254 Shockwave questions

[Travis Covington]

Originally Posted by cxcad

Thanks a lot! That's a lot of t-shirts per a year. How do you guys keep the costs down?

As mentioned above, we shoot sponsor provided t-shirts usually. We rarely shoot shirts purchased with team funds, as that is cost prohibitive as you noted.

[cxcad]

What is done with the second stage of the regulator? And how is the first stage modified to fill a reservoir tank?

[Travis Covington]

There are two regulators. One regulator is mounted on the scuba tank itself, which regulates the ~3000 psi air down to around 150psi. That air is used to fill the secondary scuba tank which the main shooting valve is hooked up to. The secondary regulator is used only for the pneumatic functions of the cannon, which is primarily just the indexing mechanism.

When the scuba tank is depleted, it gets removed and filled at a local scuba shop. We do not have the capability to fill the scuba tank at our school or lab. High pressure compressors are extremely expensive.

[JohnFogarty]

What valve do you use for the firing?
I figure you're not using a PVC sprinkler valve like most people use.

[Travis Covington]

Originally Posted by JohnFogarty

What valve do you use for the firing?
I figure you're not using a PVC sprinkler valve like most people use.

Most of this information has been on our website since we unveiled Shockwave in 2010.

http://team254.com/shockwave

Hope this helps!

[IKE]

Originally Posted by Travis Covington

Most of this information has been on our website since we unveiled Shockwave in 2010.

http://team254.com/shockwave

Hope this helps!

Was anyone else suprised at how old shockwave is now? It seems like only a couple of months ago that I was picking my jaw up off the floor...

Oh wait, that ws Championship and a different incredibly awesome poof bot.

On a side note, anychance of a 2014 gatlin style corndog launcher at IRI?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW-ljrm7a6g

Sticks removed for safety of course....

[ekapalka]

Would it be particularly difficult to control a MAC solenoid valve using the cRIO? I've looked at them before, but they seem pretty advanced.

[Travis Covington]

Originally Posted by ekapalka

Would it be particularly difficult to control a MAC solenoid valve using the cRIO? I've looked at them before, but they seem pretty advanced.

Nothing fancy. Feed it 12 volts for as long as you want it open. We use a VEX controller. A cRio is more than sufficient to do that. You could use an RC controller if you wanted.

[glennword]

any chance of a part number for that mac valve?

[NickE]

Originally Posted by glennword

any chance of a part number for that mac valve?

57D-13-601BA

[Mr V]

For t-shirt shooting since you only need to turn the air supply on and off I am a fan of these valves. http://www.airbagit.com/Brass-Air-Va...irvalve-06.htm They do make them smaller too. They are cheap, completely rebuild-able, fast acting and are very simple and reliable. They do need a bit of power to operate, around 4 amps per valve, IIRC. They have smaller versions available too.

We used them in testing for our abandoned T-shirt shooter project and we were able to control the distance of the by the amount of time the valves were opened.

[cxcad]

Not shockwave related exactly, but can lexan be used for the barrel?