I really like physics as an subject and there is couple irrational things related to stuff like gyroscopes etc. that I could feature on the channel if you are interested on bit more scientific stuff also. But I promise to make videos still stupid and smash some shit up in the process if I do stuff like that :D

@kevinhart4real

6 жыл бұрын

I think you could use science to predict the result of an experiment, and use your machines to carry out the experiment to see if your prediction is right. Love your videos 💙 :D

@timorus8090

6 жыл бұрын

Oh, please do both. I like physics and applying it to the world and other disciplines and watching others do the same. I also like watching stupid videos and seeing shit get smashed, launched, blown up, immersed, cut, rearranged, and however else you want to play with stuff.

@vezokpiraka

6 жыл бұрын

Yes. I love the fact that you include physics calculations in your video to actually put in perspective everything you do. I'd watch anything physics related.

@idgaf5252

6 жыл бұрын

Yes more physics for sure. Also I would like to see smashinator 10,000,000 with smaller diameter cylinder and much longer cylinder so you can get more speed to destroy stuff and make sparks

@wich1

6 жыл бұрын

Beyond the press yes, yes, more cool physics

The high-speed camera took a bow. Yeah, I figured all those considerations were covered while making the Smashinator. Lauri is a very smart guy.

KSP music, this is the best channel on YT!

@matgee8892

6 жыл бұрын

I cannot thank you enough for posting this. Its 6am here and i just know it was going to drive me crazy all day trying to remember where i had heard that music before!

@therealryan55

6 жыл бұрын

I have listened to this for too many hours, I love it!

@ToddFraud

6 жыл бұрын

Omg like Mat said, it was driving me nuts that I couldn't think of where that was from

@JohnnyKronaz

6 жыл бұрын

It's actually some stock music that quite a few things have used, including KSP.

This machine should be featured in a mouse trap Mondays episode

@-danR

6 жыл бұрын

"Give it a little flip...well, folks, this time we'll need a little hamburger flipper for that..."

The fact it jumps doesn't matter, because if the piston can move 50m/s for example, when bolted down. And if the machine jumps 10m/s up, and piston only goes 40m/s, its the same energy. The bottle still gets smashed at 50m/s. This is basically newtons laws here. Love the channel! ☺

Nice combination of science and smashing the living shit out of stuff :D

@Beyondthepress

6 жыл бұрын

Many mutch You Friendsly that describes the whole channel pretty well :D

Another thing that maybe adds speed, I’m working in pneumatic’s and rule off thumb is that an angled pipe can reduce flow up to 30%. So try to let the hose and valve get straight from the top!

@mossyhollow3732

6 жыл бұрын

Tom Wesstein Is that due to the turbulence and and maybe some added friction?

@DMSparky

6 жыл бұрын

Tom Wesstein I was just going to suggest the same thing!

@koensmelt

6 жыл бұрын

Angled pieces will induce pressure drop. This pressure drop is proportional to the flow rate. However the flowrate is almost zero when the filling the cylinder right?

@PSUQDPICHQIEIWC

6 жыл бұрын

Koen: Flow rate is almost zero? Either you're talking about the external tank, or you misunderstand how this is configured. The flow through the ball valve and the elbow in question occurs only during firing. The velocity would be significant enough to warrant consideration of flow coefficients as you describe. If this were configured with an integral receiver and pilot-operated valve as some air cannon are, then you would be right.

@Tomwesstein

6 жыл бұрын

Exactly, the more laminar the flow is, the less resitance it undergoes and the higher the flowrate will be.

I don' think the smashinator don't lose power. It is right that the absolute speed of the piston is slower but if the smashinator jumps the place where you put the stuff on moves upward so the speed between the piston and smashinator is always the same.

@Beyondthepress

6 жыл бұрын

The combined speed is lower on situation where machine jumps since the acceleration of machine is much lower than the piston's acceleration. But because of the things mentioned on video the difference is too small to make any difference.

@joschi1818

6 жыл бұрын

Beyond the press thats exactly what i thaught a second ago. But the energy put into the smashinator is always the same and the amount energy that is converted into heat and other things is also the same. the energy to smash stuff has also to be the same. Thats because at the same speed the smashinator would have a greater amount of energy than the piston. So the speed is lower but the energy is the same. I think now I am right.

@superancient

6 жыл бұрын

That is correct. Frame and piston form an isolated system and only their relative speeds matter. If smashinator was in space, there would be no jumping ('cause there is no ground :D), but the end result would still be same.

@sthenzel

6 жыл бұрын

I would like to see the relative speed (piston to frame) compared between: -frame not held down at all -strapped down first version -strapped down with additional weights as shown -rigidly bolted down I guess we may be in for a surprise.

@joschi1818

6 жыл бұрын

sthenzel the difference is so tiny. It would be extrem hard to messure that high speed precisely

Also if you didn't have any recoil from the machine by bolting it to the ground or something the energy would have to go somewhere else and would probably cause damage to the Smashinator itself. Maybe not immediately but its lifespan would defo be reduced.

@acidhelm

6 жыл бұрын

That was my thought, too. Just because something doesn't move, doesn't mean there is no force acting on it.

@Darelumga

6 жыл бұрын

This is the best comment I read so far!

@larryscott3982

6 жыл бұрын

Doreen Green I think the recoil has zero affect. The crush pressure is the total speed and mass of the piston and base. It’s how fast the piston hits the base. If the the base is moving up then it’s speed and mass are still in the equation.

I am not totally sure about the title :D Is it good English or should I change it?

@pyry1738

6 жыл бұрын

It's perfect. Rallienglanti ftw!

@mrpurple2306

6 жыл бұрын

is gud enough for me!

@MeowThingy

6 жыл бұрын

You used the wrong word. It's "its" not "it's".

@RichardCox0

6 жыл бұрын

“ It’s ” is an abbreviation of “ it is “ You probably mean “ its “

@timorus8090

6 жыл бұрын

I was a delinquent in school, so my teachers didn't scar me into critiquing language by reflex. If I know where you're going, I'll cover the rest of the distance and that's good enough for me. Not "Oh no! The world will forever be imperfect if I don't correct this imperfection!" Though since you asked, I concur with the above corrections.

So, due to energy conservation, i don't think your going to see a change in piston speed at all, even if you bolted the frame down. As it is, the impact force is the same as it was with less weight because you really just increased the momentum of the frame assembly. The piston is only working against atmospheric air pressure, which doesn't change. As air is compressible, to make a meaningful change in piston velocity, without changing the weight, you either need higher total pressure or you need to increase rate of pressure at the start of the piston travel. As The piston moves down beyond probably 2x the diameter of the inlet, the rate of volume expansion in the cylinder is going to start outpacing the rate that the air can get in. You cover pretty much this at the end of the video (higher pressure/larger nozzle).

@Beyondthepress

6 жыл бұрын

Yep and since there is that 80cm distance for force to do work it doesn't matter which part is going to move how much. The work done is the same. Maybe the work done to accelerate the piston will result bigger splash since it results higher impact speed but the differences are so small that they won't make any difference.

@tartarosnemesis6227

6 жыл бұрын

Maybe next time you put a length scale to the ground plate. So you can measure the speed of the Piston relative to the ground plate. Then you can really tell if energy is lost when the whole machine jumps. 🤓

@jackpotvmc

6 жыл бұрын

Tartaros Nemesis not in the speed of the piston but in the impact of hitting an immovable object like the ground

@personguy5536

6 жыл бұрын

...yeah me too

@user255

6 жыл бұрын

The only difference between bolted down vs jumping comes from the energy wasted for lifting the Smashinator up. That offers easy way to calculate the difference. Max lift height times the weight times gravity gives you the energy as potential energy.

Please smash a brick. Or one of those big restaurant-sized cans of beans.

You should put fabric paint in a bottle and hang 10 white tshirts on the ply wood . The explosion would make cool merchandise. And look like Anna's pants 😂 love you guys keep up the good work . Ps I want a free tshirt . Please

"After 3 Smashies" sounds both cute and awesome at the same time! LOL! "HULK SMASHY!!!!"

The black and white high speed footage has a vintage 50's classified test film feel to it. Love it!

This is exactly the kind of experiment I wanted to see. I think the most fascinating thing about this is just how insanely powerful this machine is, that platform weighed over half a ton and it still lifted it off the ground like that.

The last bottle at 28500fps was freaking badass. Love what do, keep it coming

The ratchet-strap-destroyer-5000000 ;-) I'm still amazed at how much that large water bottle stretches and deforms before finally splitting!

This is madness! Look at the frame and tube stretching and contracting after the impact... Such power, Wow

Your accent is just the icing on the cake for me. I LOVE these channels!!!!!

Energy is always conserved. You have a hammer hitting an anvil by pulling them together. Changing the weight of the anvil slows it down but it's hitting the hammer with more mass so more inertia. As for the tank size thing, your limiting factor is the flow rate restriction of the diameter of the hose. All that air from the larger tank just can't get to the cylinder fast enough to make a difference.

If you want more velocity you must get the air into the top of the cylinder quicker. To do this you mount an air receiver above, or beside the driving cylinder with the largest valve you can get between them. Then when you open then valve the pressure will equalise on top of the cylinder and this will overcome the inertia of the piston. Clearly the pressure in the receiver and in the cylinder will fall as the combined volume increases while the piston descends. The air should enter the cylinder in the center of the top of the cylinder for the best results. You and Annie have a great show, keep up the good work.

To increase the power some possible ideas: - Bigger diameter valve and hose -> air can get much quicker from the tank to the piston. - Ridgid pipe instead of flexible hose -> hose will stretch out under pressure and act like a spring that absorbs energy. - Shorter pipe between tank and S5M. -> no pressure drop because of pipe length. Ideal setup would be big tank next to the machine connected with a steel pipe. Valve and pipe at least diameter of piston. Valve opening at lightspeed.

The problem with this test is you have only changed how the recoil energy is stored. In the first test, it is "stored" by lifting the press. In the second test it is stored in a combination of elastic tension/compression and by lifting the press. Think of the top of the press as a spring between two weights. We know F=ma and we know the forces on either end of the spring are equal. So 27kg*a(pistion)=100kg*a(frame). Velocity (V) is the integral of acceleration (a) from 0 to some time t. We know Velocity (piston) 23.2 m/s. a(frame)=(27/100)* a(pistion) so Vframe = 6.264m/s. KE=.5mv**2 so there are 1961.8 joules of energy in the motion of the frame and 7266.2 in the piston. So you are "loosing" 27% of the energy. I think you have shown this energy isn't easily recoverable but your analysis is wrong. With no energy being stored in the frame you would expect to see a 26m/s piston.

"Science, like me talking some complicated stuff with broken English", that made me laugh, love ya man

I was wondering about this problem. Thank you for showing the science! I am not worried now. :D

Thank you for pointing out this video in another post I made. Now I understand more about why there's no point bolting it down and the way you explained was perfect. Ps, your right about Anni being beautiful.

As other people have mentioned, it really doesn't matter because the frame and piston form a closed system, meaning that regardless of their individual speeds, the relative speed between the piston and the plate will always be the same

"The physics was right, the math was right and I was right!" That should be on one of your T shirts

I like your research and that you are also discussing physics behind. As shown, trying to avoid jumping by fastening the smashinator frame to the ground leads to high stress within the straps, as well to the bolts or welding if you would do so. So I would keep letting it jump to avoid to much stress to the frame and bolts. It looks safe enough.

Black and white shows definition better anyhow. When you are trying to restrain something that has so much energy transfer remember to try to make it stretch or cushion to reduce force incrementally, like the water principle of wearing stuff down slowly. Adding more time to the full stop over a greater distance and not opposing unstoppable force with immovable objects; it will always find or make a weak point. Think linear, circular or flexible; resistance and reactive

Second: Don't listen to general public so much. You are both amazing for the work you do and the videos you upload. If we lived a bit closer I'd totally buy you a weeks worth of food and drinks.

Amazing! Mega-Punch! - Love the great slow-mo cameras!

Your English is actually really good. I can understand everything you say.

Don't forget that the bottom of the machine also moves towards the projectile, adding in more energy. In this way, you can add the energy of the machine moving up to the equation. More energy is released when two objects hit each other that move towards each other instead of one being stationery and the other one moving.

HOLY SHEEET!!!! That has some serious force behind it! I like the combo of scientific explanation and the demonstrations. Wonder what that would do to an anvil?

Lauri you can science us in broken english anytime, another badass upload!

Cody's Lab did a good video on this with a homemade cannon. The cannon would shoot as well as the ball, and he showed the projectile velocity never slowed whether the cannon was stationary or not, and explained the science behind it pretty well.

Love the KSP music, especially in a physics video. Practically channeling Scott Manley

It just dawned on me... that first shot is spectacular, and it's only traveling 52 mph (for us gringos [thank you WolframAlpha]). Now think about the forces behind multi-ton vehicles at highway speeds 20+ mph greater than this, and your body in place of the water bottle. I have a new-found respect for my daily work commute. Damn.

I don't know if you ever seen these before, but in America there is a silly competition called Pumpkin chucking where you try to shoot/throw a pumpkin as far as possible. One class of device is pneumatic cannons. You should look into the techniques and setups they use. A tank directly above the piston with an electronic or spring-loaded valve that's the same diameter as the piston is the optimal setup. You'd go from nothing to the full pressure of the air with almost no flow restriction (to maintain the pressure for the full travel of the piston) in a very short amount of time. You'd get full pressure on the piston much more quickly and powerfully then anything possible using a cable attached to a manual ball or butterfly valve.

I believe that due to conservation of energy, any energy that is used lifting the rig up, is the same amount lost from the piston not moving down. The rig is heavier than the piston, so its upward movement puts the same amount of upwards smashing force into the object being smashed as the downward moving piston would if the rig were fixed to the ground. It's the same amount of energy either way (unless there's some trivial difference because of energy lost through heat, or air resistance).

Weld up a steel pallet out of square section tubing and steel plates, weld the Smashinator to it, then weld 3 vertical plates behind it as a blast shield, on the blast shield you can the add a measurement scale. To hold down the Smashinator, use your forklift pressing down on the Smashinator's frame

6:58 We have liftoff! 7:10 High delta-V maneuver completed successfully 7:11 Achieved stage separation of the nut and bolt stages. Jebediah would be proud!

It really doesn't matter if you bolt the machine down or not. Because the smashplate is also going up. If the smashplate was the ground you would loose energy. Improve on airflow would help, maybe 2 times a 45 degree angle, or a bigger radius in the pipe into the cilinder will help increase the speed. And 2 pipes will increase the speed hopefully more. Good luck with the experiments, it is fun to watch

It actually adds more energy as forces traveling in oposit directions increases the crushing power

I guess the tank size doesnt matter that much. The flow rate is key. The dynamic pressure in the hose is just so high that not anougth air can flow. So you are totaly rigth: Just add second hose for maximum awesomeness :-) Nice Vid! Thanks!

@yalgret

6 жыл бұрын

Erzgebirge erleben double the bore diameter = quadruple the force and therefore speed. However the airflow has to be more unrestricted (large inlet) to allow the greater volume if air to flow without increasing friction. Cylinder friction will also slow the speed but probably negligible at these forces if lubricated.

@yalgret

6 жыл бұрын

And reservoir tank size needs to be large enough for the job obviously so that the volume change does not effect the pressure, although most of the work is done at the start of the stroke

@Basement-Science

6 жыл бұрын

Ideally an air tank should be mounted directly above the piston and lead directly into a valve that has the same inner diameter as the piston. This valve should then be opened as fast as possible. But good luck finding such a big valve.

@simontay4851

6 жыл бұрын

He'd probably have to make the valve himself.

@larryscott3982

6 жыл бұрын

Erzgebirge erleben And the shortest possible hose of the largest possible diameter.

Think you're losing power because of the hose that fills it. Get an accumulator tank on top of the cylinder with a butterfly valve and fill that.

11:26 "because of the starps"

@smokeydoke100

6 жыл бұрын

I noticed that. He even writes with an accent. LOL

I like seeing the machine jump - it makes it all the more epic!

You should turn the smashinator 1000000 so that the piston goes upwards. It is easier to secure the object than the whole machine. Then the piston will fall back.

If anything is effected by the jump, its the moment of impact. When it jumps and isn't in contact with the ground, it maybe extends the moment of impact, the time it takes to transfer energy to the target, and makes the collision less brutal.

love Lauri's science chats, we need more, he's very smart and explains well even for his broken English lol. But honestly, I think adding the physics behind each stunt adds way more to the value of each video

The lofting of the apparatus and pallet relative to the piston doesn't affect the transmitted energy in any way as long as the strap that holds the pallet to the apparatus keeps said components in intimate contact with very limited stretch. Conservation of momentum assures this.

Hah! The KSP music in the black/white slomo is perfect.

Love that KSP theme on slo-mo's!

I suggest replacing the sacrificial shear pins with a spring loaded detent ball that sticks into the cylinder just a little bit that the piston will just push out of the way when there is enough pressure to make it move. By using different springs, you can control how much pressure it takes to release the piston. You would also eliminate the need to constantly print pins every time you want to use the thing.

The s2000 in the background 😍

The relevant energy of the parts here is their momentum. The correct equation here would be force x time, not distance. Because of the equal and opposite force here both parts gets the same momentum. There is a difference however, the gravitational acceleration. The Piston is "helped" slightly and the body fights against it. The reason that rifle doesn't kick you is because when your shoulder moves backwards it spreads out the delivery of the energy over time, lowering the actual force applied at any given moment.

cool video. I think that since the frame is moving up as the piston is moving down the energy loss is practically zero. Try mounting it onto some large springs and see if the up force can be increased.

AND, some of that force pushing the cylinder up is also accelerating the anvil toward the tool, so even all that moving the cylinder isn't lost. I'd suggest adding a wheel system and handles or some sort of framing to make moving the Smashinator 5,000,000 easier. Nice work.

There is no loss of energy when the press jumps because the important measurement is from the start of piston travel to the end of piston travel relative to the item being crushed. Therefore if piston travel is reduced by 5 cm it is compensated for by target travel toward the piston by 5 cm. NO NET LOSS.

Love that thing, but I think the limitations of the hoses is limiting things a lot, even with the shear pins. I'd suggest using a large diameter pipe as an air tank over the cylinder and setting up a coaxial valve for maximum airflow in minimum time, and if you make it hefty enough you can push things to higher pressure. Your existing valve would probably work great as a dump for actuating the coaxial valve, plus it's a good excuse to play with the lathe a bit more.

I was just playing KSP before I watched this video. For a few seconds I had to check to make sure it wasn't still running in the background.

Pretty sure it'd actually be the same total energy either way. With the gun example, the barrel doesn't impact the target, so any energy transferred to the barrel is lost. In this case, the cylinder and bed are coupled, so the bed just helps smash things into the cylinder when it accelerates upward. About the only thing I can think of that'd cause a loss in efficiency is air resistance because the bed has more surface area.

CERN is getting some competition!!

Think of the frame and piston as a tractor colliding with a race car, with an object between them. If the tractor is moving even 2mph, there will be more damage done to the object between them (and racecar) than if it was sitting still. Energy is energy, and all of the energy pushing the piston and frame towards each other is being applied to the bottle.

I don't think it's losing any energy at all (other than friction and such). The frame moving up is just pulling the impact surface TOWARD the piston face, so whatever is in between will get smashed with exactly the same power as if the frame were completely stationary.

I think the losses are even less, because the base is made to move up, and whether the machine is attached to the ground or now, the piston and bottom are striking each other at the same combined velocity. Like comparing 2 cars crashing head on when each is going 50km/h, or one car hitting a stopped car at 100km/h

Ok correct me if I am misinformed but. There should be litte to no lost energy. The "recoil" energy is being transferedto the frame which beings that energy up into the piston. If the piston was not connected to the bed, then the jump would bring the piston away from the target. Once there is a disconnect from the target and the "gun" then we should see a measurable loss which is larger than the total variations in just every othrr part of the system.

Glad to see that science agrees that the machine jumping doesn't affect the smashing and just makes everything look more awesome.

That S2000 though 😋😍 would like to see you an the track again!

Guys its time to get jörg sprave to finland and build a huge ass aircannon in co op with you ...:) Great content as always btw :)

@Beyondthepress

6 жыл бұрын

Jörg would be great safety inspector in his safety t-shirt and he could show air cannon's features probably better than I can :D

@peterzingler6221

6 жыл бұрын

Beyond the press shooting this huge gym balls where you can sit on would be awesome 😂

@Beyondthepress

6 жыл бұрын

I have video coming where we drive car against giant 2 meter volleyball :D

@peterzingler6221

6 жыл бұрын

Beyond the press great 😁 Big Balls confirmed 😋

I would use 1/2 m v^2 for piston energy rather than f d. The velocity at impact is easier to know with the present equipment unless the air supply has enough capacity and flow to provide consistent force

Maybe the piston speed change a bit in absolute mesurement, but the smash is relative to the bottle. When it jump, the bottle moves to the piston too, so I think it compensate the jump, even more if you smash heavy things.

You need to calculate the upward momentum of the frame towards your total energy input. If its moving towards the piston it is putting energy into the item being smashed, not removing it.

The music during the slow mo is from Lego Island 2. Right in the childhood memories

I would accelerate the air flow to a bleed valve above the piston and then switch to feeding the piston. This to get the momentum of the airflow before it hits the piston. Maybe a microscopic change but the reason a longer air intake on otto's can give more power.

Dude!!!!! Interchangeable piston heads would be cool excellent work!

Is it just me or is his broken English as well as his accent really charming to listen to? Like it's not even hard to understand once you learn to understand his accent, it's just cool.

Not sure I understand the problem, except for the whole thing jumping and possibly falling over. I mean, if the piston goes down 3 lines and the bottle goes up 1 line, or the piston goes down 4 lines and bottle 0. The "destructive force" is the same. The relative speed of the two is what matters here.

Not mentioned so far is newtans 1st law of physics, probably mentioned already in coments after this long... There is no loss of force!, and looks really cool!!!

Wouldn't the straps be more effective if they went over the top of the frame?

Ift jumps 10cm with a 100kg contraption or 5cm when it's 500kg the same energy is lost. To increase flow speed you could use a pneumatic pinch valve with the same diameter as the cylinder and mount the air tank and valve directly on top of the cylinder.

All the energy that goes into lifting the whole Smashinator is then dissipated as it hits the ground again - so this energy is lost from the crush inside. Adding weight to the pallet doesn't make much difference - the Smashinator and pallet may jump to a lower height but as they now have more mass there is still the same energy in the jump. To prevent the energy loss and keep it in the smash you need to physically fix the smashinator and prevent the upwards force from being able to accelerate it.

Don't know if it has already been suggested, but why not have two horizontal pistons smashing together? The opposite motion will cancel out any "jumping" and you'll also double the smash power...

the energy was conserved in the original set up because the anvil is moving up toward the piston the speed of the Anvil and the speed of the Piston add up to a closing speed whereas in the second set up that energy instead went into the steel counterweights which were rocking back and forth that was energy that was lost

You have one BIG improvement you can do. Fix the angle of the straps! When you had the weights there, the angle holding the machine down was almost flat. The weights did effectivly nothing. Or even better: Let the machine jump freely! Maybe on runners? The energy lost lifting the machine is gained in opposite energy when the piston is hitting the object. Strapping it down will only drain that potensial energy. And fix the airtank directly on to the valve! Your long airhose looses allot of flow.

If my math is correct, 23 m/s is ~905 ft/s which is pretty close to the speed of sound ~1,000 ft/s. You can't get the piston moving faster than the speed of sound without somehow getting into supersonic flow in both the piping and the cylinder. As you say, there is still a significant difference in energy; 819,000 versus 1,000,000 (or about 20%) in some non-standard energy units. The Smashinator 5,000,001 will need to be electromagnetic to get to much higher power. :-) Or maybe two colliding pistons, each traveling near the speed of sound? Or a much longer cylinder for the piston to accelerate through. BTW, the fixed title is fine in English. "Its" is analogous to "his", "hers", "theirs", "ours", & etc. So, try substituting "his" and "he's'" for "it's" and "its" and see which sounds best. Many native speakers make the same mistake, so you're in good (or at least numerous) company. Since you're asking for feedback, I'd go with something more pithy like "Does Recoil Cut Smashinator Power?" or "Recoil Cuts Smashinator Power?" But that is style, not correctness and besides, you're KZread stars, not me so you must be doing something right.

Personally I think there is no loss of power at all. If the frame was not connected to the crushing platform, then yes, it would be losing power. But when the crush happens, the weight of that heavy frame is below the bottle and pushing upwards with it's own force which is added into the crush. If the piston were fixed and it was the frame that moved, you'd have less speed yet more weight, applying about the same amount of total energy to the bottle.

@13:45 I think the bigger tank is not helping much because the flow is restricted by the pipe. The pressure in the tank wouldn't have dropped that much when the piston reaches the end of the stroke but the pressure in the cylinder would still be much less than that in the tank. A thicker and much shorter pipe should help. Even better but somewhat extreme would be to have the tank mounted right on top of the cylinder and use a bursting disk to release the pressure from the tank to the cylinder through the full bore of the cylinder. That would instantly give full pressure and avoid any pressure drop between the tank and the piston. I think you would easily get double or more the kinetic energy for the same pressure and tank size. The disadvantage is the machine would be bigger and more difficult to handle and you would have to use smaller numbers for the name as 5,000,000 wouldn't be enough and 500,000,000 wouldn't fit.

You should reinforce the frame a bit and if you also attach some bottom extensions (to the sides) to make it more stable, you don't need to strap it down

I think shorter lines would help. Air in the lines also has mass, and must accelerate as pressure is released. Higher pressures do help this also, as well as wider lines, if you double the surface area of the pipe, you halve the speed, and a quarter energy is lost to moving the air, just like electrical resistance. Or run a higher pressure (voltage) to also minimise loss. Jumping should actually make it more powerful, as from a relativity view, if its bolted down to the earth, it transfers energy into pulling as it recoils, to the entire earth, though if its not bolted it only transfers the energy into the bottom plate, which pulls the object into the piston for a more powerful impact. What volume of air is above the piston before firing?

You can increase the strength of 3D-printed PLA parts very significantly by annealing them in an oven. An hour in pre-heated oven at 80-110 degrees C should do it. Do a test with your model printed in slightly different scale and measure how the dimensions change. You can expect your PLA parts to shrink about 5% in diameter after an hour in the oven at 110 deg.C so I'd try printing in 105% scale and annealing for 1 hour in 100*C.

Measure piston speed relative to frame, not background.

No need to change the title, its great

Hey, Lauri! I thought of you when I saw this! I can't paste. The video can be found if you search for "använder Volvo 240 som traktor"

I like the idea of two 60 liter tanks with two inlet hoses. it should provide a nice airflow and you could put something to lift the piston between the two inlets. Maybe weld a long steel pipe to the cylinder with a hook on the top to lift the piston with a forklift or maybe just string?

Without watching it I feel like the conservation of momentum wraps this up quite nicely x) and the net force and ENERGY transferred should be the same. But who knows.

Well I won't insist this is correct, but in my opinion you don't lose anything, because all the energy that makes the frame jump actually makes the crushed object move towards the piston. so in the end, the destructive force is the same...