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A 27-inch conical barrel is attached to the breach and mounted on the
rotating carriage atop an 8 inch high hexagonal base made of 1/2" MDF.
The barrel was made from four conic sections cut from poster board and
taped together. By using three layers of poster board, the cones were
easy to shape, yet sturdy enough to maintain that shape. A PVC tube
was used as the center of the barrel, with 1/2" MDF rings used as spacers
between the inner tube and outer barrel. The marker barrel fits inside
of the PVC center tube. The barrel was wrapped with a layer of fiberglass
cloth and carbon fiber cloth (had some laying around the shop from a previous
project), bonded with epoxy ... very strong!! The base sits on top of
three adjustable feet made from 3/8" bolts that screw into blind nuts and are
held in place by wing-nuts. This allows the gun to be leveled on any
terrain.
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A large geared motor available from the Surplus Center (www.surpluscenter.com)
is used to rotate the 20" diameter turntable. The 4 bolts on top are
used to attach the turntable to the motor, while the 5 holes in the outer
flange are used to attach the motor to the base. A 1/2" hole through the
motor housing allows the elevate and trigger controls to be passed up to the
gun while allowing 360 degree rotation. At 6 volts, the rotate is slow, but
accurate, allowing the operator to "step" the gun in 1 degree increments.
The combination of heavy-duty motor and slow rotation gives the large gun
an impressive motion and sound.
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A simple box is used to control rotation, elevation and firing via a
10 foot tether connected to the base of the gun. The base holds the motor and
trigger batteries, as well as all of the wiring blocks. The control
box uses a standard arcade 8-way joystick to control rotation
and elevation at the same time. A large arcade pushbutton
serves as the fire control button. With the addition of a couple of
simple labels, the controls should be easily understood by anyone and
extremely durable.
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March 2005:
Navarone One is prepped and ready to go for a weekend on
the firing range at the
Danville Museum Spring Military Extravaganza.
Spectators would control rotation and elevation as
they attempted to hit 6 targets and avoid an ambulance. Over 2,500
rounds would be fired without a failure ... a good first outing for
the naval gun.
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