Badger Busting Cannon

[hotfxr]

Got further along today. Yesterday before I welded the liner to the barrel on the muzzle end, I found that after cleaning up the metal on both pieces, there was a tiny bit of slop between the two parts. So I shimmed both ends (we are talking .015"), welded the muzzle end together and tack welded the breech end. Yeah I know, it doesn't really make a difference which end is which at this point, just let me live in my fantasy world. Then for about an hour and a half,using two propane torches and my gas welder, I melted and poured about two pounds of solder down between the tubes. I was a bit shocked at how much solder it took to fill that tiny, tiny space. But we don't want any air between them to allow the barrel to boom out to the side instead of out the front. Anyway, got that part done and capped off the back end then cut out the chamber reinforcing section. (Don't you like how I am making up these terms as I go along?) This part is seamless drawn stainless also, so I am now scrounging about for some steel pipe sections that will fit over the stainless and let me seal it away so it looks correct ( To keep RB off my case). So far my investment in materials is, let's see now, move the multiplier, add the columns, carry the 3, oh yeah, $0.00. Yep, nothing, zip, zilch, nada.I would like to continue that trend for the remainder of the build, if possible. Of course I don't count the consumables, but who does anyway, no one. So when it is ready to return fire to that vexatious Red Badger, he will know that he is being fired upon from the discount section.

Here it is waiting for some more solder.





Now I have to wait until Monday or Tuesday before I can make it to my scrounging sites and continue.

[Patocazador]

I can't wait to see the finished product .... firing! 

[hotfxr]

No new pictures, gut I did fill the lower section with solder and welded it all up. Off to find some overlaying steel pipe to cover up the stainless along with some round bar to make the breechplug that I will thread, then weld in place with a welded cover plate over it, then of coures figure out how to make a solid end cap with ball handle. I did want to report that it already weighs 53 pounds, and there is still quite a bit of steel to add. Gotta have that extra weight to that it will reach out to wherever that badger can hide.

[Hawken50]

   After all that ya aughta jest go ahead and rifle that barrel.   

[hotfxr]

  After all that ya aughta jest go ahead and rifle that barrel.   

If I could figure out how to do it with just my hand tools, I surely would. Right now I am doing this with a 10" converted wood cutting miter box with a fiber blade, MIG welder and an angle grinder. I know two people with metal lathes and this is too big for both of them. As it is, I am going to make a rotisserie type jig on my welding table so after all the metal is welded I can shape it with the angle grinder. That stainless inner barrel is mighty hard stuff otherwise I would use a scrapping rifling cutter I made to rifle a couple of PVC potato guns we made a few years back.My gunsmith buddy had a fire in the unit next door to him that has had his shop closed for the last couple of months so he can't help me, which is fine since he said he could not work on anything this big anyway, and given I really have no idea what I am doing, I am open to suggestions. Just remember I am trying to build this with little or no cost so shipping it out for work has to be off the table.

[ErikPrice1@msn.com]

 That's lookin pretty good there Hotfxr. You might just inspire some of us to try to build, or at least live thru you while you finish it.

[hotfxr]

Just a note to the Badger, after much research into to period cannons, this one shall be real close to a 1/2 scale 1841 Six Pound cannon. Maybe a bit slimmer, definitely stronger, with an innate ability to destroy burrowing Mustelidae cowering in the shadows. I am just trying to make you proud boss.

[pilgrim]

                     

[hotfxr]

More work that can't really be seen. Drilled a tight hole down through the breech end and pounded in a pin I made from a broken screwdriver and welded the ends for that extra touch of security. I don't remember how to do the calculations and can't find any reference material alluding to the relative strength of the finished body, but I will estimate that it will be at least 5 times stronger than the original cast or cast and banded cannons of the time. I actually had to pay for a section of 4" pipe I picked up at a scrap yard. There goes my budget, $17 out the window. Oh well, I guess nothing is ever free.

At the scrap yard I did find an interesting product. They have some sections of really, really thick walled pipe, ranging from 67" to 105" long that is 8" in diameter with a 2 3/4" hole down the middle. Now that would make a splendid beginning to a full sized cannon. The 67" long piece weighed in at a bit over 700 pounds and at $.45 a pound it came in at a bit over $300.00 and that will be hard to pay for using money from recycled aluminium cans. But the mental gears are definitely grinding away.

[beowulf]

"But the mental gears are definitely grinding away." be careful there , dont let them grind away to the point of slipping  , that can cause all kinds of bad things 

[Hawken50]

   You keep thinkin and searchin we are going to have to form a Recon element to place forward artillery spotters..........   Grid coordinates as follows.......FIRE FOR EFFECT.

[Dogshirt]

I did Forward Observer in the Army. This will be part of my "Second" job for hotfxr! 

[hotfxr]

It's coming along, slower than I would like but hey, that darned job keeps taking up my time. Anyway, here are some pictures of the progress so far.


Muzzle end before the reinforcing tube and welded cap.




The first try at the second reinforcing tube. 5" iron pipe cut into quarters. It refused to cooperate so it was scrapped and then i tried this:


Several 6" lengths of 1/8" mild steel, welded on one side then pounded down and welded on the other side.


My math was correct and they all fit.

Now to touch up the welds a bit, then attack with the old angle grinder, bands at the muzzle end, breech end and at the front of both reinforcement tubes. Of course then I have to figure out a way to get this to rotate so I can smooth and shape it a bit. It already weighs over 125 lbs and is not exactly easy to manoeuvre around. Once I have it smoothed I will attach the trunnions and sand blast this baby. Stay tuned for more updates as they happen!

[Patocazador]

For rotating it, you could build a large scale oil filter-type of a band with a long handle for leverage.
(I just read the last sentence again and even though it doesn't make much sense, you probably can guess what I am trying to describe.)

[beowulf]

For rotating it, you could build a large scale oil filter-type of a band with a long handle for leverage.
(I just read the last sentence again and even though it doesn't make much sense, you probably can guess what I am trying to describe.)

makes perfect sense to anyone who has ever changed an oil filter !  if he has some kind of lift that he could clamp a steel rod too he could slip that down the bore and jack it up , make it a lot easier to turn !  ....just an idea from someone who has done a lot of improvisation when he did`nt have the right tools !