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When I was an Electronics Tech (civilian - nothing to do with military) we had spray cans of freon that we used to test for intermittent components. They had a tube on them like a can of WD40 or BreakFree. We also had plastic end caps intended for small screws that fit perfectly over the tube and were the same color as the tube. I would leave the can sitting on my bench with a screw cap on the end, aimed toward the aisle. At casual glance you'd never notice it was "loaded". When my intended victim wandered into the line of fire, I would tap the top of the can and continue about my business. We all wore safety glasses anyway, so what could go wrong? Once a couple of people caught on it was like the Wild West in there for a few days. Then all of the end caps mysteriously disappeared. :) I don't think we ever ran out of juvenile pranks to pull on each other. Good times.
So did ya ever charge up a capacitor on somebodies bench and leave it to be picked up? A favorite of mine.
 
So did ya ever charge up a capacitor on somebodies bench and leave it to be picked up? A favorite of mine.
When I was in the Navy at Subase Pearl I worked in the AUW shop calibrating and repairing torpedo test equipment. People kept wandering into my shop and disturbing stuff, so I built a "Remote Manic Depressor", a utility box with a thumb switch and a foot long antenna. Inside the box was a large capacitor that I would charge up with a megger (~500V). One side of the capacitor was grounded to the box. The other side went through the switch to the metal pushbutton cap. When you pressed the switch with your thumb your hand completed the circuit. It got thrown across the shop a lot. :)
 
Image result for potato gun shooting french fries
 
The sweet Jessica shows how to operate the Spudgun
Sweet!

Same here. Saw one go through a hollow core door at close range. Talk about some kids scrambling for an answer as to what the hell happened! :eek:
I can remember several times in my youth when the wheels were turning pretty hard to come up with something, anything believable, other than the truth. I remember the Old Man laughing at me one time. Must have been a little obvious.

So did ya ever charge up a capacitor on somebodies bench and leave it to be picked up? A favorite of mine.
In Procurement there was a giant barrel of caps in a size that we used a lot. Some smart-aleck decided to charge a bunch of them and mix them into the top few inches. Said barrel was promptly marked "Self Service" with a clipboard for you to note quantity and project number. :rolleyes:

When I was in the Navy at Subase Pearl I worked in the AUW shop calibrating and repairing torpedo test equipment. People kept wandering into my shop and disturbing stuff, so I built a "Remote Manic Depressor", a utility box with a thumb switch and a foot long antenna. Inside the box was a large capacitor that I would charge up with a megger (~500V). One side of the capacitor was grounded to the box. The other side went through the switch to the metal pushbutton cap. When you pressed the switch with your thumb your hand completed the circuit. It got thrown across the shop a lot. :)
We would unscrew the fuse to a person's Variac (variable transformer) and then switch it on. You'd be surprised how many people would reinsert the fuse without switching the unit off first. :) Or try anyway. :D

EDIT: Damnit, should have said "shocked".
 
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When I was on a carrier, we had to test a lot of gear with a megger to satisfy regs. We'd get new guys in, and I'd grab the megger leads and have someone else turn the crank, and act like I was getting shocked, then offer the leads to the new guy to try. Never had any takers, for some reason...
 
When I was on a carrier, we had to test a lot of gear with a megger to satisfy regs. We'd get new guys in, and I'd grab the megger leads and have someone else turn the crank, and act like I was getting shocked, then offer the leads to the new guy to try. Never had any takers, for some reason...
I own a megger . Occasionally I'll have someone hold the leads and give them a good jolt. I have such a lively sense of humor.
 
All I could find was black pipe and black powder as a kid. .for some reason there was a spool of cannon fuse lying around too. . I feel robbed that I never had a spud gun.

We had a guy at work once that built a film canister cannon for his desk that used a BBQ grill igniter button and hairspray. Had a program written on his pc to set off an actuator to fire it. He was good until I broke into the program and started firing it when he was not expecting. lol
 
All I could find was black pipe and black powder as a kid. .for some reason there was a spool of cannon fuse lying around too. . I feel robbed that I never had a spud gun.

We had a guy at work once that built a film canister cannon for his desk that used a BBQ grill igniter button and hairspray. Had a program written on his pc to set off an actuator to fire it. He was good until I broke into the program and started firing it when he was not expecting. lol
I feel the pain. I had to make my own black powder and use estes rocket ignitors but broken christmas tree bulbs worked in a pinch.
 
Night time spudgun action.
What fun would a spudgun be at night, you ask ?

Here's how you do it...
Get a luminous light stick. The higher grade emergency light type work best if you can find them.
Fully activate the light stick.
Cut the top off of the light stick so it is open on top.

With your spudgun fully charged, pour 1/4 to 1/3 of the luminous juice down the muzzle and on top of the charged spud.
Now ler 'er rip into the night sky and enjoy !!!
 
I may or may not have heard a tennis ball charged with black powder and cannon fuse from a spud gun is an epic night of fun! The trick I heard was to duct tape the fuse to the ball leaving only the last 1/4 inch exposed, charge and trigger! I heard one of two things will happen, it will go off in flight once the fuse burns the full length, or, it will blow on impact when the body of the ball crushes, something sort of like a shaped charge going off, all that energy in one small space and a lit fuse! :s0155:
I may have heard that ping pong balls so charged can also be used, and I hear they can lift a storm grate when rolled into one! ;)
 
I may or may not have heard a tennis ball charged with black powder and cannon fuse from a spud gun is an epic night of fun! The trick I heard was to duct tape the fuse to the ball leaving only the last 1/4 inch exposed, charge and trigger! I heard one of two things will happen, it will go off in flight once the fuse burns the full length, or, it will blow on impact when the body of the ball crushes, something sort of like a shaped charge going off, all that energy in one small space and a lit fuse! :s0155:
I may have heard that ping pong balls so charged can also be used, and I hear they can lift a storm grate when rolled into one! ;)

I can neither confirm nor deny that information. :rolleyes:
 
Ive also heard you can trade beer from the brewery you worked at for Potassium chlorate and 400 mesh aluminum from the chemical supply guy and then make said tennis balls wrapped with duct tape and set them off at the beach at 5 AM and wake the entire town up.

Then feel bad when the chemical guy gets fired for trading potassium chlorate and powdered aluminum for said beer.

Or so Ive heard.
 

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