Last edited:
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
I want to make a railgun
- Thread starter benji
- Start date
More options
Who Replied?Is this an on your own type thing or in college. I built for a gauss cannon for an advanced electronics class, but I used thousands of dollars of school equipment to get the amount of current I needed for the induced magnetic field. The dean of the school of science had to supervise the final test firing, but it blew a hole through a cinderblock.
On your own type of thing... I just saw some vids on youtube of some people making coil guns and thought it'd be a cool project.
On your own it will be really difficult to build a true gauss gun where the projectile is completely suspended in the magnetic field and not touching anything. If you want to build a really easy demo model you can do it on your own,
Use a solenoid with a large number of turns, the heavier the gauge wire the better. You need the biggest current generator you can find. 10s of amps if not hundreds and a rare earth projectile.
Since this is on a budget you likely will not be able to suspend the magnet in the field but if you put a small insulating rail through the solenoid it can act as a guide for the projectile to slide down. Build a circuit that will pump the current into the solenoid. It will induce a magnetic field that will pull the projectile in towards the solenoid. As the projectile passes the halfway point, the induced current will try to pull it back to the center.
Here you can either just shut off the current and let the projectile fly with half the theoretical energy, or switch the direction of current so that the projectile is then accelerated out of the solenoid.
I used a laser system to detect the position of the magnet and adjust the current flow on the fly, but that is overkill for a homebrew system.