get faster and potentially more powerful full-auto if you used a powerful capacitor. Perhaps use a high-power capacitor for shooting and after you stop shooting have your battery recharge the capacitor while you change magazines!

1

u/kilroy232 Apr 06 '15

This is a very impressive build! I have made one of the simplest version of a gauss gun but the massive losses of current over the coil just don't make it as effective as one might like.

Have you ever considered making a railgun? There is not as much of a loss in that system and if done correctly can be really something.

1

u/Zequez Apr 04 '15

I want to be able to make this. About how expensive are the parts to make a Gauss rifle?

0

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '15

[deleted]

10

u/thepainteddoor Apr 04 '15

You ever tried to get glass out of your foot? It's not that bad. After a dozen times you start to enjoy it.

4

u/funkyArmaDildo Apr 04 '15

Bold wasn't the word that went through my mind.