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Handheld Coilgun Schematic My handheld coilgun will be a much more compact, portable weapon than my home-scale model. It will fire 30mm x 2mm diameter projectiles, and will store about 100 joules in 12 photoflash capacitors. My heavy-duty flash charger blew itself up on the large load, so I've ordered a few CCFT inverters which I will rectify and feed into the caps. The coil, firing tube, and trigger switch will be mounted on a gun-like handle, while the capacitors and charger will be in a pocket-sized module with a belt-clip. I used the same carbon fiber tubing here as I did for my larger model. The coil is made from 24 AWG wire that I took from an old transformer. It had a red sticky adhesive on it that really aided in making tight turns. It is five layers thick and 30mm long. I'm not sure how, but I'll be mounting it on a plastic handle. The projectile will load from the back and project 8.5mm into the coil (the measured optimum on Barry's site, but I can adjust it for my optimum). I'm guessing that the maximum speed I'll be able to get with a fine-tuned power source is 30 m/sec, but that's enough for me. I'm using a CCFT (fluorescent light) inverter that will step 3 volts up to around 300/330 which will charge the capacitors when rectified. A neon lamp will tell me when they are fully charged. As with the home-scaler, I have some steps in this coilgun: Charger Test: Can charge all 12 caps and discharge them through the coil without damage to the charger - Failed Secondary Trigger Test: If above fails (blows out the SCR) but still charges, it can discharge the coil through the caps directly - Failed Coil Test: Can fire the projectile successfully - Not Done Switch Test: Can use a light switch to fire at 10 m/sec or greater - Not Done SCR Switch: Can use an SCR to fire at 10 m/sec or greater - Not Done SCR Optimization: Can use an SCR to fire at 20 m/sec or greater - Not Done Full Power: Can fire at 25 m/sec or greater - Not Done My first tests with charging the capacitor bank destroyed the camera charger. As soon as my inverters arrive I will continue with disassembled firing, but I need to get a good SCR in order to make it truly portable. I might have to turn it into a rifle design to make it all fit convieniently, but with the small size of my bank it may be possible to fit even up to 500 joules without having to change my model. Progress: Able to fire - Only from rectified main line (170VDC) Able to knock over a can - Not Done Able to puncture a can and stick - Not Done Able to puncture a can straight through and knock it over - Not Done Able to puncture a can without knocking it over - Not Done Able to stick into a piece of wood - Not Done Able to blast right through a piece of wood - Not Gonna Happen