Coil Gun Power

3/13/2008
Single Stage
The first coil gun to be posted. This is a single stage 100 joule (200 joule max) 400v coilgun. I recently built this DC-DC boost converter. It works amazingly well. Right now my coilgun can shoot though about 2 1/2" of styrofoam. It is currently powered by a PC's power supply. I will post more as time permits.
3/20/2008
I have done some tests and built the coilgun into a portable form. Only problem I had was I was frying MOSFET and IGBT left and right. It turns out that the diode I had was in the wrong place and I did not notice. It was on the capacitor not on the coil so it did not absorb the spike. I will post pictures and maybe a video this weekend when I have time to finish it. I will also post schematics and more information on how they work. Today I received 50 SGL160N60UFDTU IGBT made by Fairchild Semiconductor. Normally this would cost $317.50, but I was lucky and got them all for $13.06. How? Future Electronics had an error on their pricing and I got each IGBT for $0.2611 not $6.35. It is fixed now though.
3/26/2008
Here are some more pictures of the finial single staged gun. There is now ductape on most of it to prevent shocks. I will post more when I have more time.

Single Stage