Electromagnetic Coil-Gun

As you can see from the parts list there isn’t much needed to make this coil-gun. Jeff has some nice detailed instructions on his site so you can easily have your very own. 🙂
I have a challenge for all Hacked Gadget readers, take one of these through an airport security check area and see what happens. I am thinking it could be an interesting situation…

“The electronics are salvaged from a single-use camera.
Note that the whole unit is powered by a single AA battery. But don’t be fooled, the circuit builds up 300 volts across the capacitor!!!

This project is a bit dangerous. Even being as careful as possible, I still zapped myself twice while dismantling the camera. If you promise to be super careful and have adult supervision (especially if you are an adult), then I’ll let you see the directions.

* Kodak disposable flash camera
* 40 feet (12.2m) of 22 Guage Enamel-Coated Magnet wire (part of a 3 spool set from Radio Shack part number: 278-1345)
* SPST lever Micro switch (rated to 250v is ok, even though we are using 300v but only for a short time) Radio Shack: 275-016
* soda straw
* 2 steel washers 1/4″ center hole (or whatever fits nicely around the straw), by 1″ outer diameter
* 1″ piece of small tubing to plug end of straw
* 6″ piece of wood dowel to fit down center of straw (ok if it is a bit loose, just use masking tape to make it larger diameter to fit snugly)
* 12″ x 6″ piece of corrogated cardboard for the gun chasis
* Masking tape”