Propane powered gatling gun
Printed From: Tippmann Paintball
Category: Tippmann Paintball
Forum Name: Paintball Ideas / News From Tippmann
Forum Description: Got a new idea or a way to improve something?
URL: http://www.tippmannsports.com/forum/wwf77a/forum_posts.asp?TID=167045
Printed Date: 16 July 2025 at 7:16am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Propane powered gatling gun
Posted By: irish_paintball
Subject: Propane powered gatling gun
Date Posted: 16 May 2007 at 12:50pm
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Right, the paintball mini gun has been done before. Problems include loading the paint and having enough air. Propane marker has been developed, but can not fire fast due to heat build up. Combine the two. The original gatlin gun was designed to speed up loading of rounds, ejection of cases and reduce heat build up in barrels by alternating the barrel being used. For my final year mechanical engineering project i plan to adopt the propane system and using forced convection caused by fans on the rotating barrels to cool the combustion chamber. I am aiming for 40bps. Limited by cycle rate of combustion chamber and loading speeds. I have the loading system sorted, which i am not going to revel right now, but it will use a cam follower system and be force fed. All mechanical, no electronic hopper involved. more info: http://www.irish-paintball.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10711 I send tippmann an email looking for info and help, so if any of the design team in watching, get in touch ;) Richie ------------- http://www.paintballer.ie"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: carl_the_sniper
Date Posted: 16 May 2007 at 3:54pm
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Ehhh... I can't decide if this is worse than paintball skydiving or not. ------------- <just say no to unnecessarily sexualized sigs> |
Posted By: irish_paintball
Date Posted: 16 May 2007 at 4:34pm
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Ehhhhhh How can you compare jumping out of a plane with markers with just making a new different type of marker? ------------- http://www.paintballer.ie">
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Posted By: carl_the_sniper
Date Posted: 16 May 2007 at 4:36pm
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I'm not comparing the idea, i'm comparing the quality of the idea. ------------- <just say no to unnecessarily sexualized sigs> |
irish_paintball wrote:Posted By: karll
Date Posted: 16 May 2007 at 4:41pm
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I don't know how you are going to do it, but that's because I'm not an engineering student yet. More power to you.
------------- PlentifulBalls "It's cool, I'll be dead before I'm not pretty." Gatyr "Stupid things exist." 
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Posted By: irish_paintball
Date Posted: 16 May 2007 at 4:47pm
That makes no sense.
There are other paintball mini guns out there: http://scenariodreams.com/productpages/minigun.htm http://www.remotelyinteresting.com/paintball%20minigun%20pag e.html But now incorporating the propane idea that tippmann have developed. It should just be a matter of combining the two. ------------- http://www.paintballer.ie">
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Posted By: carl_the_sniper
Date Posted: 16 May 2007 at 6:14pm
Yes, it does ------------- <just say no to unnecessarily sexualized sigs> |
Posted By: irish_paintball
Date Posted: 16 May 2007 at 7:34pm
What ever. If you have nothing good to say, then say nothing at all. ------------- http://www.paintballer.ie">
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Posted By: carl_the_sniper
Date Posted: 16 May 2007 at 8:34pm
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no ------------- <just say no to unnecessarily sexualized sigs> |
Posted By: choopie911
Date Posted: 16 May 2007 at 8:51pm
| Oh boy... |
Posted By: Razgriz Ghost
Date Posted: 16 May 2007 at 9:32pm
| HIMSISGOININNNBLOWINSHIMSELVESUPSOARS?!1? |
Posted By: karll
Date Posted: 16 May 2007 at 11:22pm
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Enough with the trolling Carl.
------------- PlentifulBalls "It's cool, I'll be dead before I'm not pretty." Gatyr "Stupid things exist."
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Posted By: carl_the_sniper
Date Posted: 16 May 2007 at 11:40pm
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But he started it ------------- <just say no to unnecessarily sexualized sigs> |
Posted By: karll
Date Posted: 17 May 2007 at 12:00am
I really hope that was meant to be a funny. ------------- PlentifulBalls "It's cool, I'll be dead before I'm not pretty." Gatyr "Stupid things exist."
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Posted By: irish_paintball
Date Posted: 17 May 2007 at 5:16am
Ya, me too  .Anyway, on other forums, the idea has been getting good feedback and ideas. Some people even offering to help with labour. Like i said, it is a college project and not gauraeented to work. 3-drawings will be up in a week or so to give you a rough idea of the feeding system and the firing mechanism ------------- http://www.paintballer.ie">
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Posted By: DeTrevni
Date Posted: 17 May 2007 at 12:31pm
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Actually, Carl, you are being kind of an a-hole with this one. It's a decent idea, but I don't know how you are going to pull it off. I'm ancious to see the schematics. I came into this thread with an "Oh god, not another one," mentality, but this seems pretty well thought out. Hope it works out. A problem I see is gas mixture and quantity. It's going to be difficult to feed gas that fast at a proper mixture and keep constant velocities. ------------- Evil Elvis: "Detrevni is definally like a hillbilly hippy from hell"
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Posted By: carl_the_sniper
Date Posted: 17 May 2007 at 1:21pm
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ehh... having a crappy day. I do not necessarily take back what I said, more in the way I said it. ------------- <just say no to unnecessarily sexualized sigs> |
Posted By: little devil
Date Posted: 17 May 2007 at 8:12pm
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wouldnt the heat be way to much? |
Posted By: DeTrevni
Date Posted: 17 May 2007 at 8:40pm
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He's gotta cooling system planned out evidently. What about liquid cooling? ------------- Evil Elvis: "Detrevni is definally like a hillbilly hippy from hell"
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Posted By: irish_paintball
Date Posted: 18 May 2007 at 9:16am
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Liquid cooling is extra weight and complex. Fan assisted cooling should be ok. Take a chain saw or a petrol lawn mower for example. They would get much hotter and are cooled only by air. Given, then get much hotter alright, but it still would be enough. I was working out a few calculations there regarding the speed. 40bps is a bit much for the propane system. By the time the mixture combusts, expands, and a new mixture is drawn in, it is too long. 20bps is a more realistic figure. So i can either put two firing mechanisms on it, or just design it for a 20bps.....but then thats no fun for a mini-gun. ------------- http://www.paintballer.ie">
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Posted By: Clark Kent
Date Posted: 18 May 2007 at 11:43am
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My question: For firearm miniguns, the main purpose of the concept is to allow the barrels to cool. Thus multiple barrels but a single firing chamber. With the C3, the main heating problem is in the body of the gun itself rather than the barrel. It would seem to me that you would have to have multiple combustion chambers in rotation for this to work - and at that point, doesn't this just come down to a bunch of C3s taped together? |
Posted By: DeTrevni
Date Posted: 18 May 2007 at 11:45am
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I'm not sure, but I think he mentioned using the motion of the barrels to create like a vacuum or a fan to cool the chamber. ------------- Evil Elvis: "Detrevni is definally like a hillbilly hippy from hell"
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Posted By: Clark Kent
Date Posted: 18 May 2007 at 12:19pm
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I saw that - but why bother with the rotating barrels then? Why not just add an external cooling unit? Maby what we need is the opposite system. Rotating combustion chambers hooked up to a single breech/barrel/trigger. They wouldn't even have to actually move, just alternate in their firing sequence. |
Posted By: DeTrevni
Date Posted: 18 May 2007 at 12:38pm
That would cost a HECKUVA lot more than a rotating barrel assembly. Plus, then it wouldn't be a Gatling gun.  ------------- Evil Elvis: "Detrevni is definally like a hillbilly hippy from hell"
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Posted By: carl_the_sniper
Date Posted: 18 May 2007 at 1:44pm
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Yes, this has been my problem with the idea. Finding a way to cool the firing chamber. I think it would take a lot to cool something like that down, I don't think fans would get the job done personally. And a question for anyone: If he couldn't cool it properly, wouldn't it melt or at least deform the paintball waiting to be fored? ------------- <just say no to unnecessarily sexualized sigs> |
Posted By: irish_paintball
Date Posted: 18 May 2007 at 2:27pm
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The exhaust gases also heat the barrel, hence the c-3 barrel is mandrel wraped. So the rotating barrels still needs to be, and if they didn't rotate, it wouldn't be a galtin gun as DeTrevni pointed out. Just think, air cooling is a solution, it is just a matter of how much. Chain saws, grass mowers, go kart engines, old beatle, all air cooled. Fair enough they get hot and you will get burnt, but the not that kind of heat will be generated. Picture this, the combustion chamber(s) are in the middle of the rotating barrels. Now think of fans like in jet engine in the middle of the barrels rotating with them. There will have to be a series of them at progresive pitches in order to suck/extract air and force cool air through the fins that are on the combustion chamber. Trust me, you can cool anything with fins, its just a matter of how big you make them. Fins increase surface area = more heat transfer. ------------- http://www.paintballer.ie">
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Posted By: e-rok
Date Posted: 15 June 2007 at 12:49pm
| yup, even porshes are air cooled, not to maention this irish dude has almost got his degree in engineering which means he knows way more then the rest of us for example carl which is arguing for the sake of arguing. the idea is bad but irish guy, maybe if you use an even amount of barrels then you could have combustion on the top and bottom barrels to get your 40 b.p.s. |
Posted By: mod98commando
Date Posted: 25 June 2007 at 2:21am
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I was actually thinking the same thing as e-rok with the 2 chamber idea. If you can make it work at 20 bps with one chamber then double up on chambers and make one at top and bottom. It's easier than making rotating chambers yet still gives you a high rate of fire. You could possibly even have more chambers than that if you wanted to. For cooling, I agree that air cooling could work with a big enough heatsink. I would make a big heatsink with vertical fins and then cover the top of it. If you push the air through channels rather than just over the top of an exposed heatsink maybe that would help force the heat away faster. Of course, I'm no expert on the subject but I would think forcing the air through a smaller area would increase pressure and therefore velocity, which would equate to faster heat dissipation. That could help you get away with a smaller heatsink or simply allow you to get more out of it. Covering the heatsink would also allow you to keep the look of a gatling gun on the outside without losing (and possibly increasing the functionality of) the heatsink. Like most of the people that came in here, I thought this would be a ridiculous idea like most of the stuff posted in this section of the forum but if anybody could do it, an engineer could. Therefore, I think this idea could possibly see reality and I'm really curious to see how this comes out. Keep us updated, post some pics/vids if you can. ------------- oreomann33: Everybody invades Poland Rofl_Mao: And everyone eats turkey Me: But only if they're hungary Mack: Yeah but hungary people go russian through their food and end up with greece on everyth |