Quote:
Originally Posted by ctccromer
Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried using two wheels with one on each side of the shooter? My team prototyped the common build with 2 wheels on the same side, but I'm curious how the other 2 wheel build would work
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Frisbees, in general, work by spinning, so having wheels on only one side is just a more elegant and efficient way of imparting spin.
Here's another reason why two wheels is theoretically better than one: Let's say you spin your one wheeled shooter up to a set speed. When the Frisbee contacts it, momentum will be lost, so the Frisbee will leave at less than half the original set speed. The motor can compensate by accelerating the wheel back to its original speed, but more likely than not, the Frisbee will already be gone by then. Two wheels allows you to "sacrifice" the first wheel's momentum so that you don't have as much of a momentum loss at the final wheel.
This is also why a curved track or a belt on a linear track is nice for hurling discs because there is a long period of contact during which the flywheel/Frisbee system recovers any lost momentum.
Of course, I may be unintentionally exaggerating - I have no idea whether the loss of momentum is actually consequential, since I haven't done any of the math.