Additional questions about improving pneumatic catapult

[Wren Hensgen]

There are several things you can do to help speed up your shot. The most dramatic way that we have discovered is to latch the cylinders. We use a simple gate latch to hold the end of our catapult down. While it's held down, we open the valves, allowing air to flow into the bottom of the cylinders. When you release the latch, there's already considerable pressure built up behind the pistons. This method also allows easy varying of the shot by choosing different times (in milliseconds) to latch before each shot. If you have any questions on this method, please ask.