Carbide cannon

[Nathan]

Lee wrote:

> jeeeesss....
>
> lets put this to rest once and for all.
>
> If you have ever seen a carbide cannon, its a little thing that you drop
> carbide rocks in a half a cup of water. This releases acetylene gas.
>
> IF you do not have too many rocks in the cannon, right amount of air /
> gas it will go BANG! About the explosive force of a old M-80.

You're changing your story here in a sense. You said originally that you
wanted a realistic carbide explosion. The explosive force of an M-80,
whether aged or not, does not compare to the blast required to make it seem
true to an actual cannon firing.

>
>
> If you have too many rocks, nothing will happen.
>
> They sell carbide cannons in the backs of magazines for about 100 bucks
> to anybody.
>

Didn't Gambit already advise you to buy one?

>
> We are not talking about shipboard cannons exploding 8 inch cast iron
> pipes, we are talking about a sheet metal thin tube with a reasonable
> faxcimily of a cannon base.

Yeah, that perspective is much better. "My cannon is only big enough so
that when it explodes because I made it badly out of the wrong material it
will only cover me in burns and probably take my lower arms off." Never
mind monkey boy, advising you is harder than convincing my friends little
sister to jump on the barbecue. If you die I'll be sad, if you get
disfigured, I'll be melancholy, but I'll say "I told you so" no matter
what.

Point in full then I'm done:
1) Be respectful of your pyro peers.
2) DO NOT assume anything, if you don't know what's in the bottle, don't
drink it, if you don't know the people, don't assume they are moronic
wankers who pour gas on tennis balls and toss them around for jollies.
3) You don't advice, shut up!
4) Concede defeat instead of being a dick and looking stupid.

[Lee]

Ohh, I think that I proved my point with your reply.

[Lee]

And in case you did not get it, by your response it is very obvious that
you have NEVER seen a carbide cannon, have no idea how or why they
work. Think that you are a expert in the all fields and nobody can do
anything on there own. Willing to rant and rave over the smallest of
things, and generally make a bore of yourself and your self-appointed
views.

In essence that makes you a child.

now go and play with yourself like most children do.
Your mommie is calling.

[Gambit]

Even if he doesn't know what a carbide cannon is, then why in the hell
were you talking about Propane? You know that a carbide cannon cannot be
operated with propane, I think you confused some people with that bit.

[Lee]

I just wanted to know if someone had real pyrotechnic experience in this
forum. I asked if anyone knew about building either one. Both are
basically the same thing. No real 'explosive' force, just a lot of
noise and flash. The definition of pyrotechnics.

What I did not know was that very few pyro people visit here and I was
wasting my time. I have more than a high school education and very
capable of building any size cannon with a lathe that I have.

To answer your question, carbide is a rock that when exposed to water
releases acetylene gas. This gas is what cutting torches mix with
oxygen to burn steel. Propane is also a gas that can be used to cut
steel in a cutting torch setup. There is also a gas called MAP gas, but
that's another story.

These gases are not really what you would call explosive unless you mix
them with an accellerent / oxidizer such as oxygen.

So you can make a faux cannon with these gases and all it really does is
make a flash and a loud noise. I was told that you can use some flour
in the 'barrel' to make 'smoke' for added realism.

So all I was really asking if anyone had any experience with this type
of setup. Someone did, and to that person that answered me privately, I
am grateful.