Last month, we posted a story about a man with the username NSA_lisbot who put together a portable DIY Railgun that fires 1050V and 1.8kJ of enegy to propel its projectile using 3D printing. But this time, though not exactly a very portable DIY Gun, YouTube user Ziggy Zee, built his own and much powerful Railgun, a crude contraption as compared to the one made by NSA_lisbot, as it was done without the aid of 3D printing. Still it is an impressive creation that of course entailed a lot of creativity, and draining of his bank account.

The build is impressive as this DIY Railgun is a big 27,000 joule gun that comes in two parts: 1) a 50-pound barrel with the firing mechanism; 2) a 200-pound bank of 56 400-volt, 6000-microfarad capacitors.  It is a two-year project according to Ziggy Zee as it took time to acquire 56 capacitors capacitor  with two more capacitors were purchased to serve as backup. The total cost was $2,600.

He describes his project as "This is the most powerful mobile electromagnetic railgun built by a non-government." Indeed so far, the development of railguns was seen to be exclusive realm of the military and academic research groups with massive budgets. But with this development, Railgun development is now officially a realm of civilian hobbyists. In a way, this is a beneficial for a military which usually goes into massive budget overruns over weapons projects, and such research from the civilian sector, even if done by hobbyists, can be helpful in bringing the costs down.

Not really being a techie writer, I'd rather have Ziggy Zee explain this, as he posts on Imgur.com:

This railgun operates with a pre-accelerator. The trigger is pulled and CO2 accelerates the projectile to approximately 50 mph (not very fast).

The aluminum projectile enters two parallel, copper rails. After contact, the aluminum melts and provides excellent contact and lubricity. Without electricity, the rails have enough friction to stop the projectile from leaving.

The current flows in a C-shape through the device. This C-shape produces outward force in all directions, like water flowing through a bent rubber hose. Because the rails are held firm, the projectile experiences an forward force.

What Ziggy Zee and friends have created is a home-made Railgun that really packs a punch. If what has been the stuff of science fiction and military research is readily built by civilians (though we won't recommend that you try this at home), this means that we shall be seeing even more portable and energy efficient rail guns available in the future.

Here are more videos of the DIY Railgun: