Author Topic: Aluminum cannon barrels?  (Read 1794 times)

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Offline carmy53

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Aluminum cannon barrels?
« on: October 07, 2011, 12:25:11 PM »
I was reading the "small cannon help" thread and checked out the link to the Artillery Society in the UK and I was wondering if anyone in the US is casting or machining aluminum barrels with steel liners?

Offline seacoastartillery

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Re: Aluminum cannon barrels?
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2011, 01:42:44 PM »
     We have not heard of anyone in the U.S. who is in production of an aluminum canon with or without a liner.  There may be a few, but from what we have learned over the years, most manufacturers will not entertain the idea of adding even a little liability to their operation.

     While not engineers, Mike and I have been present at many actual stress tests of aluminum test pieces and steel ones in a large aircraft plant where they endured increasing amounts of tension, torsion and compression.  To say that the aluminum failed far before the steel is the understatement of the new century. 

     Although there are other important factors, a graphic representation of the 'Modulus of Elasticity' is probably the easiest way to rate the amount of stretching different materials will go through before failure.  We found a new site recently which is very good for this purpose.  Click on this site to see for yourself:

                                    http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/young-modulus-d_773.html


     And for those who think aluminum is OK because you have a little help from a liner, well rethink that more than just once!!  You might not blow yourself up, but just think how much your life would change if you put a splinter through your neighbor's kid 200 yards away.  Use extreme caution and always build cannons with EXTRA redundancy, Not Less.  That's our advice.

Tracy and Mike
Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline carmy53

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Re: Aluminum cannon barrels?
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2011, 03:01:39 PM »
Tracy and Mike,
Thanks for the detailed reply. Would your objections to an aluminum barrel still apply if the steel liner met current standards on its own? In other words, if the aluminum barrel was cast around a steel liner that was 3" diameter with a 1" bore would you still think it was unsafe?

Offline Double D

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Re: Aluminum cannon barrels?
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2011, 03:43:30 PM »
Tracy and Mike,
Thanks for the detailed reply. Would your objections to an aluminum barrel still apply if the steel liner met current standards on its own? In other words, if the aluminum barrel was cast around a steel liner that was 3" diameter with a 1" bore would you still think it was unsafe?

The first question that comes to mind for this is why?  Why go to the trouble of building  a liner that big and not go ahead and just  profile it?

Why would you want an aluminum shell?


Offline carmy53

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Re: Aluminum cannon barrels?
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2011, 04:06:32 PM »
Two reasons. First is cost. Second is weight.

Offline GGaskill

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Re: Aluminum cannon barrels?
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2011, 04:12:59 PM »
if the aluminum barrel was cast around a steel liner that was 3" diameter with a 1" bore would you still think it was unsafe?

Unless you profiled the liner before casting the aluminum around it, I would think it would be heavier than an all steel barrel.
GG
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Offline carmy53

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Re: Aluminum cannon barrels?
« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2011, 04:41:13 PM »
If a 62" aluminum barrel with a 9" diameter was cast around a 3" diameter steel barrel I can't believe it wouldn't be lighter.

Offline seacoastartillery

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Re: Aluminum cannon barrels?
« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2011, 05:51:12 PM »
Tracy and Mike,
Thanks for the detailed reply. Would your objections to an aluminum barrel still apply if the steel liner met current standards on its own? In other words, if the aluminum barrel was cast around a steel liner that was 3" diameter with a 1" bore would you still think it was unsafe?

     Sorry, we not only are not engineers, but we are not metalurgists either.  You would have to be intimately familiar with the heat treatment of the specific liner material to give a definitive answer to your question.  After all, you need facts here, not BS. 

     Also, we are wondering in the most serious way, what is the purpose of a 9" dia. tube, 63" long with a 1.00" bore.  I believe that  very few of us in the U.S. have the faintest idea of what such a configuration would be used for.  Please don't take this question as an insult.  It most definitely is not.  The simple fact is that we just don't know what it's purpose would be.

Mike and Tracy
Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline carmy53

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Re: Aluminum cannon barrels?
« Reply #8 on: October 08, 2011, 01:12:32 AM »
Also, we are wondering in the most serious way, what is the purpose of a 9" dia. tube, 63" long with a 1.00" bore.  Mike and Tracy
The primary purpose would be as a lawn ornament. I've been searching for a long time for a barrel that I could fire once or twice and then put on display, never to fired again. The cost and weight of a full size steel cannon would be prohibitive so I was hoping that an aluminum barrel cast around a steel liner would be lighter and cheaper. Considering your safety concerns and Austin's corrosion concerns I quess aluminum is not the answer to my search. Thanks to everyone for their time.
 

Offline Double D

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Re: Aluminum cannon barrels?
« Reply #9 on: October 08, 2011, 04:02:24 AM »
Also, we are wondering in the most serious way, what is the purpose of a 9" dia. tube, 63" long with a 1.00" bore.  Mike and Tracy
The primary purpose would be as a lawn ornament. I've been searching for a long time for a barrel that I could fire once or twice and then put on display, never to fired again. The cost and weight of a full size steel cannon would be prohibitive so I was hoping that an aluminum barrel cast around a steel liner would be lighter and cheaper. Considering your safety concerns and Austin's corrosion concerns I quess aluminum is not the answer to my search. Thanks to everyone for their time.

I think aluminum is what you are looking for, the problem is you are mixing to two criteria...a cannon to shoot and a lawn ornament.  Make an aluminum cannon with  a short bore and put it in the yard.   Have you consider a cement cannon, sponsor Zulu makes them!

Then for a shooter, see the rest of our sponsors. 

Offline Zulu

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Re: Aluminum cannon barrels?
« Reply #10 on: October 08, 2011, 04:27:38 AM »
Carmy53,
You have seen these before.  They are awesome! and only $1200.
Zulu
 




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www.jmelledge.com

Offline OoooOOoo1010010

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« Reply #11 on: October 08, 2011, 07:46:47 AM »
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Offline KABAR2

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Re: Aluminum cannon barrels?
« Reply #12 on: October 08, 2011, 09:11:20 AM »
The fellow who was shown recently in the cannon casting videos was also involved in the movie industry supplying cannons for various productions.... to save on weight he was using a heavy steel sleeve with an aluminum casting over that, these were intended for blanks only..... and he was not making them for resale.
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