Thread: Canons?

Originally Posted by Cordite

Epoxy-in a steel liner?

Put in the mold then cast around it I guess. Not really 100% sure how it's done. Love to see them being made.

Originally Posted by mimms2

What you have is a woden -pattern- (presumably in two keyed halves) which is used to make the mould.

That looks like a pretty serious sized pour, too so yeah. A local foundry probably the way to go.
Not TOO many hobbiests up to that size, (though they do exist) and depending what metal you want, temperature.

And yeah. keeping a core like that in tact and straight enough for the length...not the easiest

Yup definitely a foundry job. Not cheap either, but not a lot of other options as far as I'm aware.
Makes sense the steel liner going in after, now you put it like that.

I'm learning more everyday

Originally Posted by mimms2

The casting would be made with a core to rough out the barrel which would then have to be bored after and the liner press-fitted in.

Metal shrinks quite some when cast, probably enough to collapse steam pipe, or fracture the casting depending on your sizes.

Yeah on the video i linked where farmcraft on youtube makes one and goes through the process, he does a horizontal pour first but as he feared the metal strinkage was so great around the chamber area he had to do a vertical pour so the shrinkage just gets machined out for the bore.
Then he had the problem of the pressure head being so great at the bottom it forced his mold apart and spilt it all over his floor.

For a subject i know nothing about, him explaining why hes doing things a particular way. The pros and cons etc is really helpful and interesting.

It is actually a 1/2 size Whitworth, as used by the south in the civil war, I did the engineering & machining and my mate did all the woodwork including the wheels, it took just over a year to build in our spare time

I have half a dozen of the smaller cannons. I'm unsure if you need to be a LFO to owner them in NZ as it is in Australia.

Originally Posted by azul

It is actually a 1/2 size Whitworth, as used by the south in the civil war, I did the engineering & machining and my mate did all the woodwork including the wheels, it took just over a year to build in our spare time

Love to see a few pictures.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

I know that guy.
Pretty hard to get away from his place once cannons get mentioned.

@7mmwsm I may have just ordered one.

Originally Posted by 2post

@7mmwsm I may have just ordered one.

Wow, a thread from the past and one that interests me a lot.
Details please of your "piece" @2post

Originally Posted by zimmer

Wow, a thread from the past and one that interests me a lot.
Details please of your "piece" @2post

It’s still early days, I need to be sure alls legal, I’ll PM you with what I know so far.