Guy Makes 3-D Printed Rail-Gun, Now We Just Need Power Armor - Polidicks

[QUOTE]The railgun uses 6 300J, 350V, 5500uF capacitors which combined weigh 20lbs and can deliver >1050V and 1.8kJ of energy to the projectile.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]The railgun is capable of firing copper plated tungsten, aluminum, carbon and teflon/plasma. Here we have copper plated tungsten armatures. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE]The rails themselves are made for replacement, since each shot damages them a bit. They are constructed of garolite (fiberglass and resin composite sort of like PCB material) and wrapped in carbon fiber.[/QUOTE] [IMG]https://hackadaycom.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/rail.png?w=800[/IMG] I thought it was a gigantic homemade nerf gun the first time my buddy showed me this picture ^. [QUOTE]Everything in grey was 3D-printed.[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/nodHcRr.png[/IMG] Heres it in action: [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9V7GVcRzTU[/url] Source: [url]http://www.theladbible.com/articles/guy-makes-first-ever-3d-printed-portable-railgun-and-it-s-an-absolute-beast[/url]

Needs more capacitors.

And that probably isn't even illegal to make..? How's the law side of things when it comes down to manufacturing guns for self, or home defense anyway? And specifically 3-D printing them. Now that thing itself is huge, but get yourself a compact design with nice materials and print out a home defense tool.. Jesus Christ, I begin to question what am I even talking about, but it's not that much worse off than a conventional firearm. I wouldn't wanna be on the receiving end of either of those things, much less break into a home.

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;48929752]Now that thing itself is huge, but get yourself a compact design with nice materials and print out a home defense tool.. Jesus Christ, I begin to question what am I even talking about, but it's not that much worse off than a conventional firearm. I wouldn't wanna be on the receiving end of either of those things, much less break into a home.[/QUOTE] It's not possible to make a compact design that can deliver enough energy, the capacitors, battery and high voltage supply take up way too much space.

Capable of firing plasma. Euhh what?

That rad as fuck

All we're missing now is a witch that just doesn't dies. Jokes aside, that is fucking awesome.

it's a BFG

Now paint it orange. [t]https://www.industrialtoys.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Quake-Railgun.jpg[/t]

So in theory how powerful can this weapon be?

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;48929752]And that probably isn't even illegal to make..? How's the law side of things when it comes down to manufacturing guns for self, or home defense anyway? And specifically 3-D printing them. Now that thing itself is huge, but get yourself a compact design with nice materials and print out a home defense tool.. Jesus Christ, I begin to question what am I even talking about, but it's not that much worse off than a conventional firearm. I wouldn't wanna be on the receiving end of either of those things, much less break into a home.[/QUOTE] i'm pretty sure railguns of any type are unregulated so if you wanted to you could recreate the navy's railgun and atf couldn't do anything as long as you just used solid slugs

Those videos on youtube appear to show the bullet not being able to penetrate plywood from less than ten feet away. What's up with that?

[QUOTE=Hogie bear;48929948]Now paint it orange. [t]https://www.industrialtoys.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Quake-Railgun.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] Naw man. Paint it black. [img]http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/WTa0KhV_7Js/hqdefault.jpg[/img][img]http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/metalgear/images/7/75/Railgun.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090614163952[/img]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG09J8k-7ws[/media] in action

[QUOTE=General;48930283]So in theory how powerful can this weapon be?[/QUOTE] The projectile seems comparable in energy to one which would have a force somewhere between that of a .357 mag and a 7.62×39mm round. (Closer to the 7.62) 1.8 kJ isn't insane, but it would still kill easily. Seems more like a novelty at the moment, but it is still badass.

[QUOTE=General;48930283]So in theory how powerful can this weapon be?[/QUOTE] For its size you're not going to get much more powerful than that but you could theoretically create a railgun so powerful that the projectile could escape earth's orbit while being fired level with the ground, but friction from the air would vaporize it before any such thing could happen, like a meteor.

He literally stuck a bunch of capacitors together and called it a rail gun, all it does is spark, bet the projectile doesn't even move lol.

[QUOTE=Hogie bear;48929948]Now paint it orange. [t]https://www.industrialtoys.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Quake-Railgun.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] Wrong, Quake railgun is grey and pale brown, the entire game is just lit by yellow light :v:

[QUOTE=Canary;48930542]He literally stuck a bunch of capacitors together and called it a rail gun, all it does is spark, bet the projectile doesn't even move lol.[/QUOTE] There's a video of it firing in the OP, Mr. Railgun Expert.

[QUOTE=Canary;48930542]He literally stuck a bunch of capacitors together and called it a rail gun, all it does is spark, bet the projectile doesn't even move lol.[/QUOTE] There is a video up above where you see it actually launching a projectile. You might want some salt to help you eat those words of yours.

[QUOTE=General;48930283]So in theory how powerful can this weapon be?[/QUOTE] If it's actually imparting 1.8kJ to the projectile, and not just using that much energy per shot (most of which gets wasted as heat), then it has the same muzzle energy as a 5.56mm rifle. I'm a little skeptical of that considering he was using cardboard as a target and the projectile didn't penetrate at all, although unless I'm misunderstanding the projectile is carbon so it could just be that it's because it isn't using a solid lead or steel projectile yet.

[QUOTE=catbarf;48930744]If it's actually imparting 1.8kJ to the projectile, and not just using that much energy per shot (most of which gets wasted as heat), then it has the same muzzle energy as a 5.56mm rifle. I'm a little skeptical of that considering he was using cardboard as a target and the projectile didn't penetrate at all, although unless I'm misunderstanding the projectile is carbon so it could just be that it's because it isn't using a solid lead or steel projectile yet.[/QUOTE] That's a plywood target, which is substantially harder to penetrate than cardboard, but it's still not very powerful if it can't punch through some wood fibers and glue.

[QUOTE=Biotoxsin;48930421]The projectile seems comparable in energy to one which would have a force somewhere between that of a .357 mag and a 7.62×39mm round. (Closer to the 7.62) 1.8 kJ isn't insane, but it would still kill easily. Seems more like a novelty at the moment, but it is still badass.[/QUOTE] 95%+ of that energy from the capacitors goes to waste, railguns are extremely inefficient, I highly doubt the projectile energy is any more than 100 joules.

pretty sure this is more of a concept than of an actual weapon being made at home anything stronger than a plinking weapon and you're going to be under severe scrutiny by the law

[QUOTE=aznz888;48930920]pretty sure this is more of a concept than of an actual weapon being made at home anything stronger than a plinking weapon and you're going to be under severe scrutiny by the law[/QUOTE] Homemade firearms are legal in the USA.

[QUOTE=ultra_bright;48931019]Homemade firearms are legal in the USA.[/QUOTE] If you go onto youtube, there's a ton of hilarious/terrifying videos of people doing this

Who cares how impractical it is? It is impressive that he could 3D print it.

[QUOTE=matt000024;48931203]Who cares how impractical it is? It is impressive that he could 3D print it.[/QUOTE]Except it actually isn't impressive. He just printed the structure that holds shit together. That's not impressive due to 3d printers being made for that exact purpose.

Honestly, it's way too cumbersome to even be efficient at this stage But any idiot that wouldn't understand that would probably shit their pants if someone brought something like this out down a hall or something and it looked real enough to seem like it actually could blow them away [sp]and i'd probably shit my pants either way[/sp]

If I recall correctly in the reddit thread someone did the math and it was like 1/20th the power of a 9mm. It was comparable to some of the better air hunting rifles, so it could kill small animals and a human at the right spot but otherwise it would just hurt like a bitch.