Team 314 Launcher

[RonnieS]

This is our final design review launcher, there is still evaluations being done but this video does a good job of showing our half court-in sweet spot. Hope you enjoy!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWRYRpHFIaE

Here is the link for Intake and Shooter video, roughly 19 feet away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1coTKRfynA

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Ronnie314

This is our final design review launcher, there is still evaluations being done but this video does a good job of showing our half court-in sweet spot. Hope you enjoy!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWRYRpHFIaE

How do you plan to pull back, hold, and release it ??

[RonnieS]

Originally Posted by Ether

How do you plan to pull back, hold, and release it ??

We have a gen 1 shifter that I took the high gear out of and milled the teeth (3 of them)down to a flat face so that when the high gear transfers from low (winching the catapult back) to high (releasing into a free spin) where the dog has nothing to grab and the shaft releases to the direction of tension making the ball fly. On the output shaft there is an external ratcheting mechanism so that the tensions is released from the motors as it is drawn back. Also, we adjust our hard stop so we can get different angle shots such as a blop shot for a good truss toss.

[Colin Small]

Originally Posted by Ronnie314

We have a gen 1 shifter that I took the high gear out of and milled the teeth (3 of them)down to a flat face so that when the high gear transfers from low (winching the catapult back) to high (releasing into a free spin) where the dog has nothing to grab and the shaft releases to the direction of tension making the ball fly. On the output shaft there is an external ratcheting mechanism so that the tensions is released from the motors as it is drawn back. Also, we adjust our hard stop so we can get different angle shots such as a blop shot for a good truss toss.

I'm not quite sure what what you mean. Is it that you have it timed so that the gear isn't engaged (because of the three shaved teeth) when you want to poll the dog out? I'm confused....

[RonnieS]

Originally Posted by Colin Small

I'm not quite sure what what you mean. Is it that you have it timed so that the gear isn't engaged (because of the three shaved teeth) when you want to poll the dog out? I'm confused....

Correct, the three "teeth" will be shaved down to make one circle in the gear that is all the same face measure. We also flipped the gearing so that the cylinder is pushing it into our driving gear instead of pulling it into the driving gear because cylinders work better pushing than pulling. Hope that is what you meant?

[mrtravis2772]

Originally Posted by Ronnie314

We have a gen 1 shifter that I took the high gear out of and milled the teeth (3 of them)down to a flat face so that when the high gear transfers from low (winching the catapult back) to high (releasing into a free spin) where the dog has nothing to grab and the shaft releases to the direction of tension making the ball fly. On the output shaft there is an external ratcheting mechanism so that the tensions is released from the motors as it is drawn back. Also, we adjust our hard stop so we can get different angle shots such as a blop shot for a good truss toss.

can you give more details on the shifters?
is it a ball shifter(i was told that they wouldn't work)

[RonnieS]

Originally Posted by mrtravis2772

can you give more details on the shifters?
is it a ball shifter(i was told that they wouldn't work)

It is a Gen 1 AM shifter, modified for our needs. It uses a dog gear, not balls.

[mrtravis2772]

Originally Posted by Ronnie314

It is a Gen 1 AM shifter, modified for our needs. It uses a dog gear, not balls.

any chance you could demonstrate how that's done?
love the idea, think its genius!

[RonnieS]

Originally Posted by mrtravis2772

any chance you could demonstrate how that's done?
love the idea, think its genius!

Send me a private message and I will get with you on it!

[ohrly?]

What are you using as a spring? Do you find the initial angle of the spring makes a difference?

[jblay]

Great prototype, how far were you guys from the goal in those first couple of shots? Looked like half field.

[Mr. Lim]

Impressive!

Are you guys changing any of your parameters between the different shot ranges?

It looks like it really is a "sweet spot" where everything stays the same: retract length, hardstop length, tension, etc.

[Physicguy]

What was your effective range on that launcher? It seemed like you could still score really close to the goal.

[sdcantrell56]

This is a really impressive catapult. Basically what we are looking for as well. Good job!

[RonnieS]

Originally Posted by Physicguy

What was your effective range on that launcher? It seemed like you could still score really close to the goal.

We can be as close as 3 feet away with the same sweet spot as half court