Shooter wheel covering
 

Me and my team have been working ruthlessly over the past 2 weeks trying to make our shooter work the best we can. We are using a linear shooter with 2 andymark 8in rubber tread wheels on a mini cim each. We finally got it shooting decently(shooting from the back of the pyramid near the center of the field and only just making it into the 3pt goal) by putting surgical tubing around the wheels to make them like pneumatic wheels for grip and compression. This worked fairly well except that the tubing expands an awful lot and wears down to quicky. We have been experimenting with different ways of getting the same result as the surgical tubing that just doesnt wear as quicky but are at a loss, so we were wondering what you guys have been using on your wheels(if any)?

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

It appears you are wanting more compression as if you had pneumatic wheels. Why not put the compressible material on your stationary wall opposite the wheel?

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

We tried that today by using weather stripping however are results went from the 17 feet or so to 2 feet.

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

What does the wall look like opposite the shooter wheel? Are you using any form of grip tape? The KoP grip material works excellent.

A photo might help out here.

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

A picture would be good, a video even better.

-First off, are you saying you shot multiple (i.e. minimum 5) and they went approx the same spot 17ft away, then another minimum of 5 discs with the weather strip and they all landed at approx the same place 2ft away?

-With the weatherstrip, did you play with the compression? Do you have the ability to move the wall opposite your wheel to have any compression you like?

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

Yes that is how we tested



This here is it at an earlier stage in development however all we did after this was reduce weight, the rear wheel no longer has surgical tubing on it as when they both expanded they rubbed against each other, 2 mini cims now, and we have a Lexan top to prevent ride up of Frisbees. Unfortunately I don't have any recent pics:( . We will have a look into the KOP grip material. Unfortunately it is march break for us and we don't have access to our shop so no further testing can be done for a week:( . We did play with the compression as well with our adjustable wall

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

My suggestions:

1) get rid of the surgical tubing just to remove that as a variable (for this test anyways)

2) try (insert compressible material here) on the wall

3) play with the compression through a full range of barely grabs the disc to "whoa, you sure you want to compress the disc that much"?
-always shoot enough that you KNOW it is repeatably bad before moving on

repeat 2 & 3 with different materials

The disc slipping on the wheel AND the disc slipping on the wall are different variables and you will want to have an grasp on their effects to your shot.

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

This will not help with distance because the point of having a compressible material is to increase the time and amount of frisbee in contact with the wheel. If you don't make the wheel compressible, the frisbee will only touch at that one point where it and the wheel are tangent.

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

Have you actuallytried a compressible wall?

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

I believe the fact that you are also storing energy in the frisbee when you compress it can also have an effect on distance.

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

The problem is, any change you make you have to go through the tweaking process over again, how bad is the ware rate? how many Frisbees can you shoot before having to change the tubing?

cheers
arun

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

We can get about 50 shots on 1 wheel. We don't think this is that bad as one of our old prototypes needed to be changed every 2-3. The issue is that it takes to long to go and change our wheel(about 10 minutes which is no good in eliminations). Can anyone think of a material that can act like the tubing but more durable? We are currently thinking of using andymark tread instead . Ill be looking around in Toronto tomorrow for insparation.

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

one quick change you can make is make the wall flexible - so maybe thin gauge metal only fastened on two points - for a rubber-band effect, replicates to some extent what pneumatics do.

Somthing like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aszDpJW_8bA

but with only two hold-downs - the tension follows the Frisbee.

also you can try cutting up the latex and riveting it on - maybe that helps because it will reduce movement of the latex.

cheers
arun

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

Please also remember ::safety:: safety when you talk about attaching things to wheels that are already spinning beyond what they're designed for.

a little searching and you can find a pic on CD of what happens when tread separates from a wheel by pulling out of its rivets, but don't if you have a weak stomach.

Stay far from the plane of the wheel ("plane of death", "plane of destruction"), and use guards if you're going to experiment further with (cough) re-inventing the wheel.

Re: Shooter wheel covering
 

Can't believe this hasn't been suggested yet, but if you can get these in time...

http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-0970.htm

Problem solved. Same size, you get the compression you need (even variable to some extent as you can play with the pressure of the wheels), and it should mount on the existing hole pattern of the wheels you're currently using.