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
Battery Pistol
This may be a better starting point. Instead of doing everything mechanically, do it electronically. It would be nice to have light/laser anyway.
On trigger pull:
- Pump fuel
- spark
- wait (~100ms)
- cycle air & load round
Need to take loading a clip into consideration