"The World's First Real Gauss Rifle & Pistol"

One of my first projects was a magnetic linear accelerator commonly referred to as a Gauss Rifle. I built a 36" wood track and attached 8 half inch cube Neos spaced 4" apart. I used magnets that are 1/2" cubes with a 3/16" hole through them. This allowed me to screw them firmly in place with brass screws.

The only problem is that it doesn't look like a "Gauss Rifle". It looks like a "Gauss Stick". It needed some major modification.

There, that's better.

My Gauss Rifle

On YouTube they love my Gauss Rifle and Pistol and many comments are from people who want one. I decided to show you how I made them. The rifle stock is made from 1/4" lumber and was shaped with my band saw. The pivots are 1/8" dowel.

The magnets are 1/2" cubes with a 3/16" hole through them. The only place I've seen to buy them is K&J Magnetics. It is their item B888-3. You need 8 of them. Brass screws are used to hold them down rather neatly. The spheres are 1/2" diameter steel balls. I won't give you dimensioned plans but I'll show you the basic concept of how it works. If you build one e-mail me some pics.

After I built the "The World's First Real Gauss Rifle" what happened next was obvious. I wanted to use no less than 4 magnets and 9 steel balls so I decided to try 1/4" dia by 1/2" long Diametrically magnetized cylinders and 1/4" diameter steel balls. Diametrically magnetized means that the north and south poles are on the sides of the NIBs, not the ends. These are the type of Neos used to make bracelets. Using a band saw I cut 1/4" wood into the various parts. With 2 sides and a core, the pistol is 3/4" thick.

My Gauss Pistol

On YouTube they love my Gauss Pistol and many comments are from people who want one. I decided to show you how I made it.

I won't give you dimensioned plans but I'll show you the basic concept of how it works. The 2 eyelets and rubber band hooks the hammer around the first ball and returns the trigger to it's firing position. If you build one e-mail me some pics of it. The toughest part of designing it was figuring out how to transfer horizontal trigger movement to lift the hammer vertically.