Simple tshirt cannons

Thanks! We have all of the electronics and drive base materials, we just need a cannon. We appreciate your help, and will contact you if need be.

[davidthefat]

From what I can see from the Shockwave, the barrels do not use an encoder, but rather a photo sensor to orient itself. Have you guys ever thought of improving on the design to truly be a gatling t shirt launcher? Incorporate some reloading mechanism and up the RPM. But it does give me an idea of making a gatling paintball or airsoft tank...

[NickE]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

From what I can see from the Shockwave, the barrels do not use an encoder, but rather a photo sensor to orient itself. Have you guys ever thought of improving on the design to truly be a gatling t shirt launcher? Incorporate some reloading mechanism and up the RPM. But it does give me an idea of making a gatling paintball or airsoft tank...

The barrel rotation is sensorless and uses a unique locking mechanism to ensure that each barrel is securely locked into place before shooting. This design eliminates the possibility of the barrels rotating as the cannon shoots. As seen in the picture below, a bearing on a piston-actuated lever fits into slots on the barrel backing plate. We are very happy with this mechanism and it has shown to be extremely reliable with no failures. We have discussed the possibility of an auto-reloading mechanism but have not done any serious work on one.

[Doug G]

We use two metal tanks tied together with 1" braided hose to a Metal ball valve that is manually operated (it is the safety valve). Out of the ball valve we use a 1" sprinkler valve actuated with a spike relay and then to some braided hose to a 4" PVC barrel. We operate the whole system at 60 psi and have to repressurize the tanks after 4-6 shots.

Yes, the plastic sprinkler valve is not rated for air, but it was simple and with the safety valve, it isn't held under pressure for that long. We've used the system since 2004 on 4 different drive bases. Our current drive base has articulated mecanum front and back.

Here's a quick video we did for the local tv station website...
www.vandenrobotics.com/Videos/RobotSpirit2.wmv

We can launch up to 4 cheeseburgers to the top of our stands at games.