I've read through a number of threads here about making a cannon, but wanted to get some opinions on a project. Some months ago I bought a bunch of scrap from a local machine shop that was going out of business. They did really big jobs with some huge equipment. Wish I had the space at the time as most of it went for dirt. Anyway I did buy some stuff to play around with. I hadn't planned on making a cannon at the time, but after going through some of the stuff, I may have enough pieces. I guess my question is cobbling this together worth it, or if I'm really serious should I just buy the proper pieces for assembly.
Here's what I've got that could be fashioned into something. First off, I'm really just wanting a noise maker. I've got a small brass cannon I've had for decades and it's pretty loud, but thought something a little bigger might be fun.
My parts include a tube, 2.25 ID, 3.25 OD, 36" long, there is some writing on the side, but I can't make it out so I don't know what kind of steel it is. If I plug one end decreasing the powder chamber to 1.5 inches, then add a 4.5 dia. sleeve around the outside around the powder chamber area would this prove to be a safe setup? I don't know if plugging and adding a sleeve is an approved method of assembly or not. I've got raw materials for each of the items. Both the sleeve and the plug would need to be lathe turned. The piece I have for making the 4.5" sleeve is only about 4.25" long, don't know if that's long enough coverage of the tube or not? I"m not sure how deep the powder chamber should be.
From what I gather here, both the sleeve and plug would need to be an interference fit, plus welded.
I certainly don't want to end up with an accident waiting to happen. A friend some years ago was permanently injured during a CW reenactment when a homemade cannon of some sort blew up near him.
I appreciate the knowledge here.