Building a Gauss Rifle

[Mr.X]

Hi fellow MyBB members

I'm a bit bored and thinking of amking a Gauss Rifle for the fun of it, hence my earlier thread about neodymium mgnets. I did manage to find neodymium magnets from A1 Radio in Durban, but they are smaller than I had hoped for, rectangular in size and measuring 18mm x 4mm. Ideally I had wanted a 12mm cube, but if I did build the Gauss Rifle with these ractangular magnets, would the firing distance/speed of the gun be the same? Would it be better if I stacked two of them on top of another and say if I put 8 of these in line with a distance of 5 cm at around what speed would the projectile leave the gun at?

 

[zippy]

If you willing to buy over the net, these people sell magnets

https://www.scitoyscatalog.com/

 

[hedgehog]

Mantech are pretty close to A1

http://www.mantech.co.za/Stock.aspx?Query=neodymiumand

 

[HavocXphere]

I'm under the impression that you need electromagnets for a gauss/coil gun not permanent magnets.

 

[porchrat]

I'm under the impression that you need electromagnets for a gauss/coil gun not permanent magnets.

^This. You cannot alternate the polarity of a permanent magnet like you can with an electromagnet in the form of a coil. How are you going to propel your projectile if you aren't able to switch your magnets?

 

[Mr.X]

Mantech are pretty close to A1

http://www.mantech.co.za/Stock.aspx?Query=neodymiumand

Thanks will drop by them tomorrow

 

[hellfire]

Thanks will drop by them tomorrow

Do you disagree with havocxsphere and pochrat?

 

[spiderz]

ooohh, sounds interesting.

Look at coilgun or "magnetic linear accelerator"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coilgun

 

[Archer]

at around what speed would the projectile leave the gun at?

0m/s

 

[WPD]

Do you disagree with havocxsphere and pochrat?

It sounds like the OP is trying to construct a plain Gauss rifle, which works by transferring the kinetic force through a series of permanent magnets. A coil / rail gun is a bit more complex and would indeed require electromagnets.

Both options are pretty cool concepts. I would imagine that a coil gun packs a bit more punch though.

 

[porchrat]

It sounds like the OP is trying to construct a plain Gauss rifle, which works by transferring the kinetic force through a series of permanent magnets. A coil / rail gun is a bit more complex and would indeed require electromagnets.

Both options are pretty cool concepts. I would imagine that a coil gun packs a bit more punch though.

Ah quite right my bad.

 

[Archer]

I'd love to hear how a set of permanent magnets can transfer their kinetic force (of which they have zero) into the linear motion of another ferrous object...

edit: I see they "cheat" a bit. Permanent magents + several ferrous objects, like a ball. Place 4 or 5 balls on one side of the magnet (they must be in a line touching the magnet). Then you place one ball far away, and then you push it towards the magnet. When the ball hits the magnet it transfers its energy into the magnet, which in turn transfers into each ball, until you get to the last one which will then fire.

 

[WPD]

I'd love to hear how a set of permanent magnets can transfer their kinetic force (of which they have zero) into the linear motion of another ferrous object...

Sorry, should have be clearer in my post.

Mr.X, please do post some pics / video once you have this thing set up.

 

[HavocXphere]

I see. Looks like an interesting concept.

Judging by the descriptions above, its this:
http://scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/magnets/gauss.html

I doubt it'll scale particularly well, but should be entertaining at least.