Alcohol Launcher
Alcohol has an AFR of about 8. Air is 1.19g/L, Isopropyl is 785.4g/L. So for 1L of air, we need 0.15g Isopropyl, or .2ml???
Let's try from the chemistry...
- 2 C3H8O + 9 O2 -> 6 CO2 + 8 H2O
- air is 21% O2
bah... don't want to do the molar math.
This is a pretty good resource, they cite 0.241ml per 100in^3. 100in^3 = 1.63L, which is actually just a little less than the .2ml, so we'll stick right in there.
In comparison to black powder: IA has 24kj/g, BP has 3kj/g. 15.4grain = 1g, 9mm = 5grain = 1/3g. The equivalent IA would be 1/24g or .042ml. That would require 1/3L of air. A 45 would be up to 10gr, so .08ml Alcohol and 2/3L air.
V0.1 Design
Need to start with something simple-ish, but promising. I think bolt action carbine with manual steps to fill the chamber.
We'll go for a 1/2L chamber made from metal pipe.
I'm still a little fuzzy on the bolt action because it needs to retract from center, to bring a round up, push the round forward past center, then re-center. For this version, I'll probably just do that manually - the bolt will be an upside down T rather than an L.
The fill mechanism will also be fairly manual. Need one action to clear the chamber and another to fill with fuel. Filling will be done with a screw, syringe and nozzle. The nozzle will form a spray. A single turn of the screw will load the .06ml.
I'll fire the pellet rounds I already have.
To make the barrel, I'll get a long drill bit that's about the right size. I'll start with a solid steel rod and drill out the barrel. Then I need to make a manual rifle jig.
Pistol
Something based off this. Chamber will be in the handle, rounds will load shotgun style. It will need to be cocked after ever shot (with a slide).
The trigger will actually be more like a spring gun or crossbow. It releases a cocked spring. That spring pumps fuel into the chamber and causes a spark. I need to check the best way to cause a spark - classic grill sparker could work, but it also might be interesting to push a magnet through a coil and then run that through a small transformer.
Rifle
Most of the mechanisms will sit right behind the handle and trigger and the chamber will be in the butt. This will have the classic recoil mechanism - when the gun fires, some of the energy is used to push the slider back which cocks the rifle, and on the return, loads the next round. This will have long narrow rounds with a more pronounced flange. Chamber will be around 1.5L.