Re: Motors for ball launchers
 

"The spin axis parallel to the direction of flight helps maintain a straighter (more accurate) path because the projectile has ROTATIONAL INERTIA."

This is a valid argument, although in my personal experience the rotational inertia causes another type of inaccuracy- corkscrewing. This is especially true with barrels that are slightly bigger than the projectile, the ball bounces in the barrel and randomly bounces out of the muzzle. This action increases the "corkscrew effect".

Re: Motors for ball launchers
 

You also have to think of the weight of the motor, if you are planing on using the super CIM for your cannon, presuming that your cannon is near the top of your robot, that is nearly 5 pounds at the top of your robot, for each one! Center of gravity! the only way to avoid this with the Super CIM is to use a few pounds of chain and sprockets. We are leaning toward the FP motors, with 'special' gearbox's.

Re: Motors for ball launchers
 

How about mounting the motor low and using a timing belt to drive your launcher?

Re: Motors for ball launchers
 

Our team is using the Drill motors attached to two Dryer rollers [think roller-blade wheels, but slightly larger, and made out of a much more grippy material] (we picked up two sets of the rollers that are used to keep Whirlpool and Kenmore dryers spinning). The end result is a VERY lightweight baseball-pitching mechanism that spins up in about 1.2 seconds (to maximum ball launching speed. Them suckers spin up for about 4 seconds if you let them get to it, but the balls exceed the maximum speed).