Thanks for the response! I apperciate the input a lot
I'm using a remotely operated valve because we have plans to completely automate the cannon. We are going to build a platform that allows us to control it's angle of launch and rotation. Also we are trying to develop a procedure that allows us to eventually develop hardware to automatically reload it. Right now this is the first prototype so we are looking at optimizing everything and finding the most efficient design before we try to implement something like breech loading Eventually we'd like to make it completely remote operated and see how accurate the cannon will be. Right now it looks promising. Using the same pressure, water balloon size, and angle with the test cannon I had balloons landing within a foot of each other.
To estimate the weight of the balloons I'm using (I don't have a scale yet...) I assumed 1ml of water = 1gram. THe balloons are between 2in and 3in in diameter. Doing the appropriate calculations the balloons will weight somewhere between .1kg and .25kg. Not quite .5kg. According to the calculations you've done I think this means that I should have an even further range.
Here's my revised plan of action:
- Use shaving cream as a lubricant and to create a better seal
- Abandon the sabot and instead use wadding to prevent the balloon from breaking on fire
- Use balloons that fit the barrel exactly
- Find a way to weight the water balloons.
- Use a higher pressure
- Start collecting more exact data.
And when I get my next pay check:
- Create a longer barrel