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I decided to build a coil gun with my own hands. I used a simple saw to create the required length of the projectile and then used a file and a bit of drill power to make it look decent afterwards. I created a 3D model of my design imported that into the RI Wrap software and sliced it with the QA engine. The amount of support material might not be ideal, but I did not experience any problems during the 5-Hour print with my Delta 3D printer.

I used a simple PVC pipe from the Home Improvement store and a bit of hot glue to work as well instead of a 3D printer. Once the print was complete, I used pliers and diagonal cutters to free the gun from all the support material and the final result actually looked pretty decent. So, I continued by creating the indentations for the optical sensors through the help of a file and then brought in the most important components - enamel copper wire with a diameter of 0.67 mm.

I started using it by winding the first layer of the coil which has a total of 33 turns afterwards I used electrical tape to hold the layer in its place and repeated this process all over again while trying to keep the wire tied together until I reached a layer quantity of six. The second coil stage was then created in pretty much the same fashion as before, as a test for the one coil stage design.

I hooked up my La bench power supply to the first coil and reached the current limit of 6 amps at a voltage of roughly 5 volts but luckily I had this 5V 12 amp power supply laying around that provided around 7 amps at 5.9 volts which should be good enough for this prototype build. So, I continued the test by gluing the optical sensor in its place while making sure that it does not hinder the iron projectile later on.

Then I sold on the complimentary parts for the sensor in this constellation and took up the power and sense wire to Nino Nano. One problem of the optic iCal sensor though is its sensitivity because when the IR LED emits too much lights the output is always high, the potentiometer however can decrease the IR emission it is just not that easy to fine-tune in order to turn on and off the coil.

I used an anchel mosfet with a freeing diodes but since the Arduino was not capable of turning the mosfet on and off fast enough I also added a dedicated mosfet driver IC to the mix this also forced me to Power the control Electronics with a 9vt battery otherwise the driver would not have worked properly all that was missing was a start button and a bit of codes which basically tells the Arduino that it turns on the mfet when the button is pushed and turns off the coil when either the IR sensor noticed the projectile or when a second has passed for safety reasons of course.

After uploading the codes and doing a couple of test shots it did work pretty well. Time to make it a two-stage coil gun just like before I added the second IR sensor to the pipe with its complimentary components glued the sensor wires to the gun added the fire button to the handle gather the rest of the necessary components and create the circuit more permanently on a piece of perf boards according to my previously created schematic.

If you want to build something similar, you can find a parts list, the code, the schematic, and everything important as always in the video description. Once the circuit was complete I SED on the remaining wires from the sensor and button secured the PF board to the bottom of the gun with two pairs of bolts and nuts connected the coils extended the code so that the second coil stage gets activated after the first one uploaded it and did a couple of tests.

I would say that the result is acceptable and can be a lot of fun to play with this harmless gun but you can always take it to the next level by increasing the current that flows through the coils, a popular way of doing this consists of creating a high voltage capacitor Bank charging up with rectified mains voltage and utilizing igbts instead of M fats to handle this kind of power correctly but that is a subject for another video.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enif we take a piece of wire and apply different voltage potentials to its ends then current will flow through it which simultaneously creates a magnetic field around the conductor this means we can now use our piece of wire as an electromagnet but is a very weak one to improve the strength of the magnetic fields we could wub a bigger length of wire around the PVC pipe and thus create a coil if I now apply 50 volts DC to it around 3 amps of current flow and my ferromagnetic iron bar is pulled to the center of the coil and stuck there until I release the voltage but if we look closely we can observe a damped oscillation of the iron bar because of its kinetic energy which was created by the acceleration through the magnetic fields so if we release the voltage at just the right moment when the bar is at the center of the coil the bar possesses kinetic energy and there are no magnetic forces that holds it back so it fires right through to the other side of the coil this functional principle is used for coil guns and in this video I will show you how I designed and created one of those with a two-stage coil Arrangement that can shoot at projectiles up to 10 m let's get started first off we need some kind of hollow PVC pipe through which my 6 mm iron bar projectile can accelerate this pipe also needs to have limiter washers right beside the first and second coil stage in order to wind the coils properly the last necessary pipe modification are two indentations at the end of the coil stages in which an optical sensor the cny70 will be placed in order to detect when the iron bar reaches the center of the coil for the final touch I added a handle and a square at the bottom of the handle to hold the upcoming electronics and created proper measurements for each individual part of the gun since I will be using coil length of 26 mm my projectile needs to have a length of at least 42 mm in order to detect it in the middle of the coil so I used a simple saw to create the required length of the projectile and then use the file and a bit of drill power to make it look decent afterwards I created a 3D model of my design imported that into the ri wrap software and sliced it with the QA engine the amount of support material might not be ideal but nevertheless I did not experience any problems during the 5-Hour print with my Delta 3D printer and don't be discouraged if you do not own a 3D printer a simple PVC pipe from the Home Improvement store and a bit of hot glue would work just as well once the print was complete I used pliers and diagonal cutters to free the gun from all the support material and the final result actually looked pretty decent so I continued by creating the indentations for the optical sensors through the help of a file and then brought in the most important components enamel copper wire with a diameter of 0.67 mm I started using it by winding the first layer of the coil which has a total of 33 turns afterwards I used electrical tape to hold the layer in its place and repeated this process all over again while trying to keep the wire tied together until I reached a layer quantity of six the second coil stage was then created in pretty much the same fashion as before as a test for the one coil stage design I hooked up my La bench power supply to the first coil and reached the current limit of 6 amps at a voltage of roughly 5 volts but luckily I had this 5V 12 amp power supply laying around that provided around 7 amps at 5.9 volts which should be good enough for this prototype build so I continued the test by gluing the optical sensor in its place while making sure that it does not hinder the iron projectile later on then I sold on the complimentary parts for the sensor in this constellation and took up the power and sense wire to Nino Nano one problem of the optic iCal sensor though is its sensitivity because when the IR LED emits too much lights the output is always high the potentiometer however can decrease the IR emission it is just not that easy to fine-tune in order to turn on and off the coil I used an anchel mosfet with a freeing diodes but since the Arduino was not capable of turning the mosfet on and off fast enough I also added a dedicated mosfet driver IC to the mix this also forced me to Power the control Electronics with a 9vt battery otherwise the driver would not have worked properly all that was missing was a start button and a bit of codes which basically tells the Arduino that it turns on the mfet when the button is pushed and turns off the coil when either the IR sensor noticed the projectile or when a second has passed for safety reasons of course after uploading the codes and doing a couple of test shots it did work pretty well time to make it a two-stage coil gun just like before I added the second IR sensor to the pipe with its complimentary components glute the sensor wires to the gun added the fire button to the handle gather the rest of the necessary components and create the circuit more permanently on a piece of perf boards according to my previously created schematic and if you want to build something similar you can find a parts list the code the schematic and everything important as always in the video description once the circuit was complete I SED on the remaining wires from the sensor and button secured the PF board to the bottom of the gun with two pairs of bolts and nuts connected the coils extended the code so that the second coil stage gets activated after the first one uploaded it and did a couple of tests I would say that the result is acceptable and can be a lot of fun to play with this harmless gun but you can always take it to the next level by increasing the current that flows through the coils a popular way of doing this consists of creating a high voltage capacitor Bank charging up with rectified Main's voltage and utilizing igbts instead of M fats to handle this kind of power correctly but that is a subject for another video Until then don't forget to like share and subscribe consider supporting me through patreon that is what keeps the show going stay creative and I will see you next timeif we take a piece of wire and apply different voltage potentials to its ends then current will flow through it which simultaneously creates a magnetic field around the conductor this means we can now use our piece of wire as an electromagnet but is a very weak one to improve the strength of the magnetic fields we could wub a bigger length of wire around the PVC pipe and thus create a coil if I now apply 50 volts DC to it around 3 amps of current flow and my ferromagnetic iron bar is pulled to the center of the coil and stuck there until I release the voltage but if we look closely we can observe a damped oscillation of the iron bar because of its kinetic energy which was created by the acceleration through the magnetic fields so if we release the voltage at just the right moment when the bar is at the center of the coil the bar possesses kinetic energy and there are no magnetic forces that holds it back so it fires right through to the other side of the coil this functional principle is used for coil guns and in this video I will show you how I designed and created one of those with a two-stage coil Arrangement that can shoot at projectiles up to 10 m let's get started first off we need some kind of hollow PVC pipe through which my 6 mm iron bar projectile can accelerate this pipe also needs to have limiter washers right beside the first and second coil stage in order to wind the coils properly the last necessary pipe modification are two indentations at the end of the coil stages in which an optical sensor the cny70 will be placed in order to detect when the iron bar reaches the center of the coil for the final touch I added a handle and a square at the bottom of the handle to hold the upcoming electronics and created proper measurements for each individual part of the gun since I will be using coil length of 26 mm my projectile needs to have a length of at least 42 mm in order to detect it in the middle of the coil so I used a simple saw to create the required length of the projectile and then use the file and a bit of drill power to make it look decent afterwards I created a 3D model of my design imported that into the ri wrap software and sliced it with the QA engine the amount of support material might not be ideal but nevertheless I did not experience any problems during the 5-Hour print with my Delta 3D printer and don't be discouraged if you do not own a 3D printer a simple PVC pipe from the Home Improvement store and a bit of hot glue would work just as well once the print was complete I used pliers and diagonal cutters to free the gun from all the support material and the final result actually looked pretty decent so I continued by creating the indentations for the optical sensors through the help of a file and then brought in the most important components enamel copper wire with a diameter of 0.67 mm I started using it by winding the first layer of the coil which has a total of 33 turns afterwards I used electrical tape to hold the layer in its place and repeated this process all over again while trying to keep the wire tied together until I reached a layer quantity of six the second coil stage was then created in pretty much the same fashion as before as a test for the one coil stage design I hooked up my La bench power supply to the first coil and reached the current limit of 6 amps at a voltage of roughly 5 volts but luckily I had this 5V 12 amp power supply laying around that provided around 7 amps at 5.9 volts which should be good enough for this prototype build so I continued the test by gluing the optical sensor in its place while making sure that it does not hinder the iron projectile later on then I sold on the complimentary parts for the sensor in this constellation and took up the power and sense wire to Nino Nano one problem of the optic iCal sensor though is its sensitivity because when the IR LED emits too much lights the output is always high the potentiometer however can decrease the IR emission it is just not that easy to fine-tune in order to turn on and off the coil I used an anchel mosfet with a freeing diodes but since the Arduino was not capable of turning the mosfet on and off fast enough I also added a dedicated mosfet driver IC to the mix this also forced me to Power the control Electronics with a 9vt battery otherwise the driver would not have worked properly all that was missing was a start button and a bit of codes which basically tells the Arduino that it turns on the mfet when the button is pushed and turns off the coil when either the IR sensor noticed the projectile or when a second has passed for safety reasons of course after uploading the codes and doing a couple of test shots it did work pretty well time to make it a two-stage coil gun just like before I added the second IR sensor to the pipe with its complimentary components glute the sensor wires to the gun added the fire button to the handle gather the rest of the necessary components and create the circuit more permanently on a piece of perf boards according to my previously created schematic and if you want to build something similar you can find a parts list the code the schematic and everything important as always in the video description once the circuit was complete I SED on the remaining wires from the sensor and button secured the PF board to the bottom of the gun with two pairs of bolts and nuts connected the coils extended the code so that the second coil stage gets activated after the first one uploaded it and did a couple of tests I would say that the result is acceptable and can be a lot of fun to play with this harmless gun but you can always take it to the next level by increasing the current that flows through the coils a popular way of doing this consists of creating a high voltage capacitor Bank charging up with rectified Main's voltage and utilizing igbts instead of M fats to handle this kind of power correctly but that is a subject for another video Until then don't forget to like share and subscribe consider supporting me through patreon that is what keeps the show going stay creative and I will see you next time