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How to make a RAILGUN!

by AlexTheGreat on September 11, 2006

Table of Contents

intro: How to make a RAILGUN! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 1: materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 2: Prepare the cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

step 3: the circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

step 4: the rails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

step 5: set it up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

step 6: Fire! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

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intro: How to make a RAILGUN!
Warning: if you screw up with this you could electricute yourself.

step 1: materials
For this you will need;

4 or 5 Disposable flash cameras (I went to a camera store and asked them for some and they took a big box with about a hundred in it, they sold them to me at ten cents
a camera, I only got ten)
aluminum foil
plexiglass
wire
small switch
big switch
aluminum or steel rails
6 nuts and bolts
wire hanger

tools;

screwdriver
soldering iron
duct tape
wire strippers
wire cutters

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-RAILGUN!/
step 2: Prepare the cameras
break open the casing on 4 or 5 cameras
take out the circuit board
take out the capacitors from all but one of them (you might want to take out the flashbulbs too they look cool when you put several thousand volts through them)
remove the swich thing and solder two wires in its place

Image Notes Image Notes

1. switch thing 1. switch thing with wires soldered in its place

step 3: the circuit

solder the small switch to the two wires you made in the last step
solder the extra capacitors onto the current on (remember to keep the positive and negative sides together)
solder two long wires to the capacitors
solder the big switch onto the positive wire

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-RAILGUN!/
step 4: the rails
make two aluminum or steel rails about 1/2in by 5in (make sure one long side of each rail is perfectly straight)
cut two pices of plexiglass about 1.5in by 4.5in
make a small gap between the rails that is perfectly straight (I used a wire hanger as a divider)
sandwitch it beween the two pieces of plexiglass and clamp it
drill six holes for the bolts
put the bolts in and screw the nuts on tight

Image Notes

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-RAILGUN!/
 1. grind the rails straight

step 5: set it up
clip the positive wire on to the right rail and the negative wire on to the left rail with alligator clips
ball up a small piece of aluminum foil and jam it into the middle of the rails
put a battery into the battery thing

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-RAILGUN!/
 step 6: Fire!
press the small button to charge up the capacitor bank
when the led blinks you can press the big button and fire it
after you're done use a srewdriver to trigger the capacitors a few times before touching it

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Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 238 comments

requiembob says: Mar 2, 2009. 11:10 PM REPLY

What stops the projectile from going to other way out of the rails?

Okryt says: Mar 8, 2009. 7:13 PM REPLY

When the current passes through the rails, it creates a magnetic field, and when the current passes through the armature, it creates another field.
Because the parts of the rails that the current is passing through are always behind the armature, the force from the magnetic field interference is always
in one direction.

futurefreaK says: Mar 5, 2009. 5:02 PM REPLY

at the step 2 solder 2 wires at what switch thing, the flash buttons place or "take picture" buttons place ???

Mattrox says: Apr 11, 2008. 11:06 PM REPLY

er what stops it shooting out the back

not-killerk says: Nov 16, 2008. 7:09 PM REPLY

the forward lorentz force, it will always force the projectile in the direction of the current.

AdamK9 says: Mar 2, 2009. 5:04 PM REPLY

Actually the force is perpendicular to the current. If it were parallel to the current then the projectile would just push itself into one of the rails

Mattrox says: Nov 17, 2008. 6:49 PM REPLY

thanks brainy dude
no sarcasim

not-killerk says: Nov 17, 2008. 7:08 PM REPLY

no probs, i get it alot lmao. no sarcasm xD

Mattrox says: Nov 17, 2008. 7:18 PM REPLY

no seriously no sarcasm

not-killerk says: Nov 18, 2008. 3:13 PM REPLY

lol. i know. im just saying it cuz u said it , thats all lmao.

montmorency says: Nov 13, 2008. 4:34 PM REPLY

lol, that wouldn't be too good

daedalus7491 says: Dec 28, 2008. 3:42 PM REPLY

Hi, I'm attempting to make this for a school project, and I DESPERATELY NEED HELP. PLEASE!!! In step 3, what/where exactly is the "switch thingy" that
you have to remove and then solder wires into its place? I really need to know this. It doesn't help that I believe the motherboards or breadboards used in
this instructable are obsolete; the breadboards I have next to me are much smaller and I see no round metallic dot surrounded by 4 quadrants. I
REEEEEALLY need help here.

picklepie159 says: Jan 17, 2009. 3:13 PM REPLY

i asked my science teacher if i could try to make a better railgun for my science project and she said no... i couldn't even bring it to school... lol

Wesley666 says: Feb 20, 2009. 5:24 PM REPLY

I also attempted that for my grade 10 electronics class and they said they didn't want it at school mostly because (I already built one) I told them I
shot a nail through my garage door and embedded itself a couple inches into my neighbors houses foundation across the street. Luckily it hit just
above ground and a few inches in of one side so it would never go into the house, and the angle it hit you can actually see a crack that it made on the
outside off the house, that's how close it was to missing completely. But it was a mistake telling the teachers that.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-RAILGUN!/
 Wesley666 says: Feb 20, 2009. 5:25 PM REPLY
A good website I used was:

http://www.powerlabs.org/railgun.htm

andrew101 says: Feb 18, 2009. 3:42 PM REPLY

hahaha tthat sux

DYLEGO says: Jan 9, 2009. 6:05 AM REPLY

search on instructables "coilgun" this will give you a few results. click one, and replace the coil with rails.

bombmaker2 says: Jan 4, 2009. 4:36 PM REPLY

it could be 2 squiggly contacts that you solder to or it could be a little dome which you tear of and solder to the double contacts underneath
about the breadboards,IDK but you could go to Radioshack and buy a protoboard

bombmaker2 says: Jan 4, 2009. 4:36 PM REPLY

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!hope this helps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dylandance says: Jan 21, 2009. 6:50 PM REPLY

Did you put the capacitors in series? That should increase the capacitance if that is at all what your going for.

junits15 says: Jan 22, 2009. 3:05 PM REPLY

that is it because capacitor only charge to the voltage that is inputed to them, the camera board can only output enough voltage to charge one cap so by
putting the caps in a parallel it allows the bank to actually be charged all the way. if this is unclear tell me, because I tend to be unclear sometimes.

Wesley666 says: Feb 20, 2009. 5:05 PM REPLY

plus, I have no idea for capacitors, but I know batteries in series ups voltage, but in parallel they up current and rail guns run off of amperage not
voltage.

andrew101 says: Feb 18, 2009. 3:41 PM REPLY

ok, what if you setup a series of switches that can charge in one curcuit, then after its charged disconnect from the charging curcuit and flipping the
switches line them up on series. that would increase voltage.

junits15 says: Feb 19, 2009. 7:22 AM REPLY

idk if you could figure aout a way to wire that.

andrew101 says: Feb 18, 2009. 3:43 PM REPLY

how do you cut the plexiglass? band saw?

sausabe says: May 1, 2007. 10:39 PM REPLY

How exactly did you get this johnny to fire. I'm having severe problems there (and your instructions are a bit vague.) I did deviate from your instructions a bit,
but if you (or anyone) could give me any insight, that'd be just spiffy.

I've got a current, and a complete circuit, but whatever I try to shoot just ends up twitching or welding itself to my rails.

nickbowlingdude says: May 13, 2008. 6:06 PM REPLY

To have an effective railgun, you need some means of starting the projectile in motion before the lorentz forces can take over. Compressed air works
nicely, or maybe gunpowder if you want to take the risk.

general-Insano says: Jan 30, 2009. 9:27 PM REPLY

compressed gas would probably be the safest and easiest i would suggest using either oxygen or co2.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-RAILGUN!/
 geeklord says: Sep 28, 2008. 4:27 PM REPLY
So, could we make really big sparks from this miniature capacitor bank using an diea like this?

Kryptonite says: Dec 10, 2008. 10:29 PM REPLY

Hell yes, but make sure that the switch you use is heavy duty, when it welds close from 300v of electricity running through it, it's sort of annoying.

geeklord says: Dec 11, 2008. 2:09 PM REPLY

K, I've got a 250v/3a relay that i got out of a dish receiver(weird, huh?) that i might use.

junits15 says: Jan 22, 2009. 3:07 PM REPLY

I always use atleast a 30 amp relay

Kryptonite says: Dec 11, 2008. 6:50 PM REPLY

A dish reciever? Never heard of it, but the relay sounds pretty good from your description, but I don't know what the amperage of the capacitors
you would use so I'll that to you. If you want large sparks, but aren't real keen on the getting burnt and the life being electricuted out of you, You
should make a Van De Graaff.

geeklord says: Dec 11, 2008. 8:04 PM REPLY

satelite TV box, dish network, either way....
But yea, i might have to look in to the Van de Graaff. I just need a good motor.....

miols says: Apr 2, 2008. 5:11 PM REPLY

what's it shoot...

emuman4evr says: Apr 2, 2008. 6:44 PM REPLY

Plasma, it fires a ferromagnetice projectile (in this case a wad of aluminum foil) and if theres enough electricity the projectile can turn into plasma and you
see it shoot a jet of sparks.

junits15 says: Jan 22, 2009. 3:06 PM REPLY

peices or iron nails work better because they dont vaporize when shot

dylandance says: Jan 21, 2009. 1:19 PM REPLY

haha i doubt the tin foil becomes plasma. he's messing with you miols

Wesley666 says: Feb 20, 2009. 5:12 PM REPLY

if you shoot tin foil out of a 600 amp rail gun, it will be plasma. But on something this small very little would turn into plasma. If you go on youtube
and look up rail guns (homemade ones as the military ones have blast guards for this) they have a large flair out the front when shoot and that is
the rails and projectile (only a thin layer) turning into plasma. These guns run off of very high amperage. This website is a university students
experiment if I am correct and runs at 40000 Amps, and near the bottom of the page are pictures of it firing with the plasma muzzle burst, check it
out:

http://www.powerlabs.org/railgun.htm

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-RAILGUN!/
 eggman says: Jan 30, 2009. 7:58 PM REPLY
no, it really does become plasma lol.

geeklord says: Sep 28, 2008. 4:31 PM REPLY

O.....K....., I didn't know there was such a thing as a high velocity plasma shooting gun.....(beyond a flamethrower)

joinaqd says: Dec 14, 2008. 9:23 AM REPLY

i got shocked by a camera capacitor once..ouch that hurt!!!it shocked me all over my body,thats why i smashed it into bits!!

omnibot says: Dec 18, 2008. 5:51 PM REPLY

Yeah, their tricky like that. It's why you should always short them out as soon as you can.

popomaster says: Jul 6, 2008. 1:16 PM REPLY

is there anything that i have to be careful about touching in a disposable camera? and i mean ANYTHING

Sedro says: Jul 8, 2008. 5:35 AM REPLY

yer take the battery out first then press a screw driver over the two wires coming out of the capacitor, after that no there is nothing :)

popomaster says: Jul 8, 2008. 9:04 AM REPLY

oh, do i need to know how to weld?

Xellers says: Jul 12, 2008. 8:39 AM REPLY

Not weld, solder. Or you could use a breadboard and some alligator clips.

MisterHankie says: Sep 22, 2008. 8:58 AM REPLY

if spot welding is considered welding than isnt soldering also welding?

omnibot says: Dec 2, 2008. 5:58 AM REPLY

Nope, welding and soldering are two very different techniques.

When soldering you heat the metal to melt the solder and the solder and metal attach like a sort of metal glue by molecular forces, ie
sharing the occasional electron.
When welding you add enough energy two make the two metals fuse together as one and even share an electron-cloud.

Yeah, I'm pretty nerdy.

popomaster says: Jul 12, 2008. 11:39 AM REPLY

lol, dont know what those are XD

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