The first quarter of my freshman year at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (fall 1996) had me taking an Engineering Graphics course (CAD). I decided for the big project I'd take on the internal mechanics of the Gauss cannon from D2:
My conceptualization involved a central rotor that meshed with a gear turned by the ship, which scooped in the rounds fed in from above. Once fully loaded, a \"firing piston\", also powered by the ship in a reciprocal motion, would strike all 8 rounds at once. As the next central rotation commenced, two wheels would grab the spent shells and propel them out the side opposite where the new ones come in. I realized later I could probably take advantage of recoil, and it could have used some ball bearings, and I never got around to the outer housing, but after working on it for 60 hours and having 4 other classes, I could only finish so much.
I kept the manufacturing process in mind, knowing that once each part was made, it would have to be assembled some way, and the exploded view reflects how the parts would fit together:
Some firing piston specs. Dimensions are in millimeters:
Gears were a challenge. Done right, there's 4 concentric circles and 8 arcs involved in drawing each tooth. In the second shot below, you can see the purple gear meshing perfectly with one of the blue gears:
The housing for the \"dumping wheel\" gear drives:
And of course, some ammunition close-ups for good measure:
I got an A in the class. I have Kubotek Spectrum Lite 9.0 to thank for helping me resurrect these 13-year-old PRT files. Hope you enjoyed them!
My old Gauss cannon CAD project
Moderators: MetalBeast, Capm
Re:
No. Lend it to me.Gekko71 wrote:If you ever get a working proptype up and running - please post footage!!
Amazing drawings!
I see one problem.
A guass round doesn't need a shell housing. Explosive charges are not used in gauss mechanics; only magnetics.
While a carriage delivery cylinder might be used, it would not have a lip on the back end as do standard shell cartridges.
What version of CAD was that done on? Very nicely done!
A guass round doesn't need a shell housing. Explosive charges are not used in gauss mechanics; only magnetics.
While a carriage delivery cylinder might be used, it would not have a lip on the back end as do standard shell cartridges.
What version of CAD was that done on? Very nicely done!
Yeah, I certainly wasn't any kind of weapons expert when I was 18 I didn't even form the relationship between \"gauss\" and magnetics. Perhaps the fact that the same ammo is used in the Gauss and Vulcan cannons kept me in my thinking. But maybe I'm wrong about how the Vulcan might work too?
Oh well, it made for a great assignment at any rate. It was done on CadKey 7. Thanks for all the compliments, everyone!
Oh well, it made for a great assignment at any rate. It was done on CadKey 7. Thanks for all the compliments, everyone!
The vulcan is a 30.6 gatlin gun. It was used extensively in VietNam. It was typically a mounted gun.
Vulcan Gun in action.
There is also a M60 being shot. It's important to note that after being shot like this, you would need to swap out the barrel if you wanted ANY kind of accuracy. ..after it cooled a bet that is.
Still for 18 Sed, that's an awesome job!
P.S.: HERE is a 3D rendering of a Gatlin's internals at work.
(just happened across this!)
Vulcan Gun in action.
There is also a M60 being shot. It's important to note that after being shot like this, you would need to swap out the barrel if you wanted ANY kind of accuracy. ..after it cooled a bet that is.
Still for 18 Sed, that's an awesome job!
P.S.: HERE is a 3D rendering of a Gatlin's internals at work.
(just happened across this!)