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Originally Posted by MrBasse
A bigger barrel means more air faster to propel a projectile. We use a 2.5" barrel and have been happy with that, a 3" would be nice for XL and XXL t-shirts though. There are valves that are capable and a few have been tossed around forever on CD, look to fast acting 3/4"-1" solenoids for this. We used a really cool hose from Parker Hannifin that requires no fittings and is available in those sizes with fittings being the biggest cost.
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We had decided on 4' because the ease of loading the way we learned to fold shirts, but 3' to me sounds more feasible, if we can load it properly. I would love a link to that hose, ABS wont cut it, too much conversion.
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After running the FRC compressor to charge our cannon the first year of it's existence, I will never do it again. We have times at pep assemblies where we have five shirts to shoot in ten seconds, and the little viair just isn't up to the task. We use a 5# CO2 cylinder because it's cheap, we have a discount to make it cheaper, and it is a lower amount of stored energy than a SCUBA tank. The only issues we see from this is that with liquid CO2, you can freeze your system forcing you to wait a minute if you fire rapidly.
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We could look into CO2, but the shop teacher lost a chunk of flesh on his chin to CO2 Canisters due to a careless woodshop kid, so he may not take kindly. It is a great idea and im curious to see how id work.
We work with a lot of Home Depot parts, (being near our school) so ill check that tank out, a link would be awesome. We are very careful with our tanks, we work behind protection and we dont take unneeded risks. Trying to get the new guys to do this will be an adventure, im trying to expose to everything you can use on a bot for 2016. Finally, like I said, poor school means no CNC Plasma :/ 3D Printer though!
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Look on Google. We use one similar to this. If you can find one that's a bit larger (1" or 1-1/4"), even better. The most important thing is that the valve (and plumbing and tank and fittings and so forth) is rated for air, at a higher pressure than you're using. A large valve (3/4 NPT or greater) is essential to get enough air out fast enough to throw a t-shirt very far without using pressures higher than we're used to in FRC.
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Like I said, we will use a 1" Valve on our bot, thanks for suggesting this valve, its a great price (which we are worried about). We need to REALLY reduce the pressures we use, being that they are many times higher than cannons ive seen (though we are using a sprinkler valve). I think our lead screw lifting idea will work, but we are considering a mortar style instead.
Thank you both for replying!
RoboEagles FRC 4579