Alcohol powered mortar?

and what's wrong with gasoline? cant find any outlets selling it coz you live in Antarctica?

>>1178605
Depends on your idea of "decently far", but considering similar things have been used to launch potatoes, probably.

I'm sure I could try gasoline, it might be a little extreme for what I need, I'll try in a couple days and see how it goes

Have fire lemons a few hundred metres with alcohol.
>2 litre bottle
>2 inch pipe

Mine was longer than this but similar principle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuHWmRKOpL4

>>1178605
>saltpeter base
if you have access to KNO3
why not make your own gunpowder to power it?

>>1178605
The good thing about alcohol it's it ignites easily with some electric igniter unlike many other fuels or gasses and you don't need an exact mix to get good results every time.
The bad thing it it needs pressure to unleash it's explosive potential, so you'll need to have a tight seal against your barrel to build up enough pressure so the alcohol vapors explode and propel the projectile. This might be an inconvenient since mortar projectiles are suposed to slide in instead of being jammed in there.
If you want to try using alcohol intall an electric igniter at the bottom, spray some alcohol in the barrel and fit your projectile. It should fire decently well as long as there is a good enough seal.

Also, alcohol attacks epoxy.

Maybe it would be better to use Calcium Carbide? When water is added acetylene gas is produced, just add a spark and boom!
You could modify the mortar adding a switch near the bottom so when the projectile slides down the barrel and touches the switch a spark is created. It would work just like a real mortar with the only difference you would have to add water to the mortar before firing.

It would be better to use some kind of highly explosive gas, since alcohol needs high pressure to explode and thus a tight fit with the projectile.

Obviously don't use PVC or any other material that can blow up into shards and lodge in your neck.

Just go pneumatic. Build it in twenty minutes for thirty dollars. Sprinkler system valve, 9v battery, button and a 1/4" QD fitting in front of a ball valve. Easy as piss.

>>1178605
That's not a mortar. That's a cannon (read: potato gun).
Mortars have the charge fixed to the projectile.

>Do you think a simple denatured alcohol propellant would be enough to push a 15-20 gram projectile decently far?
Yes.

>>1178685
Do you have any specific easily manipulated materials in mind? I'm sure I could learn to work with steel, the only issue is I am using this for airsoft, and would prefer it to be fairly light (under 20 pounds) where I could sling it over my back.

>>1178742
fiber glass, that's what they use for firework mortars
alternatively thick cardboard
stay away from all metals or you'll have a nice pipe bomb should it eventually fail

>>1178746
Thanks for the advice anon

>>1178746
Would you think 1-2 inch thick cardboard would work? That is the thickest I am seeing at the moment

>>1178762
Laminate it with something stronger and water resistance.

File: rupture_disk.jpg (33KB, 550x264px) Image search: [Google]

33KB, 550x264px

>>1178746
>stay away from all metals or you'll have a nice pipe bomb should it eventually fail

If only there was a way to release all pressure at once in a relatively safe way before the steel blew up...

OP is working with alcohol not high explosives.

>>1178605
Alcohol does not work well as a propellant unless you use burst disks

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155KB, 500x724px

https://youtu.be/IgeOX2a1Sdo
https://youtu.be/_iD1wv-l7U0

>>1179001
OP here, phone posting. I am planning on doing what >>1178685 suggested and creating acetylene gas to power the projectile. Would you still suggest steel, or some other material?

>>1179198
It would be better to use some kind of metal, like an aluminum tube, but I guess pressure rated thick PCV can do the job as well. Make some loaded tests at a safe distance before using it just in case.
There used to be toys that used Calcium Carbide, but I think the US banned them after kids misused them to launch heavier projectiles, maybe it could be a good idea to check the regulations on this?
It has also occured to me you could add nitrocellulose (gun cotton) to the base of your projectiles and a glowplug at the bottom of the mortar. When the projectile slides down the tube and touches the glowplug the gun cotton will ignite and cause a small explosion that will propel the thing.

For a safer alternative I would try this, no explosives needed but you've got to pump air into it.
>>1179142

>>1179252
You can buy carbide online.

https://www.lehmans.com/product/five-2-lb-cans-of-calcium-carbide/lamp-lantern-fuel

Carbide cannons aren't typically illegal but they went out of fashion many years ago.

>>1179252
>you've got to pump air into it.
They're pumping alcohol fumes into it. There is a chamber with sponges soaked in alcohol and the pump pushes the vapor into a combustion chamber behind the projectile.

>>1178685
>>1179198
At first I thought this was a horribly dangerous idea since acetylene is so potent and has a tendency to detonate when compressed, but I ran some very-preliminary numbers and it looks like uncompressed acetylene-air combusted in confinement should only produce about 250 PSI, which is surprisingly workable, even potentially with PVC.

Note, this is for acetylene-air, not oxygen-acetylene (which, although I don't know exactly HOW MUCH, would certainly produce considerably more pressure), and unpressurized at that. And again, these are VERY quick-and-dirty numbers determined with some pretty sloppy assumptions, so if you do proceed I'd still advise you to stand far away and behind something when you test this thing.

>>1180047
I didn't see the video and assumed it was a compressed air cannon.