[Scott358]

Very nice, simple, hybrid elastic band-cylinder design!

Do you know the difference in distance by simply using the elastic band in the exact set-up, as even though you are "preloading" the cylinder and dumping the pressure on the "front" side of the piston, there still may be a negative effect by having the cylinder in the loop on the kick?

We are considering a design where the gate latch is attached to the end of the cylinder, cylinder extends to engage the kicker, cylinder retacts pulling back the kicker, and the gate latch is released when ready to kick (therefore being powered only by the elastic band). This would pretty much be the same parts, with a bit more complication in moving the latch to engage the kicker, but we're thinking we'll get higher velocity.

Any thoughts?