I'm thinking of making a low powered coil gun, but I don't have a lot of experience with electricity and electromagnets, and I have a few concerns about the following setup.

 

For the thing that turns the coil on and off, I was wondering if using the projectile as a bridge between two contacts in the barrel would work. The idea is that when the projectile reaches the two contacts, it would complete a circuit that turns on the power supply for the next coil, and also turns off the previous coil if there is one. So for a single stage gun there would be two sets of contacts, the ones that turn the coil on, and the ones that turn it off.

 

Do you think this would work, or should I try something else?

Guess I'll just give it a try then. Here's hoping I don't electrocute myself.

Someone can go ahead and delete this, since I'm just talkin' to myself here.

ZombieSquirrel , maybe you should have posted in Physics or in Engineering and a few more electrically minded people would probably have given an opinion . I think coil guns are far from amateur science . Don't be an amateur with anything electrical .

For the thing that turns the coil on and off, I was wondering if using the projectile as a bridge between two contacts in the barrel would work.

 

What you have there is a railgun.

Yes, engineering would probably be the best place for this. (or physics if you want to discuss theory).

What you have there is a railgun.

Not quite, it's sort of a combo of both. Could be interesting.

@zombieSquirrel:

1) Don't electrocute yourself.

2) Don't electrocute yourself. If you're using high voltage, find some way of isolating the high voltage parts of the circuit so that you only turn them on when you're a safe distance away.

 

If you want to use the projectile to bridge the contacts, make sure the current runs the right way as you will also be making a rail gun.

Also, there's often a reason why people haven't done these things before. Perhaps draw up some diagrams and we can think about how the magnetic fields will interact (probably orthogonal?).

Well, that's not exactly what I was planning, but it sounds kind of like a crazy idea, so I like it. Rail/coil gun combo it is! I just need to go dumpster diving because someone felt like throwing out some of the stuff I was going to use to make it with. If you smell something funny tomorrow, it's probably just me after a refreshing swim in a month's worth of garbage.

I just thought I might mention again:

Don't electrocute yourself.

Well, that's not exactly what I was planning, but it sounds kind of like a crazy idea, so I like it. Rail/coil gun combo it is! I just need to go dumpster diving because someone felt like throwing out some of the stuff I was going to use to make it with. If you smell something funny tomorrow, it's probably just me after a refreshing swim in a month's worth of garbage.

Perhaps the zombieSquirrel label is quite appropriate then.

Haha, perhaps, and don't worry about the electrocuting myself thing. I'm usually pretty careful around dangerous stuff, though I've been known to do dumb things, like grab onto a piece of iron that I had just welded... without a glove... yeah, that was smart

Edited September 27, 201114 yr by zombieSquirrel

I'm curious to know if your rail/coil gun worked out?

Care to share some pics and results?

Yes, engineering would probably be the best place for this.

!

Moderator Note

Thread moved to Engineering.