How To (Or How Not To) Make A Coil Gun

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By Michael Castor
Posted 2013/01/27 @ 11:26 pm
Category Photography & Video, Electronics, Science

With all the recent publicity surrounding guns, Mehdi Sadaghdar (and his eyebrows) of Electroboom decided it’d be a good idea to show the world how to build one. Classified as a “coil gun,” the device uses a coil of wire and a power supply to launch a steel projectile over 16mph. The video outlines how a coil gun works and demonstrates what can go wrong in a way that… well… just watch the video.

Check out Mehdi’s YouTube Channel for more even more educational hilarity. I just subscribed.

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20 Responses to How To (Or How Not To) Make A Coil Gun

Macdja38 on January 27th, 2013 at 11:54 pm said:

My coil gun is better, I used a capacitor and a light switch, might build your circuit thought!

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Archibald Tuttle (@SquittersTweet) on January 28th, 2013 at 12:28 am said:

LMFAO!!!

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kevin on January 28th, 2013 at 12:39 am said:

… he said 25 kph or 16 mph, NOT 60 mph. need correction in the article

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- Michael Castor on January 28th, 2013 at 7:46 am said:
  
  Thanks for pointing that out! His “16″ sounded a lot like “60″ to me.
  
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Steve Sparks on January 28th, 2013 at 3:07 am said:

I have built very successful coil guns with a single coil powered by the flash unit from a disposable camera. It puts out a short burst of 300V from a capacitor, so there’s no reason to have a shutoff controller.

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caitlinsdad on January 28th, 2013 at 7:30 am said:

duly noted for the Darwin Award. If you are not having fun when Making, you just aren’t having fun.

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- Michael Castor on January 28th, 2013 at 7:47 am said:
  
  Well said!
  
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Tommy Gunn on January 28th, 2013 at 8:15 am said:

that was the funniest maker vid I’ve ever seen… cheers!

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miroslava von schlochbaum on January 28th, 2013 at 8:40 am said:

That was delightful – thank you. (the only difference if i had made such a video would be that all my silly mistakes wouldn’t have been for comedic effect)

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Chris on January 28th, 2013 at 9:26 am said:

Okay. Have fun wasting a bunch of money on weapons and burying your guns. Now could you please stop infecting the internet with your poorly written run on sentences and gun-nut propaganda? That would be great.

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lrwickerdesign on January 28th, 2013 at 9:40 am said:

This is about having fun with making stuff, not a soapbox for a freaked out, scared old white guy who needs to turn everything into an NRA rant. There are tea party forums for that, seriously.

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joe on January 28th, 2013 at 10:07 am said:

this guy has to be fake. He has another video where he zaps electronics, and “accidentally” touches it before discharging (multiple times). This guy is either REALLY stupid, or just likes attention

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- Will on January 28th, 2013 at 12:18 pm said:
  
  Or, and I’m just spitballing here, he makes slapstick parodies of how-to films.
  
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  Gareth Branwyn on January 29th, 2013 at 4:02 pm said:
  
  +1
  
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Enrique on January 28th, 2013 at 1:06 pm said:

very funny and interesting, i have one question, how powerful should a coil gun be to match the power of a regular gun?

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Shaun on January 29th, 2013 at 1:12 pm said:

This guy is an idiot, in a good way. We all need the laugh

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teme on April 19th, 2013 at 9:41 am said:

Here’s my try:

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