Ball Trajectory Planning

[GBilletdeaux930]

Once you have a basic shooter that is very similar to the final design, you can begin some experimentation. Obviously, all experimental data will have to be retaken with the final design. But what you should do is set your shooter to shoot at 0-degrees relative to the ground, or as horizontally as you can.

Using the same rpm, shoot the ball a dozen or so times, recording how far it went. With that, you can calculate how much velocity your shooter has at that rpm. If you plan on having a static rpm with varying angles and distances, you shouldn't need any more data beyond what you have. If you plan on varying your rpm as well, you will need to take more data to see how your velocity varies with rpm.

These balls are heavy enough, that I don't feel wind resistance will be too critical at 57' (maximum length you will never reach) but I could easily be wrong. Have your team member with the best arm go outside and just whip the thing. You should be able to see lift if it occurs. And if there is significant resistance, you should be able to observe that as well.

[RyanCahoon]

Originally Posted by GBilletdeaux930

Once you have a basic shooter that is very similar to the final design, you can begin some experimentation.

[...]

Using the same rpm, shoot the ball a dozen or so times, recording how far it went.

This. I would see how far I could get with fitting a line to a set of data points.