Quote:
Originally Posted by Bennett548
You can get slightly faster times if the gear ratio is not constant. A linkage or, non-round pulley or sprocket set can accomplish this.
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Last year, I worked up a linkage-based design for this purpose to power a yoga-ball catapult with motors. We didn't use it, but I recreated it and posted a spreadsheet describing it recently on
the "Launch Unusual Items" thread . I also did a cardiod pulley based design, but that's probably not too useful in this context, as you want to be able to pull the arm back up later in the match.
And yes, springs can be much faster, but making them both safe and reliable is probably beyond most teams' capabilities.