Firing Softballs

[Francis-134]

Originally Posted by Insomniacsloth

Has anybody tried firing something anywhere near the size of a softballs using Vex parts, perhaps in a pitching machine set up (spinning wheels the ball passes between)? Possible at all?

From my experience in shooting things in Vex with the Mini FRC, I have found that the Vex motors do not have enough muscle to them to handle launching much mass at high speeds. We had trouble firing even small poof balls with Vex motors after we tryed many different gear ratios and configurations. On top of that, the motors will shut down if they get too hot (for safety reasons) which tends to happen if they are under a lot of stress, i.e. firing balls under a 15:1 gear ratio.

However, if you have a spare Fischer Price motor and/or Victor 883/4 laying around, you could probably wire that up and get it to launch a softball .