Id love to make more potato cannons but my main issue is exactly this. I have no idea what the pressures are, what materials would work, etc. It's all folklore and bravery
Not really.. you can find standard ratings for pipes all over the place. I just ran air lines in my garage and it was fairly simple for me to get online and see that I needed type m copper based on the pressure I'm at. Wasn't cheap, but neither is aluminum pipe and now i have a nice reel in the center of the garage. There's a bit more to calculating the pressure when exploding hairspray in an enclosed vessel, but I'd be willing to bet just as easy information to find.
I worked in a PCB shop that had a network of 1 1/2" PVC pipe for compressed air. When Tees failed we would lose production for the remainder of the day. We finally replaced the entire network with type M copper.
Well there's two of many possible outcomes, which are covered under your "depending on the circumstances", which make your comment universally true, and therefore not so informative:
1. We strengthen the pressure vessel enough so that it gives way at higher pressure, making a "stronger bomb"
2. We strengthen the pressure vessel enough so that it doesn't give way, making it not a bomb at all.
It's not at all clear if the duct tape will do 1 or 2 or something else, and this first-order logic / first-impressions design doesn't smell to me like a rigorous solution.
So I'm aware that wrapping a pressure vessel in tape has the possibility of making things worse.
I thought, for safety reasons, it was worth replying to the comment suggesting to wrap "a ton of" tape around it. At the time I replied there were no other replies.
Not trying to win a debate with you. Just trying to share that it could be a bad idea. Rather than just assuming that making the shards less sharp or fragmented was the only possible outcome.
