VEX Start Kit Projects

[gblake]

You should be able to build a respectable ping pong ball launcher.

Use two motors to drive the chassis around.

Build a dispenser that uses the servo to dispense the balls one at a time. When the servo rotates part-way have one gate begin to hold all the balls but one in place, and then as the servo continues to rotate have another gate move out of the way to release that one.

Use the third motor (and 1:5 gearing) to rotate an arm (12" axle plus an angle gusset on its end) that slowly winds up (turns backward 350 degrees) then comes around fast to whack the ball like a golf club.

I took a machine like this to Atlanta just for fun and it worked well. Some of our guys had lots of fun with it on the scale-model Aim High field the Vex folks had built.

If you need pictures I can get them from my other computer.

Blake
PS: I have had good luck cutting my metal with a hacksaw and the cleaning the burrs off of the cuts by filing them with a medium-coarseness hand file. Also, I have had better luck using my grinder and its motorized wire brush for cleaning up the hacksaw cuts. So, hopefully you can get your hands on a hacksaw and a file soon.