29 replies to this topic

[rork]

Shit threads like this are precisely the kind of thing that put people off homemade airguns. There is a plethora of information on this topic out there. And on a relevant note, there's not a snowball's chance in hell that I would ever be caught dead using a soda bottle as a pressure vessel. PVC tanks, properly constructed, are perfectly safe apart from pretty thoroughly stupid behavior.

[Whisper101]

My main motive is not to use it in any wars, just to fart around with at home. Also, it would be my firts homemade and it seems it would be pretty cheap...

[rork]

The costly parts of a homemade airgun are the valves and pump, not the PVC and fittings. I would say that using a very safe PVC airtank shouldn't set you back more than $5.

[thedap]

I make water rockets from 2 liter bottles and they hold up to a lot of abuse before they fail. usually they get a leak in a sharp crease from landing hard or striking something. more times than not, the rocket fails because the pvc pipe I use for the tail breaks before the bottle fails.

soda bottles are pressure tested to 150 burst pressure and thats a brand new undamaged bottle.

I rarely pump a rocket over 50 psi. they fly best at about 45psi. A friend pumped one up to 150 (right after I told him NOT to) and it burst.
it was half full of water and still managed to shred itself.

even so, I would rather have a soda bottle blow up than have a pvc pipe bottle blow up. either way, I would use some sort of heavy denim sock on it.

I had a dremel bit fly out of my dremel at work, it went straight up to the roof (25 foot high) and struck the pvc pipe we use as an air line. it shattered the pipe, sending shards everywhere. one piece embedded in the ceiling. two feet of pipe shattered and the section next to the break swung up like a rocket and left a visible dent in the ceiling too. the line had 80psi in it at the time.

soda bottles stretch under pressure too, you have to make sure it won't expand and damage anything it's inside of.

[VACC]

Doom is right. This has been discused several times before. I'm simply not going to allow anyone on this site to promote modifications or homeade designs that are even potentially dangerous. There's just no reason to take the chance when there are better alternatives.

That's it.