Cool Stuff for PAVs
I figured it was about time to split all this stuff off onto it's own page. I wish I could say that any of these guys are sponsoring us give of these products a glowing endorsement ;) but so far the only one I've bought for myself is the Supah! +plus valve which is outstanding. If anyone finds something along these lines that is good for PAV's and would like to share let me know and I'll put it up. Maybe if enough people start buying this stuff we can set up some sort of rating system for each item.
These are the roller bearings that Todd Meyer of the Gryphonians uses on his turret. I haven't seen them for sale at either Home Depot or Lowes. As far as turrets go I think these seem far superior to the typical caster wheels like the ones we used on the Tiger's turret system.
I tried to upload this late last night but my computer had other ideas. A friend at work tipped me off to this little beauty and I'm thinking that it's a must for our second tank. Anyone who would like having a reasonably sized air compressor onboard without the need for a generator should think about picking up one of these guys. It's a bit expensive coming in at a base price of $479.99 but it's the cheapest and smallest gas powered air compressor brought to my knowledge. I just wish I had found this sooner.
Jim Bergles led me to this information. Quite possibly the best solution for making a smoothly rotating large turret. It looks absolutely perfect to me. I'm planning on picking one up for the second tank. The bad news is that it's expensive. The 4000 pound capacity one I like is $279 plus shipping which could add another $100 depending on what type of shipping is needed. The good news is this thing is 40 inches in diameter. It's called a pallet carousel and it's sold by the Northern Tool and equipment company. Click on the pictures below to check it out. The carousel picture goes to it's entry on the site and the NorthernTool.com one goes to their home page. They also sell a 2000 pound capacity version that goes for $249. Both are only 2 1/4 inches high and I think the 40 inches is their outside diameters.
If you're a regular reader of Armored Fist and Warpigs Tank Talk you'll know that I've absolutely fallen in love with the Spudgun Technology Centers Supah! valve. In case you haven't heard we were getting 379 feet per second on the Nerf Pocket Rockets at 20 psi using the Supah-valve +plus. To be perfectly honest we have yet to get it to fire at a lower velocity since we've taken everything apart since the William Shatner Spplat Attack! and haven't had a chance to do any further testing with it. In case you want one for your P.A.V.s main gun click the spudtech.com banner below below. Actually even if you don't want the Supah valve you should look over spudtech if you're planning a cannon. They have lots of stuff you're going to be interested in. Make sure you check out the components link on the blue bar on the top of the page. I'm thinking about picking up a second Supah valve and most likely a piece of the rifled PVC offered there.
Here's another item of interest that was recently posted on the Warpig Tank Talk forum. This thing isn't actually for sale but I think it's a concept that should be looked into. There were several replies posted giving valid reasons why this design will not work but I think that none of it's problems are insurmountable. Click on the link and judge for yourself.
Doing a little research into one of it's flaws I came across this
One more thing before going any further into air cannons. Make sure that you use Schedule 40 fittings on everything! Schedule 40 is the pressure rated version of PVC and somewhere on a Schedule 40 fitting it should say SCH 40 and/or NSF-pw. The non-pressure rated fittings are labeled with NSF-dwv. Home Depot is very good at mixing up the schedule 40 stuff when they have it at all with the non-pressure rated stuff.