[Qbot2640]

I think our's fits into the description you are calling a "puncher," but we discovered that "punching" was not as effective as "pushing."*

http://youtu.be/UK2f9lvskcQ

This is three 3/4" cylinders with 12" stroke through some fairly high performance solenoids (.75 M^3/s flow) and the return ports left open to allow quick venting. We need to turn the pressure down to about 42 psi to avoid breaking things. (And we'll need to attach some kind of spring to bring the plunger back to the firing position.)

*The difference: we found it most effective to have the ball rest on the plunger of the cylinders before launch (push) rather than have a separation and have the ball struck by an already moving plunger (punch).