Ideas for cannon ball extraction?

[Jstpssng]

Pete's sake?

He's the importer of Japanese rice wine.



Bruce

Wrong thread. Didn't you mean to post this in the "Groan" thread?

 

[airbiscuit]

Lots of interesting ideas!!!
....
Still.... I appreciate the thoughts. Rest assured....one way or another the ball WILL be out at some point. It's just that my first priority is to not destroy it during process if at all possible. If not, then the job becomes much easier because I can drill into it but, don't really want to.

......

So, I've got a wood boring bit (the kind that pulls itself into the wood) Milwaukee 1/2" right angle drill and an extension that just happens to let all this work.

Hmmm...can the pointed bit 'catch' the ball? YEP! Can it drill into it and can the auger part drill into it? YEP!! Now I'm getting excited.

The ball at one point, rotated WITH the bit. So the ball was rotating in the bore. I'm feeling this is good as it's not bound. So I start pulling the bit out. I get shavings crawling up the extension then bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and nothing, no force against the torque... it's like the bit snapped?

Nope.

Turns out the bolt that holds the chuck on, snapped so the drill was moving but the chuck wasn't.

The ball is still stuck in the bore BUT it's much closer to the exit. It's gotta be close enough that once I get this chuck fixed, I'll probably be able to finish the hole and then I'm thinking take a sawzall to weaken it up and possibly cut it into quarters or maybe half.

We'll see but tomorrow, I have to order the bolt to fix this (happens to be a left handed thread to boot)

@airbiscuit , if a breech is an opening BEHIND the ball, I think this would be called a muzzle loader (??) There's one (big) hole in/out where you load things, and a small ignition hole in the back. There are pictures on the first thread that might illustrate all this.

View attachment 750891
View attachment 750892
View attachment 750893

View attachment 750894

The OP dances to his own music. Says he doesn't want to drill into the ball, then drills into the ball. Says the bore is crusty, but only kinda cleans it (a 2 1/2"flap wheel mounted on an extension would make that bore clean and shiny). Use any 80 weight oil to lubricate the bore or help seal the ball if pushing with air blown through the touch hole - NOPE. Several posters have made suggestions that would have gotten the job done by now, but the OP is dancing to his own music and ordering black powder.

I believe he will get it out. To paraphrase Frank Sinatra "He'll do it his way"

 

[Richard]

Several posters have made suggestions that would have gotten the job done by now

We'll just have to agree to disagree.... then again, maybe you've been stopping by to look for yourself so you know all the facts first hand....could be I suppose.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

I'm just waiting to hear the outcome! Lots of stupid ways (possibly dangerous), to some really good ideas.

 

[bcp]

Air hose to the touch-hole.

Bruce

 

[airbiscuit]

A cannon worm was used to do the job back in the day. Civil war reenactors May be worth reaching out to.

Unless you are sure there is no powder behind the ball, this could be a risky job.

This was post #12

AC0830 Cannon Worm

Cannon worms were iron implements shaped like double corkscrews, attached to the end of a stave and used to withdraw unfired cartridges, rags or other debris from the bore of the cannon. Outside diameter is 2". Perfect for swabbing the bore and to unload when a shot misfires. Attach to any...

www.dixiegunworks.com

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Do not use modern powder, or any other FAST PROPELLANT (either, gas, starting fluid) in that cannon.

The pressure vessel that is the combustion chamber area of that cannon was not designed or made out of materials that will withstand that higher pressure.

You are going to burst the back half of that cannon.

Putting the can of either back on the shelf was an act of God, telling you not to be stupid.

Sorry for putting it bluntly, but you are going to screw around and blow that thing up. Then you're sitting there dealing with the aftermath of a very large shrapnel grenade.

I don't know how else to get through to you. DO NOT think of this "cannon" as anything close to a modern arm, made with modern methods and material. It is not. Folks are going to get hurt and that cannon is going to get destroyed. The guy "selling powder" probably has little to no experience with black powder guns and cannons. You put modern gunpowder in that, and it's all over but the 911 call.

 

[fidowanttobe]

We used a vibrating compactor on a half sheet of plywood setting on 4 old tires to vibrate very compacted mud from a chain from a rockrake. Looong story but it worked.
Seeing that process I would try it on that cannon nose down with a clean barrel.

 

[scaredychicken]

Nope! Between work, helping wife finish new mudroom, other issues, I have little time to work on this. Then when I was getting progress, that stupid little chuck holding bolt, broke.

Anyway, today I jumped on the phone between work calls. Found a local place, about 12 miles away that has.......gunpowder! He said he's never shot a cannon so can't help with load size. Doesn't have fuse so I still have to figure that out (I have a roll of fuse, but haven't tested it to see if it still works, I expect it will work fine though)
.
Said he's got gunpowder in 1-pound "bottles". I'll be by there tomorrow but not sure I'll be by prior to them closing.

The screw to hold the chuck on was ordered yesterday so I expect it will be here soon and I can continue chipping away at my challenge.

Oh, and as luck would have it.... the local Sheriff called me this morning! (I help with their retirement pension). So I took that opportunity to let him know what I'm up to, are there any legal issues (no). He did mention that "someone" will probably call it in to them (there is a retirement community across the lake) so I shouldn't be surprised if an officer shows up. I said that was fine as long as it wasn't anyone in black helicopters repelling down towards me. He went on to say that he's got a neighbor that is "into this stuff" and might be able to not only help....BUT, he's a city-cop. Since I help THEM with their pensions as well, I said to feel free to give my contact info to him about this and if he wanted to be here or help, he'd be welcome to as much as he wanted.

ALSO, when I was talking to the store that has the powder, he said there are a handful of people "in this area" that have cannons and use them every now & then. Went on to say that people will GO TO SEE them fire their cannon. I find it hard to believe that anyone not immediate to my area would want to put the energy out to watch a cannon being fired, but hey, what do I know. I'm the bozo who's going through gymnastics trying to get it prepared to fire.

SAVE the "event" for the Fourth Of July, and with your built-in-security (Local Sheriff, City Cop), you'd have an audience ... and could probably sell popcorn.

Sounds like you are making progress - that 's great.

We have a pumpkin cannon fired up every autumn by the local farm market ... always draws a crowd

 

[Carl_NH]

Since you have a 2.2" bore why not use a 2" hole saw to reduce the outside diameter of the ball? Since it's lead it should remove pretty easily and not hurt the barrel of the cannon.