Jhackulon

I apologize, but i was considering sending an angry post telling you to "look it up yourself", next time you should do this before asking. To your question! In the order you posted them: Enameled "magnet wire"; Several photo flash capacitors will work well, ask the guy at the photo shop nicely for used disposable cameras. make sure your Cap bank has sufficient power for your projectile (read this whole page, http://www.coilgun.info/theorycapacitors/energy.htm); Use a short multilayer coil for a small projectile (3 cm, ~12 layers, very thin wire); I'm not sure what you mean in this last question, but a light switch could be quite effective. Jack Allison

Hi, im planning to build my first coilgun and i am planning to use my NXT as the timer (hacked motor port) which will let me vary the pulse time. It would be greatly appreciated if you could tell me what I've done wrong in this circuit (i think i need to put a diode in parallel with the coil to protect the capacitor). The schematic is attached below. Cheers!