snowball launchers

[Andrew Rudolph]

Parts:
An old Tonka truck that has 3 motors in it (I picked mine up at a thrift store)
2 of the motors
the bed of the truck
wires/solder/crimps
switch
Foam wheels
Battery (I used a 12v 7ah battery that probably isn’t fully charged)

Steps:
1. make the bottom of the truck bed flat (if you get a project box that has an angled front it would work well, or use just a box and raise one end of it) The slope gives the angle that the projectile will fire.
2. next drill holes to mount the motors. The motors I had have little indentations that hold the motors bushings so I drilled the hole so the front of the motor can sits flush with the truck bed.
3. glue the motors in place (not like I was using them for anything else)
4. Then attach the foam wheels to the axles of the motors. My wheels were basically foam circles I took off a kite that looks like an air plane. I bet the wheels from the EDU robot would be sweet
5. then wire up the motors so that they spin in OPPOSITE directions
6. And then put a wire inline with the battery
7. hook it up to the battery
8. Turn it on and LAUNCH!

Right now I just use my good old fingers to put the projectile between the wheels, im working on a system to save my fingers from when I miss and hit the wheels (ouch! I think they go somewhere in the neighborhood of a bajillion RPMs)
Also you see the 6v battery sitting on the front, that’s there to weight the thing down cause the wheels aren’t perfect(yes I admit it) and it shakes and runs around on the table. Im sure I could make a really nice neat little thing, but this does the job.