pic: Team 48 - Lock n' Load

[johnr]

I know nothing is going to happen but i sure would like to see a steel cable thru the center of that spring. I just don't see a way to hook one up in this picture. Maybe once it is mounted. I worked on garage doors for 30 years. Please be careful.

[ekapalka]

I can almost wrap my head around how it works, but not quite.... How are you selecting the high or low shots? I think I understand, but am not positive...

The high power shot is selected by extending the 2 3" stroke cylinders, which adds 3" of pre-load onto the springs.

The motor/gearbox pulls the springs back to firing position (roughly 6" of pullback).

So... for the low power shot you pull back the spring 3" (using only the pneumatic cylinders) and for the high power shot you use the motor to pull the spring? Or both? Can you switch between powers on the fly (i.e transition from low to high or high to low without firing in-between)?

I can't believe how compact it is. I thought it was huge until I recognized that it was in a vice, and then everything else started coming into perspective. It's definitely one of the coolest things I've seen so far :)