Inspirations:
The mentality of this project strays pretty far away from your typical Dell, where you have a pretty plain case that’s cooled by air. Watercooling is more efficient and allows me to cool the CPU better. This lets me crank the speed up to about 40% faster than stock while still maintaining stability. Basically, it saves me money. Sort of. In truth, I save money by not buying a more expensive processor, but I spend more money on the specialized equipment. But what the hell…it’s fun.

The concept of a diamond plate PC comes from the Waterbox incident of 2006 where my acrylic PC had an unfortunate encounter with gravity, and lost. I wanted a PC that was tough as hell and looked like it, but still looked cool and industrial. Aluminum diamond plate FTW!

So, a few days ago, I noticed that there was some cavitation at the outlet of the waterblock (an air pocket, essentially). Water was still getting through, but it seemed like the rate was a lot lower than it should have been. I had noticed some particulate in the loop in the month prior to that, too, so it was time for a coolant flush.

Current Specs:
Motherboard: Asus P5E motherboard
CPU: Intel Q6600 Quad-Core (2.4GHz stock), overclocked to 3.4GHz on water
RAM: 8GB G.Skill DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000)
Video: MSI GeForce 8800GT
Storage: 2x Seagate 1.5TB in RAID0 (backed up nightly)
Power Supply: OCZ GameXStream 600W
Pump: Eheim 1048
Radiator: Black Ice Xtreme Chrome
Waterblock: Swiftech Apogee GTX
Fans: 3x 120x38mm, 1x 80x25mm

Photos:

Here’s what I found when I opened up the waterblock. That gunk just isn’t good, and is the source of the restriction I was seeing.
Here’s the other side of the waterblock, where that black layer had chipped off and seems to be the source of the gunk. Apparently the waterblock is aluminum, and the underside here is plated in nickel, then zinc cobolt, and then the black dye is applied. I’m not sure I trust this whole approach. Rule #1 of watercooling is Don’t Mix Metals, plus aluminum and zinc are toward the top of the scale, while copper is near the bottom. This means putting them together means it’s increasingly likely to have galvanic corrosion.
Here’s a side-shot of the PC sans the case sides, power supply, radiator, and tubing.
The knobs on the front go to a Sunbeam fanbus in the bottom 5.25″ bay. The knobs fit my design scheme well, and it was a good quality unit, so I added it. I desperately needed a fan controller since these 120x38mm fans are extremely loud at full speed. I typically turn the fan control up just enough that the fans start and that’s enough air at a low noise level.
Here’s the top with the radiator removed. The hole was cut to the exact size of the radiator opening, plus two holes for the barbs to pass through into the case. These proved to be difficult because I lose about 1/4″ of the barbs since the hose can only go as far as the top of the case. This made it a lot harder to get a solid connection. A couple years ago, while I was leak testing, the hose actually came off of the barb, dousing all of my components in coolant. That was a huge mess to clean up, and trust me…it SUCKED. Since then, I only use metal hose clamps on these connections, which poses another problem: there’s so little room in there that it’s very, very difficult to tighten the screws on the hose clamps. But such is life, particularly with this case. My tolerances are pretty tight in some places. Another example of this is the radiator fan. I have to use a shorter-than-standard optical drive in the top bay in order to leave room for the radiator fan. The PSU, on the other side, also has to be under a certain size. The current PSU fits well, but the 520W I had before it was so close I literally had to remove the fan grill to make it fit.
Here’s the Eheim 1048 pump. The inlet is on the side, and outlet is on the top. Originally I had an Eheim 1250, but it was larger and didn’t leave me room to put any vibration dampening material. This meant it caused a vibration throughout the case, as well as some rattling. The 1048 is a lot better, still providing enough flow and hardly any vibration or noise. Unless you touch it, you’d never know it was running. The small piece of padding the pump is sitting on is a chunk of what I suspect is silicone, from Petra’s Tech Shop. Supposedly it’s one of the best vibration dampening substances for this sort of application, and it does seem to do an excellent job.
The motherboard, Quad-core Q6600, 4GB RAM, and 8800GT. It takes no prisoners.
Inside the right side. It gets a lot more messy once the power supply is in and all the cables are run.
The red button is the power button. I relocated it to keep the front clean and simple.
The Power Supply. OCZ GameXStream 600W. It’s been very solid from what I’ve seen.
The Apogee GTX waterblock. It looks a lot better from this angle. In order to clean off the corrosion/peeling black crud, I used distilled white vinegar (5% acetic acid) and let it sit for about 30 minutes at a time. Then I would take a toothbrush to it and clean off as much as I could. Repeat. Yes, it was as much fun as it sounds like. Now that I think about it, I should probably throw away that toothbrush….
It’s like a field of diamond plate as far as the eye can see!
A lot of people like the shape of this case window. Of course, so do I. This is one of the areas I’ve kind of dropped the ball, though–there’s still no window in this case. Just an opening for one. I have the Plexiglas cut, and I’m still considering setting it in place and then using black caulk around the edge to seal it in place. I’ve also considered bending some small aluminum tabs and riveting them in place, with some small round-head bolts holding it on the window side of things.
The Black Ice Xtreme Chrome Radiator. Normally I avoid anything with the word “Xtreme” in the name, but this one has turned out to be pretty good. I cleaned it this time around using distilled white vinegar (5% acetic acid) and letting it sit for a few hours, then flushing with distilled water. I wanted to be sure there wasn’t more gunk trapped in the radiator where I couldn’t see it.
Here’s the tubing as it’s installed. The white top of the fill-line, though ugly, will be hidden by the side of the case. I use metal hose clamps on the radiator and CPU block, and plastic clamps on the pump. I could use metal all the way around, but they aren’t necessary there, and I don’t have any more metal clamps.
Here’s how I fill the line. A funnel connected to the t-line, and typically jury rigged to stay upright. Then you add a couple ounces of coolant to fill up the T-line, turn on the pump for a second so it can circulate it, then cut the power and repeat. Eventually, there’s enough coolant to leave the pump on. You want to be sure not to run the pump dry, though; this can damage the impeller. The small bottle of blue liquid behind the case is the antifreeze I use. Entirely because it’s blue. It’s just ethylene glycol, and I mix it with distilled water in a 5% ratio.
Night shot. It’s like porn for ?ber-geeks.
Another shot from the side. The light is coming from two blue cold cathodes hidden behind the side on the bottom and left side. You can see them, and the inverter, in some of the more brightly lit shots.
Here’s the pump in the dark.
The three pieces of tube connecting to the T-line were interesting–you can see they don’t use any clamps to stay in place. The T is tight enough that if you get the tubing on well, it doesn’t need clamps. In order to do that, I boiled a pot of water, stuck the end of the tube in it for a minute, then pressed it on hot. This allows it to expand and flex much more easily. Once it cools, that sucker is staying in place.
Here’s the whole thing with a bit of light in the room. Still looks awesome.

Future Plans:
The main thing I still want to do is finally mount the window in place.

Conclusion:
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about this project as much as I’ve enjoyed making it and showing it off. I’ve gotten some great comments about it, and it’s definitely a good feeling to know I made something unique.

A huge thanks to my Dad and my friend Tom Nichol for helping me out with this project originally.

All content ?2008 Tony Magri

I used two shapes (circles) to create the inner and outer rings for the medal. Inside the inner ring is a red gradient. I inserted the Phi Kappa Tau Coat of Arms, available on the Phi Tau web site, in the top center of the medal. I gave it a slight drop-shadow and bevel & emboss to give a sense of depth. On the left, bottom-center, and right, I put our letters. For the letters, and the outside edge, I applied a technique I found online that gave amazing gold letters. That technique really made the medal special.

I ordered a drape with the medals, too, and rendered that in Old Gold and Harvard Red, with a fabric-like texture. I’m extremely proud of this piece of artwork.

Source: Coat of Arms
Version 1: Medal 1

?2007 Tony Magri

So, Tom’s trying to build a home audio setup with quality levels closer to ‘Audiophile-level’ than to ‘Consumer-level’. But the problem with audiophile equipment is that the cost typically ranges from $A-Lot to $More-Than-You’ll-Ever-Make. But there is a certain amount of finesse one can leverage to get quality equipment at reasonable prices. First, and most importantly, is that the best amps are the ones from the 60′s and 70′s. These old tube amps deliver what is arguably the richest sound quality, and at a fairly reasonable price…if you can find them.

Tom purchased an old tube amp from the late 60′s off of eBay and was able to get some Sony speakers for free. He also got the crossovers necessary to deliver the right frequencies to each speaker. But there was an important part missing…boxes to put the speakers in. That’s where I joined the project. Our mission was to design and construct the boxes necessary to house the speakers and crossovers and somehow manage to keep them square and airtight. If they looked cool when we were done, that was a bonus.
Since this was Tom’s baby, I left most of the planning and decisions ultimately to him, interjecting mostly when I had thoughts I deemed significant or alternative viewpoints worth exploring. I’m generally regarded as the ‘idea guy,’ it seems, so I do what I can.

Since neither Tom nor I are carpenters by any stretch of the imagination, we went about things in the manner that seemed best to us. In some cases, that meant re-doing things in another manner later, after the “best” way turned out to not be so great. I won’t go into the details, but after about four days of afternoons in the shop, we had two airtight, mostly-square, 3-way speakers that sounded pretty good. Along the way, I decided to get Google SketchUp and draw out our designs (at least how I had pictured them) for reference. Below are the three iterations our box design went through.

I think both our box design and my SketchUp skills got better during the course of this project. This represents our eventual goal for the speakers. However, for the time being, function was our primary concern; we can make them look pretty later. Here’s what we came up with so far.

And here are some random pictures from our last day of construction, for your enjoyment/amusement.

At some point, hopefully Tom puts veneer on the boxes or stains them. I really like the look I came up with in the SketchUp drawings, but we’ll see if that comes to fruition. Until next time.

All content ?2006 Tony Magri

One of the primary goals of this project was to overcome some of the limitations of my previous setup. The Waterbox was a bit cumbersome, having a separate attachment. It was also frail, as the pictures show. For my next trick, I designed a computer with all of the components in the main case, and also opted to make it strong enough that it could fall down, or be otherwise punished, without taking damage. Aluminum was a good choice for this, as it’s sturdy, but also light enough to take to LAN Parties. The DiamondBox took its name because I decided I would get an aluminum case and re-panel it with aluminum Diamondplate, giving it a very edgy, shiny, durable and unique feeling.

The case I settled on to build up from was a Kingwin KT-424-S all-aluminum ATX mid-tower model. It was laid out well for my plans and turned out to have just enough space (and not an inch more) for my needs. I was also amazed when I unboxed it at its light weight. That was due to change, though.

I was able to get some Aluminum Diamondplate through some connections my dad and brother had. We cut it into the four pieces I would need: front, top, left side and right side. I didn’t feel the back and the bottom were worth worrying about. The front piece was a bit tricky. The front bezel on the Kingwin case has sides to it; it wraps around about an inch and the entire piece comes off as a whole. Therefore, we had to cut the front to what the overall size is with the edges, then cut out the corners, and then use a finger break (a version of a sheet metal break) to make the corners. Then the diamondplate front goes right over the stock one. It took a good bit of tweaking, but they eventually fit together nice and snugly.

Initially, I had actually wanted to replace the stock panels completely, but once I received the case I realized this would be a much more difficult route. The front would have been extremely tricky to replicate six mounting holes on, and the sides have stamped rails which would have been difficult to replicate as well. Coming to terms with this was easy, since adding a layer of aluminum on top of the existing layer of aluminum serves to make it ridiculously strong, satisfying one of my goals. The stock aluminum is about 1/16, and so is my diamondplate, giving an overall thickness of 1/8. The raised ridges on the diamondplate add another 1/16 or so of strengthening. That makes me happy.

The right side panel was easy. There were no special cuts or anything to do. The front had a rectangular opening on the top, for the optical drives, and a round opening on the bottom for the 120mm fan. The 120mm fan was replacing the two stock 80mm fans normally mounted there, so the stock parts had to be modified for this as well. Since 120mm metal hole saw bits are ridiculously priced, we found a great alternative: an adjustable “circle-cutter” from Ace. Using this, I could cut any sized hole I wanted, perhaps at a slightly slower rate. This was used on both the diamondplate and the stock aluminum of the front for the fan.

The left side panel had its own set of challenges. I had designed it to have a sizable window in the side, curving around another 120mm intake fan. Both of these cuts had to be replicated on both the diamondplate and the stock aluminum. The circle cutter was used on the fan opening, of course, and I believe we used a jigsaw for the window.

The top needed an odd-shaped hole cut into it, to match the radiator I intended to put over it. It also needed two circular holes of about 5/8″ or 3/4″ for the inlet and outlet. Again, these cuts had to be duplicated on both layers of aluminum.

Everything was riveted together with aluminum rivets, which had to be carefully placed to avoid the ridges of the diamondplate. The fan grills I picked are a sort of swirl or blade-looking thing. They fit the theme very well and set off the sense that everything is “sharp”. I also saved the bay cover portion that was cut out of the front of the diamondplate. It’s been sectioned into individual covers for each drive, so that I can stealth them sometime in the future if I want to.

It sounds like everything went together simply, but I can assure you that is not the case. There were many obstacles that had to be overcome before proceeding, but everything managed to go together in the end. As I mentioned earlier, the case worked out pretty well, in some ways having just enough room to fit things and not a bit more. The pump height is one of these–it sits in the unused 3.5″ bays, and an opening is cut in the aluminum tray above it (the bottom of the 5.25″ bays and top of the 3.5″ bays). There is very little unused space above the pump, and only slightly more to the sides.

The top optical drive is another of these cases; I have to be very careful what length drives I get for that bay. Some of the shorter ones fit just perfectly, but longer ones will hit the fan for the radiator before locking into place. The Power Supply is the third of these tight areas, on the other side of the radiator fan. My previous PSU was moderately sized and left clearance. However, I upgraded to a PSU which was slightly longer, and actually had to remove the fan grill to make it fit. It has absolutely no extra room–it’s a perfect fit!

The next few shots show me filling up the watercooling system with water, putting all of the components into place, and some “done” shots with and without light. The watercooling setup is different than before. One big change is that I took out the reservoir, opting for a T-line instead. It’s not as easy to fill, but the water doesn’t stop moving each time it reaches the reservoir either, which makes things easier on the pump. And the system doesn’t need to be filled very often anyway. The new loop is thus: pump -> radiator -> CPU -> pump. This is another common setup, putting the water through the radiator to cool it directly before the CPU, which heats it back up again.

One addition I made shortly after this point was to add a baybus to control the fans. These fans are loud on full blast, and they still push a lot of air when they’re turned down, so I run them very low most of the time. The baybus is a Sunbeam model which fits into a 5.25″ bay. I used the lowest bay, which is actually concealed behind diamondplate and drilled four holes for the baybus knobs to go through. The baybus itself is only a couple inches deep, so it doesn’t interfere with the pump outlet, which is directly behind it.

Something that surprised me, once everything was put together, was the amount of additional weight I added. The diamondplate, plus all of the components, and the water and watercooling gear made the case officially heavy. It probably weighs 40-50 pounds now, but it’s solid as a rock. I could take it to a LAN Party by putting it in the bed of my truck if I was so inclined. I still have some things left that have been put on the back burner, unfortunately. I want to caulk some of the edges so that they make more visually attractive creases. I’d actually like to remove the side panels and put a thin layer of foam inbetween them to stop any rattles, too.

I also still need to customize the plug for the pump. I have it running out the side, which is ugly. I’ll probably cut off the end and run it out the PCI slots eventually. And speaking of the window…there isn’t one. It’s cut, but I don’t have a very good way to mount it. So there’s no window mounted in the side yet.

I recently treated it to a nice polishing with Nevr-Dull, though, and even though it’s a couple years old now, it’s still looking like quite the badass rig. I’m happy that it was so unique when I made it, and remains to be still. This case represents strength and durability not often seen in a computer case, and exudes a feeling of “sharpness” from all of the edges present on the diamondplate and fan grills, and the shape of the window. I love this case.

Thanks to my Dad and Tom for helping me with this project.

All content ?2006 Tony Magri

The basic components going into this project are:

• A piece of acrylic (cut into 7 sections)
• An Eheim 1250 pump
• A BlackIce Extreme Chrome radiator
• Three Y.S. Tech 120x120x38mm fans (thicker and more powerful than most 120mm fans)
  • 7-12VDC, max 2800 RPM @ 125.5 CFM / 7.92W / 45.0dB
• Some acrylic adhesive
• Plenty of Plumber’s Goop
• ClearFlex tubing (which connects to a Maze4 waterblock up in the computer)

I also designed a pretty ideal layout for the Waterbox. In the back, there’s a large reservoir. The reservoir is separated by an inner partitioning wall which has two holes in it. One is the inlet for the water. The other is the outlet to the pump. It’s designed so that the pump butts right up against the partitioning wall, saving space and the complication of a short run of tubing. This also has the benefit of giving the pump as much water as it wants, since there’s no restriction ahead of it.

The pump itself, in addition to fitting into the inner wall, is attached to the bottom of the Waterbox by four rubber-insulated bolts. This is to hopefully minimize some of the vibration from the pump. To the front of the pump are two of the 120mm fans, mounted to the sides and both blowing outwards. And at the very front of the Waterbox is the radiator, with the third fan just behind it in a pull-configuration. This brings fresh air in through the radiator, providing maximum cooling to the water inside. The two side fans maintain a negative pressure which should provide a bit of extra vacuum to the intake fan. The whole configuration should change the air in the Waterbox very rapidly, and provide a bit of passive cooling to the pump as a side effect.

Water pumped by the pump goes straight up, through the top of the Waterbox and the bottom of the computer, straight to the waterblock on the CPU and back down. It then goes to the radiator to cool it, and is dumped back into the reservoir until it is needed again. It’s a simple pump -> CPU -> radiator -> reservoir -> pump configuration.

To begin building the Waterbox, I started with Plexiglas. To match the case, it’s quarter-inch, clear Plexi. I cut my sheet into the seven shapes I would need, and further marked off the cuts that would come next.

Once the necessary cuts were made, I had to use acrylic adhesive to glue the pieces together. A square and some clamps were very handy for this step. Once the sides were sturdy, I did some rough fitting of the components, to make sure everything was in order. Things were tight, but just right. Now I had to seal the reservoir. The acrylic adhesive, possibly in conjunction with imperfect edges, left that portion leaky. Very leaky. I tried silicone at first, but it was too far too rubbery, even when dry. I found a product called Plumber’s Goop, however, which performed much better. I also found that in order to run the tubing to the radiator, the fan partially got in the way. Some quick filing of the edge of the fan fixed this, though.

I set the rig up to test the seal on the reservoir every time I resealed it. I resealed it many, many times. There always seemed to be some small leak that I missed, requiring me to dry everything off and add another coat. I also cut the hole in the bottom of my case so that the two hoses could enter. Since I didn’t feel like removing all of my stuff from the case, but I knew there would be plexiglas filings all over, I used a CD spindle cover to catch all of these and easily remove them.

One of the next steps was to attach the front piece, which had the radiator/fan attached to it. This was to be the primary access to the Waterbox for cleaning and maintenance, so I toyed with a couple hinge ideas. One was a chrome piano hinge that would allow it to swing to the left or right. I decided against this, though, because it would have required more tubing to make the bend. A second option was two acrylic hinges attached to the bottom. I went with this one because it seemed to be the better choice. “Seemed” being the operative word.

The hinges presented two problems in particular: First, they were mounted on the bottom, which meant the radiator assembly swung down. However, it was large enough that the radiator hit the top of the waterbox. This meant the top wouldn’t be permanently affixed, which is probably a good idea anyway. But when opening the front, I would always have to lift the top of the waterbox so the radiator could pass it. Second, the hinges did not attach with the amount of strength I evidently needed. One in particular broke off at the adhesion point several times. I continued to try to repair it, but it would never hold well. A permanent solution to this would probably have been to put a small bolt through both sections, but I didn’t get that far.

Another unanticipated complication, albeit much more minor, was that I cut the holes for the tubing exactly to size. Or maybe even a little small. They definitely fit through, but there was enough friction on the edges that it made it hard to pull or push the tubing through. This one was solved quite easily, though, with a bit of sandpaper and some time. I gave the opening on the top of the waterbox a nice rounded edge, which made slipping hose through infinitely easier.

There ended up being four things running through the opening between the Waterbox and the computer: New water, spent water, 12VDC wiring for the fans, and the 120VAC plug for the pump. It added a decent bit of height to the computer, but man did it look good. Monolithic, even. I even made a video that pans along it with the 2001: A Space Odyssey music playing in the background. Yeah, I was feeling geeky.

Unfortunately, this is where the story draws to its tragic end. Even at this point, I had trouble with leaks, and had to take things apart to apply another coating of Plumber’s Goop. The problem with doing all of this is that, since it’s a viscous liquid, in order for it to actually fill the itty-bitty holes causing my leak, I had to orient the computer so that gravity would let it flow into them. This meant applying the Goop and then very precariously putting my computer/Waterbox on my bed, on a corner and leaning against the wall, just to get it at the right angle. It seemed pretty solid…and it was for quite some time. But after maybe 45 minutes or an hour, as I was sitting at my desk with my back turned, I heard a crash. “Oh no” is all that could run through my mind, already knowing what had happened. And I knew I didn’t want to turn around to see the result.

The case had toppled off the bed and hit the floor, apparently on a corner. The force of the shock broke the top, front, and left side panels on the computer. It also jarred the components and knocked the AGP card out of its slot, breaking the card mounting piece, too. The front of the Waterbox was torn off…at the hinges, of course. It also broke the adhesive bond on many of the panels. It was not a good day, and that marked the end of the Waterbox project. It also marked the beginning of the DiamondBox project–my next case mod with durability and strength in mind. I try to learn from my mistakes.

All content ?2006 Tony Magri

To begin building the spudgun, we raided Jeff’s parents’ hardware store for the necessary supplies. Among these were a valve stem (like you would normally see on a car or bicycle tire), various chunks of Schedule-40 PVC pipe, fittings, end cap, etc., PVC cement, a valve, spray foam, and JB Weld. Since we didn’t know what the hardware would have for piping and valves before we got there, we determined what we could use on the spot.

Here, Tom and Jeff are discussing this matter, while Tom holds some of our other supplies and Reid looks for parts we think we need.

After we had determined what was available and picked out what we needed, Tom helps illustrate how it will all go together.

Once we had all of our materials, we went to the basement of the hardware store, where they keep some a few tools we could use. We needed to cut the long sections of PVC to the right length for the barrel and the compression chamber. At first, we considered using a compression chamber as long as possible. However, we researched it a bit, and found that found that a shorter chamber would be more beneficial to us.

Jeff and Tom are doing some test fitting and determining exactly what lengths we should go for.

A nice DeWalt chopsaw in the basement made quick work of our cuts.

Tom shows the test fitting after we’ve cut our sections.

Once we had all of our pieces, we went back to the cottage to assemble them. At this point, I JB Welded the valve stem in an opening at the end of the compression chamber while Tom cemented the various parts together. To make sure the valve stem was secure, sealed, and airtight, we used the spray foam to put a couple inches at the back of the chamber. A straw was used to make the air channel through the foam to the stem so it didn’t simply seal off the valve stem.

Once all of this was done, the PVC would take approximately 24 hours to cement together. So we left it overnight to cure. It was particularly difficult to resist trying it early. In the meantime, Tom and I made sabots for the golf balls to rest in out of spray foam. These are helpful because they sit tightly in the barrel, so air can’t escape around them. Within them the golf ball is cradled. When the spudgun is fired, the sabot and golf ball push out of the barrel, but due to the low density of the sabot, it just flutters off and lands a few feet away to be retrieved and used again.

The next day, we got our spudgun out and it was time to see how our handiwork functioned. First of all, it was surprisingly ergonomic for as large and home-made as it was.

Here I am holding the spudgun and standing next to Tom.

Preparing the spudgun to fire is fairly easy: Verify the valve is closed. Put the golf ball in the sabot. Ram the sabot down into the barrel using a broom handle or something similar until it stops. Then connect the air compressor to the valve stem and turn it on. Ours had an on-board pressure readout. Although ours seemed to give readouts much higher than in actuality while it was filling, probably due to the constrictive path the air takes through the straw, it would be careless to blindly fill up the tank without some sort of feedback as to what pressure you’re at. We could turn the compressor off and the readout would eventually stabilize down in the range we expected it to be.

A picture of our filling setup.

All in all, the spudgun we made up on Beaver Island was a great experience. We learned some new things while making it, and ended up with a really fun project. We don’t have perfect numbers as far as how it performed, but based on a couple videos I took of us shooting it vertically, I calculated the muzzle velocity of the golf ball at approximately 40m/s (131 feet/second). For reference, this is approximately 15% of the typical muzzle velocity of a .45ACP handgun round. Of course, our round is much larger and heavier, at about 3x the mass of the bullet. This all means the golf ball launched out of our spudgun has about 45% of the momentum of the bullet. Needless to say, this is not a projectile you would want to stand in front of.

While our project had many dangers to it, we exercised as much caution as we possibly could. Ahead of time, we researched the psi ratings of the PVC we would be using, so that we would not inadvertently put ourselves in danger of overpressurization. As it turned out, our lowest-rated component was the valve (I think it was 120psi), so our pressures were kept significantly lower than that maximum. I believe we typically ran around 50-75% of that maximum, based on estimates we would always pad toward the conservative side of things to further ensure our safety. Even in a worst-case scenario, we wanted to still have a margin of safety.

My only regret is that we had to leave the spudgun up on Beaver Island (I’m not sure what kind of looks we would have gotten taking it on the ferry, but that would have been hilarious). So, we’ll have to play with it more next time.

Videos

Tom shoots a 45-degree shot
Tom shoots straight up
Tony shoots straight up
Tom shoots water

All content ?2006 Tony Magri