September 25, 2013 at 7:50 am
L' Eomot Inversé (9/24/2013)
Jeff Moden (9/23/2013)
dwain.c (9/23/2013)
I'm more interested in the specs on your rail gun pork chop launcher. 😛BWAA-HAAA!!!! Sorry... that would be proprietary information. So are the Nitrogen tri-Iodide powered Pixie Sticks. 😛
Say... you don't happen to know what the coeffecient of drag would be on a 2" diameter, 4 inch long, slighly rounded-at-the-ends Russet spud slug would be do ya? :hehe:
I'm afraid no specific figure could be given, because the drag coefficient depends heavily both on how the potatoe is dressed and on its gender. I suspect Kratman failed to mention the effect of drag coefficient on efficiency in his notes on mixed gender combat units simply because the subject is too complex. (It was Kratman who wrote those notes, wasn't it?)
BWAAA-HAAA!!!! Not THAT'S funny! 😀
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
September 25, 2013 at 7:54 am
Greg Edwards-268690 (9/24/2013)
wolfkillj (9/24/2013)
Jeff Moden (9/24/2013)
wolfkillj (9/24/2013)
paul.knibbs (9/24/2013)
wolfkillj (9/24/2013)
A recoilless potato rifle??? That would be AWESOME!!!
How expensive would the Gyrojet spuds be, though? 🙂
I'm thinking a model rocket motor embedded in a potato specially carved for aerodynamics and fitted with deployable fins. Yes, the projectiles get more costly, but that's the tradeoff when you're looking for high-caliber, man-portable potato ordnance.
Interesting thought! I wonder how well an Estes 9# Thrust Booster Motor would do?
I'll have to look at that later - I'm busy trying to chuck a potato onto a lathe so I can shape it appropriately.
Wood Lathe or Metal Lathe? 😀
Didn't Ronco sell some potato peeler on TV?
Maybe a door hole saw ans glue several together......
I forgot to mention a feature of the original that I made. I had beveled the muzzle so that it would cut the potato to the perfect shape as it was being muzzle loaded. I usually wore gloves to keep my hand from taking on the appearance of a donut hole. It worked very well.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
September 25, 2013 at 8:05 am
Jeff Moden (9/25/2013)
Greg Edwards-268690 (9/24/2013)
wolfkillj (9/24/2013)
Jeff Moden (9/24/2013)
wolfkillj (9/24/2013)
paul.knibbs (9/24/2013)
wolfkillj (9/24/2013)
A recoilless potato rifle??? That would be AWESOME!!!
How expensive would the Gyrojet spuds be, though? 🙂
I'm thinking a model rocket motor embedded in a potato specially carved for aerodynamics and fitted with deployable fins. Yes, the projectiles get more costly, but that's the tradeoff when you're looking for high-caliber, man-portable potato ordnance.
Interesting thought! I wonder how well an Estes 9# Thrust Booster Motor would do?
I'll have to look at that later - I'm busy trying to chuck a potato onto a lathe so I can shape it appropriately.
Wood Lathe or Metal Lathe? 😀
Didn't Ronco sell some potato peeler on TV?
Maybe a door hole saw ans glue several together......
I forgot to mention a feature of the original that I made. I had beveled the muzzle so that it would cut the potato to the perfect shape as it was being muzzle loaded. I usually wore gloves to keep my hand from taking on the appearance of a donut hole. It worked very well.
The only problem with that setup for a recoilless design is that it would slice the deployable fins off, too. I don't think that anything less than a CNC lathe could shape a self-powered potato projectile precisely enough to fly true without some kind of stabilizing fins.
Perhaps I could build a fin/engine assembly that is narrower than the firing tube and stick it in the back of the potato, kind of like this. Then the firing tube could cut the potato into shape as I loaded it, as in Jeff's design, without affecting the fin/engine assembly. Plus, if you carried a few fin/engine assemblies, you could forage for warheads anywhere that root crops of sufficient size can be found, if necessary.
Jason Wolfkill
September 25, 2013 at 8:09 am
wolfkillj (9/25/2013)
The only problem with that setup for a recoilless design is that it would slice the deployable fins off, too. I don't think that anything less than a CNC lathe could shape a self-powered potato projectile precisely enough to fly true without some kind of stabilizing fins.
Why not borrow an idea from the aforementioned Gyrojets and insert *two* rockets, angled slightly to cause the potato to spin and thus spin-stabilise its flight? Only issue might be that the potato explodes into bits if it spins too fast, of course. :w00t:
September 25, 2013 at 8:11 am
The Dixie Flatline (9/24/2013)
I haven't launched an Estes rocket in almost 40 years, but why stop at potatoes? It strikes me that carrots would make excellent sabot rounds.
My Star Trek acumen tells me that a sabot is a wooden shoe. I had to Google for the obviously more common definition, since I couldn't see you making shoes out of carrots. 🙂
September 25, 2013 at 8:17 am
paul.knibbs (9/25/2013)
wolfkillj (9/25/2013)
The only problem with that setup for a recoilless design is that it would slice the deployable fins off, too. I don't think that anything less than a CNC lathe could shape a self-powered potato projectile precisely enough to fly true without some kind of stabilizing fins.
Why not borrow an idea from the aforementioned Gyrojets and insert *two* rockets, angled slightly to cause the potato to spin and thus spin-stabilise its flight? Only issue might be that the potato explodes into bits if it spins too fast, of course. :w00t:
Well, the possibility that the potato will disintegrate under the forces acting on it exists in all possible designs. 😀
I'm leaning toward the fin/engine assembly idea for two reasons:
(1) it only requires one engine per shot - with engines costing a few dollars apiece, I'd like to shoot as much as I can for my money; and
(2) the fin/engine assembly would probably be easier to manufacture than the gyrojet concept, and it would be simple to affix it to a tuber or root crop in the field.
Jason Wolfkill
September 25, 2013 at 8:39 am
Chad Crawford (9/25/2013)
The Dixie Flatline (9/24/2013)
I haven't launched an Estes rocket in almost 40 years, but why stop at potatoes? It strikes me that carrots would make excellent sabot rounds.My Star Trek acumen tells me that a sabot is a wooden shoe. I had to Google for the obviously more common definition, since I couldn't see you making shoes out of carrots. 🙂
It is indeed a wooden shoe, which fits onto the foot of the carrot in order to fill the gap between the carrot and the barrel (a carrot will be smaller caliber than the barrel of a potato gun); if the barrel were rifled, an expanding sabot could be used to hold the carrot tightly (so that the spin spins the carrot) until the assembly is out of the barrel, when the release of pressure on the sides allows the cup to expand so that it can fall away from the round (ie the carrot); if there is a requirement for fins to be attached to the back of the carrot, a split spindle sabot would probably be more appropriate, as it would allow the fin assembly as well as the carrot to be smaller diameter than the barrel.
Discarding sabots are of course dual prupose, if you can fire from such a position that the sabot, when discarded from the round, falls into some machinery that you also want to damage that lies close to you on the path towards your target.
Tom
September 25, 2013 at 8:52 am
Someone want to add a voice of reason to this?
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1493948-391-1.aspx
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
September 25, 2013 at 8:52 am
Jeff Moden (9/25/2013)
Greg Edwards-268690 (9/24/2013)
wolfkillj (9/24/2013)
Jeff Moden (9/24/2013)
wolfkillj (9/24/2013)
paul.knibbs (9/24/2013)
wolfkillj (9/24/2013)
A recoilless potato rifle??? That would be AWESOME!!!
How expensive would the Gyrojet spuds be, though? 🙂
I'm thinking a model rocket motor embedded in a potato specially carved for aerodynamics and fitted with deployable fins. Yes, the projectiles get more costly, but that's the tradeoff when you're looking for high-caliber, man-portable potato ordnance.
Interesting thought! I wonder how well an Estes 9# Thrust Booster Motor would do?
I'll have to look at that later - I'm busy trying to chuck a potato onto a lathe so I can shape it appropriately.
Wood Lathe or Metal Lathe? 😀
Didn't Ronco sell some potato peeler on TV?
Maybe a door hole saw ans glue several together......
I forgot to mention a feature of the original that I made. I had beveled the muzzle so that it would cut the potato to the perfect shape as it was being muzzle loaded. I usually wore gloves to keep my hand from taking on the appearance of a donut hole. It worked very well.
The link to the potato spiral cutter makes me wonder about rifling the tube.
So you wore gloves to prevent cuts? Or DNA evicence?
Perect shape for sealing.
Somewhere pork chops come inot play.
Maybe as barrel lube.
September 25, 2013 at 8:56 am
wolfkillj (9/25/2013)
paul.knibbs (9/25/2013)
wolfkillj (9/25/2013)
The only problem with that setup for a recoilless design is that it would slice the deployable fins off, too. I don't think that anything less than a CNC lathe could shape a self-powered potato projectile precisely enough to fly true without some kind of stabilizing fins.
Why not borrow an idea from the aforementioned Gyrojets and insert *two* rockets, angled slightly to cause the potato to spin and thus spin-stabilise its flight? Only issue might be that the potato explodes into bits if it spins too fast, of course. :w00t:
Well, the possibility that the potato will disintegrate under the forces acting on it exists in all possible designs. 😀
This is a problem that can be greatly reduced by using carrot rounds in fin-stabilised discarding sabots, since the improved tensile strength compared to potato aided by the reduced diameter of the spinning body should substantially reduce disintegration frequency; this also provides for teh fn diameter to be, like the round diameter, significantly smaller than the barrel diameter so that slicing off is not a problem. Ff course the sabot would be constructed from a potato instead of the traditional wood or softish metal, so that it could be sliced, but any tendency for a discarding sabot to disintegrate just makes the discard that much more sure. This would work whether a fin-engine assembly contained one engine or two, and also in an engine-free design (which clearly would not be recoilless).
Tom
September 25, 2013 at 9:11 am
Greg Edwards-268690 (9/25/2013)
Jeff Moden (9/25/2013)
I forgot to mention a feature of the original that I made. I had beveled the muzzle so that it would cut the potato to the perfect shape as it was being muzzle loaded. I usually wore gloves to keep my hand from taking on the appearance of a donut hole. It worked very well.The link to the potato spiral cutter makes me wonder about rifling the tube.
So you wore gloves to prevent cuts? Or DNA evicence?
Perect shape for sealing.
Somewhere pork chops come inot play.
Maybe as barrel lube.
Nah, no pork chops in a potato gun; I see pork chops as being fired half a dozen (or maybe a few more) at a time from an unrifled 9 inch muzzle loading shotgun using a hollowed out half water melon as a discarding cup sabot, with muzzle loaded bagged black powder as propellant and of course appropriate use of damp sponges to avoid the thing firing when you poke the next bag in. I think you can easily get 7 pork chops into half a water melon - if not, either use larger water melons or smaller chops of reduce the numer of rounds per shot.
I'm sure Jeff has some better mechanism than I have been able to think of, but short of using a metal sabot in a linear accelerator to fire single chops I'm not sure where to go with chop gun design, and firing single chops is futile at any but extremely short ranges because their aerodynamic properties are such that the accuracy is unlikely to be what is desirable.
Tom
September 25, 2013 at 9:58 am
No need for a potato gun, lathe, or automation.
If you need it peeled, find someone that deserves a little punishment. Kids are good for this, but the rogue developer who's introduced too many bugs works just as well. Deploy paring knife and well wishes.
If you want to hit something with a flying potato, throw it.
September 25, 2013 at 10:01 am
L' Eomot Inversé (9/25/2013)
Greg Edwards-268690 (9/25/2013)
Jeff Moden (9/25/2013)
I forgot to mention a feature of the original that I made. I had beveled the muzzle so that it would cut the potato to the perfect shape as it was being muzzle loaded. I usually wore gloves to keep my hand from taking on the appearance of a donut hole. It worked very well.The link to the potato spiral cutter makes me wonder about rifling the tube.
So you wore gloves to prevent cuts? Or DNA evicence?
Perect shape for sealing.
Somewhere pork chops come inot play.
Maybe as barrel lube.
Nah, no pork chops in a potato gun; I see pork chops as being fired half a dozen (or maybe a few more) at a time from an unrifled 9 inch muzzle loading shotgun using a hollowed out half water melon as a discarding cup sabot, with muzzle loaded bagged black powder as propellant and of course appropriate use of damp sponges to avoid the thing firing when you poke the next bag in. I think you can easily get 7 pork chops into half a water melon - if not, either use larger water melons or smaller chops of reduce the numer of rounds per shot.
I'm sure Jeff has some better mechanism than I have been able to think of, but short of using a metal sabot in a linear accelerator to fire single chops I'm not sure where to go with chop gun design, and firing single chops is futile at any but extremely short ranges because their aerodynamic properties are such that the accuracy is unlikely to be what is desirable.
I always figured they were fired by a disc-gun-like device or a catapult-like device.
--------------------------------------
When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
--------------------------------------
It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams
September 25, 2013 at 12:17 pm
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (9/25/2013)
No need for a potato gun, lathe, or automation.If you need it peeled, find someone that deserves a little punishment. Kids are good for this, but the rogue developer who's introduced too many bugs works just as well. Deploy paring knife and well wishes.
If you want to hit something with a flying potato, throw it.
Where's the fun in that? Plus, I highly doubt that I can throw a 153-mph fast-potato.
Jason Wolfkill
September 25, 2013 at 1:01 pm
wolfkillj (9/25/2013)
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (9/25/2013)
No need for a potato gun, lathe, or automation.If you need it peeled, find someone that deserves a little punishment. Kids are good for this, but the rogue developer who's introduced too many bugs works just as well. Deploy paring knife and well wishes.
If you want to hit something with a flying potato, throw it.
Where's the fun in that? Plus, I highly doubt that I can throw a 153-mph fast-potato.
Maybe if you stand atop a sufficiently tall structure? What's the terminal velocity of a potato?
Oh! Change your frame of reference! Then to others it'll be 153 MPH.
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When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
--------------------------------------
It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams
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