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Paintball Howitzer Barrel Assembly
Now let me say... What
a pain in the a$$! Man did this turn into a project. As it is a one of
a kind assembly, I had to design and make every piece. The rear loading aspect
was by far the most difficult.
The barrel.... It's 3
layers. The inside is 2" PVC. The outer layer is steel. In between is a
1/4" layer of fiberglass.
The expansion chamber is huge
on this thing, but not as big as it looks. It uses a similar setup as the barrel.
The chamber itself is inch and a half galvanized pipe about 30" long. The outer shell
is steel pipe. the space in between is fiberglass filled. Also added a gauge
to the chamber to help monitor pressure and gain consistency when shooting.
 
The back door. the first
one landed in the trash. It was ugly and didn't have the strength I
wanted. The "door" is the same layer pattern as the barrel. The center
part that sticks out is solid fiberglass. The back side that the handle
attaches to is solid brass. It makes contact to all three layers of the
barrel providing a great seal. It will also receive a large rubber O-ring
to complete the seal. The handle is a polished piece of solid aluminum rod
with a rubber grip. When the door closes you drop it down into the notch
in the 3/16" steel plate. The hinge on the right was un-drilled stainless
steel. I fastened it in place with 3 stainless bolts on each
site.
 
The Co2 comes in through a 1/4" pipe that is tapped into
the side of the expansion chamber. It is reduced down to a standard 1/8"
fitting and ready for a direct line to be screwed in. A spring attaches
from the 1/4" pipe to the handle on the 2" ball valve. This quickly closes
the valve after firing.
 
I added a T bar to the rear for easier firing.
Instead of having to turn the ball valve, you just pull straight back on
the handle.
Top view. This
thing is a beast. I have yet to do the final test firing, but I know it
will be able to launch shells some insane distances. About the only thing
I didn't cover is the assembly of the "box" that surrounds the internals.
It's mostly cosmetic. It's a plain galvanized box surrounding the
internals. This was also glassed on the inside to make it solid.I then
wrapped the outside of it with another layer of fiberglass mesh and put
the cosmetic layer of galvanized metal over it. I bent up the angle pieces
to add a bit of dimension to it. It's not perfect and actually got jacked
out of position a bit when it tipped during the drying process.
Why all the layers and all the damn fiberglass? You'd
have to pick the thing up. It's solid. It feels awesome. It doesn't shift,
clunk, clang and the layers should quiet some of the operation.
Also, you can
easily fasten anything you want to any part of the asssembly including the
barrel (just make sure the screws don't tap through the PVC). I made the
"box" solid to keep it from denting easily, and also with the idea that he
could mount things on it like a tank holder on the left and something else
on the right like a set of shell carrier tubes.
In the end it was painted camo green.
I don't have any pictures of it at the end nor will I go into the details
of it's final destination. I can say I did field test it (not in
a game) and it was obscene. It could launch 16oz shells further
than you could track. To this day I still believe this was
grossly overpowered and should never be duplicated for use in a
paintball game. Maybe a potato cannon contest or something but nothing
with real people at the receiving end.
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