So after adding the second Capacitor and seeing the underwhelming performance of a saturated slug. I though I might jerry-rig the original coil back up to see how a heavier slug might do.

With the 33.7g slug we started getting a nice "thwack" and seeing some damage done to the box. Somehow I lost my original slug I had made for this coil, so I was also using some cluttered together nuts and bolt have something to shoot.

After repeated firings I noticed I was getting some serious sparks cause by arcing between the coil wire and the diode wire on the SCR.

After realigning the wires to make a more fluch connection with the SCR I no longer had sparks. You can see the carbon left from the sparks in this now flush photo.

Seeing the improved performance I decided to up the mass to 60.5g. This was very successful. I had noticed on the 33.7g firings, the barrel would kick back and inch or so from recoil. So I figured with the added mass I would actually jerry-rig a remount to the wire harness on the setup. I figured it would give me more KE on the projectile. I also started putting a heavy Battery on the top of the box to help keep it in place and absorb more of the energy from the slug. The box is filled with packing beans and extra cardboard so I don't worry about it going through the whole thing.

After Firing the 60.5g slug from the mounted barrel it was clear jerry-rigging was not going to work. The barrel was ripped from the wire harness due to the large recoil generated.

It is obvious that this original layout, that was only to test the concept, is no longer adequate and a redesign of the layout is needed. That will be the next step. I also need to move the trigger further away. It's getting a little scary huddled over this as I flip switches and triggers. Might as well start looking for the long term design. I have one last shot I would like to try, Maybe.

Sooo, I was wondering around at the bottom of the ocean ( live on a small island remember) and I found this great Stainless Steel Tube at 125 feet. Salvage! It's a 1 inch OD and .889 inch ID it also fits perfectly inside the spools of wire I order in from china. So I figure I might as well see what happens when I put a prewound, from the manufacturer, 'coil' around the tube and put a Big Fat Slug in the chamber. The Max mass of the slug is 150.6g and I need to grind the head down to fit in the barrel. It will probaby just plop but I have to try :) I'm a little worried this might be out of the specs for my current parts so I need to do some math, mainly because I think I will want to put a third cap in to push this fat thing. Getting a little concerned about eddy currents too. We'll see.

One last thing. When talking about long term design. I acquired a fun little piece of equipment. It is one of those electric shopping carts people ride around Home Depot and K-Mart in. :) I have gotten it all wired up and now, short of maybe chaning out one potentiometer that is slightly miscalibrated, it works. The nice part is the mount where the basket went is perfect for a nice sized Coil Gun :) Yea Mobile Platform. It just makes the brain hurt with potential :) I will get a picture of it when I have some daylight.