Author Topic: Lurkers 1st cannon (Read 1061 times)

doveknives · « **on:** July 12, 2004, 12:28:52 PM »

Hello Cannon freinds,

Well I finally did it, my 18 year old son and I took a couple days and made some memories in the shop together. He ran the knee mill and I the lathe. I guess that the blacksmith in me took over combined with an invasion of Tim Allen mentality (more power!!)
I went over to an elderly ladies house that I have been helping to sell some machine tools that her late husband used in rebuilding heavy equipment and went through the tell shed to see if I could get a piece of high stress steel to use for a breech plug on the GB cannon I was wanting to make. I cam away with 144 # of high test steel tubing and plug steel and NEW plans. I found a piece of 3" one inch wall tubing 24" long and a piece of 5" bore 1.5 wall to make the trunion band with. We set to work the next morning to make our new Howitzer!
I turned the plug with a four pitch tread and treaded the breech to match will my son made the trunion band and bored for the trunions. I was a little afraid to bore into the sides to make the trunions in a more conventional fashion since I didn't know how much pressure it would make during firing. We pressed in one of the trunion pins 1.7 dia. hydraulic cylinder rod and had to weld the other in the inside of the band (not visible on outside , first time my son used a boring head and he over shot the make by .005). Threaded the plug into the breech, nice tight fit. and slid the trunion band onto the barrel and balanced the barrel a little breech heavy ( but only a little). Welded the band on the bottom side so that it would not show when the barrel was mounted in the carriage. Now we had hoped to make this a shooter by the fourth of July and it was now Friday and I was slated to be forging in the Sterling Museum for their Frontier Days Celebration from 9:00 till 4:00. So I called the wrecking yard in our town and the owner said he would find a car that would allow for easy axle removal and place it outside the fence for us to remove the rear axle Saturday afternoon if we would promise to come punch a hole in one of his wrecked cars with the cannon after we finished it ( free stuff YES!!!).
We finished forging with my son acting as striker at 3:00 and drove the 1.5 hours home and attacked the car, but found that we couldn't get the swing arm bolts out! Goof thing I'm on our small Fire Dept. I went and got the squad and decided that the hydraulic cutter we use for extrication needed to be tested, cut the swing arm in seconds! Now to the welding! We had some rectangular steel tube that fit the need and a piece of two inch square that would make the tail. I went to welding and my son went back to the mill to make the trunion mounts. We got it together at 11:00 at night and went to bed to dream of the great time tomorrow. I however found the I woke up with the need to come up with a elevation adjustment , remedied with the compound scissor jack out of our old Toyota installed on a telescoping tube for the tail before church.
We went to my sister's house after church with the carriage in the station wagon and the barrel and vegie cans full of concrete in the wife's car. Now my brother in-law has a one car garage that needs tore down up in the mountains where they live so we all decided that the cannon would help. We used the charts for powder charges I found on the net and set to work helping the old building down.
BOY!!!!!!! What fun!!!!! What great noise!!!! My Friends 75 year old grandfather was even shooting it and running up and down the hill to see the effect!! We all had the time of our lives and did it safely. All stood back a safe distance and long fuses were used and 2 # BP cannon grade was burned up and many gaping holes made. The cement fraged after penetrating the first wall and 2x4s so through shots and the worry of long distance damage were not needed.
I will post pictures as soon as the film is developed.
Thanks for all the help from you folks here and the great advise that got us started.
Yeasterday I took a little time in the lasy afternoon and made my versioin of a naval lock. Basically a slap fire type of mechanism that allows me to use a shot gun primer to ignite the powder charge. Teated it on the empty barrel and it worked like a champ. Now I have to take it up to the wrecking yard that I got the axel at to test the whole shebang. Maybe I'll find some three inch ball bearings that I can shoot :-)
Hope to get some usable photos this time.

Trusting HIM,
Steve Rollert
keenedgeknives.com
doveknives.com

Cat Whisperer · « **Reply #1 on:** July 12, 2004, 01:05:26 PM »

Steve -

Tremendous 1st post! Thanks for all the details of the festivities.

Lookin' forward to the pix.

Tim K.

Double D · « **Reply #2 on:** July 12, 2004, 02:55:24 PM »

My first point is always the same...Pictures!!!

I have two points of concern, both dealing with safety.

First the tubing you used, is it seamless? Welded pipe is dangerous in this application and should not be used.

The trunnion band. This is your recoil lug and it is what keeps your tube from recoiling back across the range. Weld that ring 360 degrees front and back. You can cover welds with bondo and paint.

I can't wait to see what you built, I'll bet it's pretty neat!

The thing that makes this gun stand out to me is that you and your son built it together. It is something you will cherish forever.

I always say my son(now 36 ) turned out to be decent person, despite my best efforts. Given your best efforts, your kid is going to be an awesome person!

We would have a whole lot less problems in this country if more parents took time like you did. Congratulations on twofold good job!

Blaster · « **Reply #3 on:** July 12, 2004, 03:00:08 PM »

Doveknives/Steve. I sure agree with Double D in that it's great for a Father and Son to complete such a project. You guys must get along very well. I sent you a PM so you might just watch for it. Thanks and keep sending info on that new cannon as well as pictures. Blaster (Bob in CO)

doveknives · « **Reply #4 on:** July 14, 2004, 06:21:33 AM »

Blaster mentioned in a note to me that there are some things that I should mention so here goes.
The tube is indeed seamless and was marked as "High stress" original use was for heavy equipment pivot bushings, machined tough even w/carbide point tool for thread cutting in the breech. I will Rockwell test it tomorrow to see how hard it is.
The bore size is just a few thou over three inches the wall thickness is a few thou over one inch and very uniform all the way around.
The projectile is a standard (Oz? will check) vegie can filled w/quickcrete I never did weigh one, will do that on Thursday as well. The windage is a little lose slip fit , will slide freely in and fall out if the barrel is pointed down a little. Had a big ball bearing from a oil drilling rig rotary table that fit about the same that I would like to try.
Powder charge was five level tablespoons of Cannon Grade BP. Also fired with four level tablespoons of FG BP.
When I get photos done this gun and carriage will probably look a little untraditional with the auto axil and wheels and the way over size trunnion band. In answer to the question of the trunnion band it is 5" ID, 7.5" OD, 2.5" in length REALLY tough stuff that turned a beautiful blue chip while machining and boring for the trunnions. I (at my son's request) drilled and tapped two holes in the top of the trunnion band to mount a long eye relief scope I have for my 44 mag. Totally worthless you might say, but, he wanted it and it really is fun to try to zero :wink:
This is the coolest group to read and there is such a wealth of experience shared. I am as well , one very concerned w/safety, my day job is working on an ALS ambulance for ten 24 hr shifts a month to support my addiction to making Damascus steel and knives and now cannons :lol: In my day job I see enough to make me VERY cautious .
Thanks for your help folks.