[Dan Richardson]

Originally Posted by SenorZ

Cool. Jealous.
Now to compact that design and strap it to a turret.

No need to be jealous! We were lucky in that we had the parts around but the only unique parts that you need is a Modulox Channel and a handful of Modulox not in the box parts (we used a lunchbox). Also, this is meant to be a community resource! The step file of the assembly is on our website www.Modulox.com. If you have any specific questions as we post our testing videos feel free to ask.

Oh and turrets? ::cringes::

I assume the point of being able to adjust it so much is to change how far the ball goes, right?

Do you know why the ball didn't shoot through immediately at :50?

Well, in our experience, when trying to move squishy conformable spherical objects the amount of compression is an important factor. To little, the ball slips through, too much and it may not go through at all. So the wheel spacing plays a major factor, especially when it comes to distance as you mentioned. The last bit of adjustability allows us to change our gear ratios and wheel speed which can have an even bigger effect on launch distance. We didn't firmly mount it to the ground so we could play with angles and trajectories.

In competition, many teams don't have the resources to constantly change out for fresh material, simply adjusting the wheel spacing will compensate for wear. So even tho this is a prototype, we'll probably leave that part in on the final design ( if any of our teams shoot that is :-) )

Oh, and at the 50 second mark, slijin is correct, he fumbled the ball and it kicked back off wheel which brings me to my next topic, consistency:

How consistent is your range/accuracy? How do the different factors you tested affect consistency?

For the most part, the factors we played with seemed to only effect distance, we'll let you know more as we go one.

A major observation from our experimenting is the importance of consistency in ball feed to the shooter. We noticed if the ball was fed slightly to one side or the other the angle and distance could change considerably. Teams will need to ensure that the ball is consistently guided into the shooter if they want to be accurate and precise!

What is the furthest you guys have launched the ball and at what angle did you shoot it from?

Somewhere around 27 feet in that last shot and consistently around that distance. We didn't measure the angle on that shot but it looks to be around 45 degrees.

Our next test will be with at a higher RPM as our gear ratio is currently 2.85:1 (14tooth cim, 40tooth .5"hex) we just didn't have a bigger cim gear on hand.

How much is it effected by losses in momentum as you feed balls in one after another, and have you tested it with worn balls yet?

In this particular configuration the wheels accelerated to speed very quickly but there certainly is a perceivable momentum loss. I would say it's not negligible especially as we start to raise the rpm but don't think it will play a big factor in most configurations.

My question is, do you think it is necessary to use two of the precious four CIM motors to run the launcher?

They are certainly an easy choice but I don't think they are necessary. We probably would have started with a FP if we had one with a AM cim planentary. The 775 motor series or 500 series motors may suffice as well, but the smaller the motor the longer its going to take to get your wheels up to speed, if they can get there at all.

If we can get access to a few of the smaller motors maybe we'll try it and post a new video.