Hehej that was so much fun !! It is nice to take a break of tesla coils and play with some others electronics I been trying to build a pulse motor , also since I got my zvs working and already got bored of shorting capacitors I might go with a rail gun or a coil gun
These are pretty fun lol.. I shot a small rod at work and it went slam through a cardboard box and smashed against the wall lol. Definitely more powerful than the BB. I'd def start off with a 3 stage kit cause it does seem like the extra stages might be a waste.
Hello sir! I am building the kit right now, my trigger switch is being a little finicky and does not seem to discharge the stage one capacitor. When I measure the voltage along the switch I get 12V. Is this normal or have I missed something.
Yes you should have about 12V across the open switch legs. The switch should just be putting that 12V to the SCR gate after dropping the current through a resistor (the actual gate voltage should be low). If it's not switching on you might need to just check your connections. You can also try triggering it with an external source if you have one, for example just putting ~50mA across that first gate.
By chance did the high voltage boost converter become hot or smoked? Because I bought a 10 stage coil gun off of AliExpress and the most you can charge to is 60 V before it begins to smoke.
This one is still going strong though I've heard of others having issues. I think some people randomly get different converters and their mileage is varying. If yours is just a simple ZVS driver like mine though then it's an easy circuit to diagnose or repair. Can you tell where the smoke is coming from? May need to isolate the circuits to see if the converter is able to output a high unloaded voltage by itself. If you have a DC supply up to at least 30V then also wouldn't hurt to charge the caps with that to see if the current spikes then levels out to almost nothing like it's supposed to.
@@vortexthebacon Sounds like the converter either has a problem or it's being given too much of a load via the cap banks having bad wiring somehow. If they are getting to 60VDC though then I'd think the converter has the problem.
I actually bought same thing as yours but i dont know how to hook converter and coil gun. Can you please make video of it? Also there is no + mark on pcb where i should solder led on it so if you can tell me that either thank you!
There should be a 12V+/- and a 450V +/- marked on the board. Your 12V battery source goes to the 12V terminals on the board but you'll want to use a switch obviously. The switch should connect the positive terminal of your battery to the 12V+ on the board and the 12V+ to the converter. Negative terminals straight to boards. Then your converter output goes to the 450V terminals on the board. The led holes are not marked with polarity but there should be an etch showing one flat side and one rounded side. The flat side is the negative/cathode. Does that make sense?
@@Magneticitist Thank you for replying im keep trying to make it but I dont know where is output and input of the converter also when we solder coil in to pbc do I need to consider the direction of the coil?
@@geolmook It probably doesn't matter the coil polarity but you might as well just solder them all in the same direction. No matter the polarity, the coil is still going to suck in the ball bearing when it's pulsed because it's not magnetized. With the converter I think they are not all the same. Mine was a basic ZVS driver with ferrite transformer for the output. If that's what yours is, then just look for the rectified output coming from the transformer secondary. You will probably have to trace it out. The negative terminal of the input will be tied directly to the mosfet source pins, and the positive of the input will be tied to the toroidal inductor.
i bought one too, but it always blows the SCR. i think that maybe the wire of the coils has not enough resistance, or maybe it doesnt have the right impedance.
Does it blow the same SCR every time? Those are some beefy devices which are usually tough to kill but they are likely on the cheaper end. Could probably source some similar alternatives for cheap that can handle much more peak currents.
@@Magneticitist i tried better scr (btw69-1200), and i tried also buying more of the same kind, and even original ones. nope. the problem is something else. the gun works just fine under 300v, but above that and the scr are getting exploded after few uses.
The exact listing I got was this one www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804754951929.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.20.6b5c1802cldZuj&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa You could probably find the same kit for cheaper now but probably not by much
What's up man!? These are pretty cool but trying to go Toolman Taylor on it taught me they have it fairly well tuned... yet it seems like by just throwing an excessively large capacitor on a single stage can get about the same results.
Realistically no but possibly in the right circumstances I suppose it's possible. A capacitor tends to have the extra dangerous aspect of possibly being seemingly harmless just sitting there on an unpowered device... but could give you a real painful shock.. What I'd consider realistically fatal are much higher voltage capacitors which can also store enough charge to do real damage. If we're talking say 200kohms resistance between two points on your body that cross your heart region (like hand to hand), then a 400V discharge across that resistance is going to be in the region of pain and not death. Sweaty hands etc, the game changes, but still no death most likely. Takes a lot to fry a person or stop a heart, but the safe guesstimation is typically between 10-100mA, 100mA probably being more realistic. When you start playing with 2kV capacitors and higher (like MWO caps), that 2kV has suddenly brought the current through your body across that arbitrary 200kohms to around 10mA.. the lower end of what is supposed to be potentially fatal.. But the capacity of the particular capacitor is what matters also at that point.. since you're guaranteed the pain, the question is how long is that pain going to actually last given the charge in the cap and how long it takes to dissipate through the body.. So it's safe to recommend to people that if 10mA is the lower end of what could stop a heart.. then a 2kV cap is a nono to be playing with. 300-400V is more like in a DIY stun toy region but can still hurt someone.. for example discharging a 300V cap into someones arm, but then causing them much more pain if they jerk their arm away and send it right into something hard that breaks it.
Late to the party. If you take a bolt and turn it down to a pointed bullet about 3/4 to 1 inch long and turned down diameter so that it is just not touching the walls and can slide through but barely, load it in about 1/4 into the 1st coil and fire it will be noticeably more powerful.
Hehej that was so much fun !! It is nice to take a break of tesla coils and play with some others electronics I been trying to build a pulse motor , also since I got my zvs working and already got bored of shorting capacitors I might go with a rail gun or a coil gun
These are pretty fun lol.. I shot a small rod at work and it went slam through a cardboard box and smashed against the wall lol. Definitely more powerful than the BB. I'd def start off with a 3 stage kit cause it does seem like the extra stages might be a waste.
Hello sir! I am building the kit right now, my trigger switch is being a little finicky and does not seem to discharge the stage one capacitor. When I measure the voltage along the switch I get 12V. Is this normal or have I missed something.
Yes you should have about 12V across the open switch legs. The switch should just be putting that 12V to the SCR gate after dropping the current through a resistor (the actual gate voltage should be low). If it's not switching on you might need to just check your connections. You can also try triggering it with an external source if you have one, for example just putting ~50mA across that first gate.
By chance did the high voltage boost converter become hot or smoked? Because I bought a 10 stage coil gun off of AliExpress and the most you can charge to is 60 V before it begins to smoke.
This one is still going strong though I've heard of others having issues. I think some people randomly get different converters and their mileage is varying. If yours is just a simple ZVS driver like mine though then it's an easy circuit to diagnose or repair. Can you tell where the smoke is coming from? May need to isolate the circuits to see if the converter is able to output a high unloaded voltage by itself. If you have a DC supply up to at least 30V then also wouldn't hurt to charge the caps with that to see if the current spikes then levels out to almost nothing like it's supposed to.
@ the part that smokes is the inner coil of the yellow part
@@vortexthebacon So a transformer winding?
@ actually the transformer (yellow thingy) was smoking, it was the diodes and the place where you put the input and output wires in
@@vortexthebacon Sounds like the converter either has a problem or it's being given too much of a load via the cap banks having bad wiring somehow. If they are getting to 60VDC though then I'd think the converter has the problem.
I actually bought same thing as yours but i dont know how to hook converter and coil gun. Can you please make video of it? Also there is no + mark on pcb where i should solder led on it so if you can tell me that either thank you!
I'm using converter that came with
There should be a 12V+/- and a 450V +/- marked on the board. Your 12V battery source goes to the 12V terminals on the board but you'll want to use a switch obviously. The switch should connect the positive terminal of your battery to the 12V+ on the board and the 12V+ to the converter. Negative terminals straight to boards. Then your converter output goes to the 450V terminals on the board.
The led holes are not marked with polarity but there should be an etch showing one flat side and one rounded side. The flat side is the negative/cathode. Does that make sense?
@@Magneticitist
Thank you for replying im keep trying to make it but I dont know where is output and input of the converter also when we solder coil in to pbc do I need to consider the direction of the coil?
@@geolmook It probably doesn't matter the coil polarity but you might as well just solder them all in the same direction. No matter the polarity, the coil is still going to suck in the ball bearing when it's pulsed because it's not magnetized.
With the converter I think they are not all the same. Mine was a basic ZVS driver with ferrite transformer for the output. If that's what yours is, then just look for the rectified output coming from the transformer secondary. You will probably have to trace it out. The negative terminal of the input will be tied directly to the mosfet source pins, and the positive of the input will be tied to the toroidal inductor.
i bought one too, but it always blows the SCR. i think that maybe the wire of the coils has not enough resistance, or maybe it doesnt have the right impedance.
Does it blow the same SCR every time? Those are some beefy devices which are usually tough to kill but they are likely on the cheaper end. Could probably source some similar alternatives for cheap that can handle much more peak currents.
@@Magneticitist i tried better scr (btw69-1200), and i tried also buying more of the same kind, and even original ones. nope. the problem is something else. the gun works just fine under 300v, but above that and the scr are getting exploded after few uses.
@@matatisan Have you tried double checking the solder job on the big diode on the coil?
@@Magneticitist yes.I actually even built the all pcb again by myself... I am almost sure its the coils. strange
@@matatisan That's weird. Are you using really low ESR electrolytics?
Please send the link for this product
The exact listing I got was this one www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804754951929.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.20.6b5c1802cldZuj&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa
You could probably find the same kit for cheaper now but probably not by much
Cool!
What's up man!? These are pretty cool but trying to go Toolman Taylor on it taught me they have it fairly well tuned... yet it seems like by just throwing an excessively large capacitor on a single stage can get about the same results.
Would this kill you if you accidentally touched the cap or something
Realistically no but possibly in the right circumstances I suppose it's possible. A capacitor tends to have the extra dangerous aspect of possibly being seemingly harmless just sitting there on an unpowered device... but could give you a real painful shock.. What I'd consider realistically fatal are much higher voltage capacitors which can also store enough charge to do real damage. If we're talking say 200kohms resistance between two points on your body that cross your heart region (like hand to hand), then a 400V discharge across that resistance is going to be in the region of pain and not death. Sweaty hands etc, the game changes, but still no death most likely. Takes a lot to fry a person or stop a heart, but the safe guesstimation is typically between 10-100mA, 100mA probably being more realistic.
When you start playing with 2kV capacitors and higher (like MWO caps), that 2kV has suddenly brought the current through your body across that arbitrary 200kohms to around 10mA.. the lower end of what is supposed to be potentially fatal.. But the capacity of the particular capacitor is what matters also at that point.. since you're guaranteed the pain, the question is how long is that pain going to actually last given the charge in the cap and how long it takes to dissipate through the body.. So it's safe to recommend to people that if 10mA is the lower end of what could stop a heart.. then a 2kV cap is a nono to be playing with. 300-400V is more like in a DIY stun toy region but can still hurt someone.. for example discharging a 300V cap into someones arm, but then causing them much more pain if they jerk their arm away and send it right into something hard that breaks it.
Late to the party. If you take a bolt and turn it down to a pointed bullet about 3/4 to 1 inch long and turned down diameter so that it is just not touching the walls and can slide through but barely, load it in about 1/4 into the 1st coil and fire it will be noticeably more powerful.