pic: Golf Ball Shooter

[sanddrag]

loading photo ...

[bear24rw]

lol wow thats pretty cool.. what kind of wheel is that?

[Greg Needel]

that is a colson prima caster. You can get them from mcmaster or robotmarketplace

[Timmyd]

i would like to see a sticker that says warning do not stand forward this machine will inflict severe injury with a golf ball bouncing off someones head

Pretty sweet. Is that thing made of lexan?

[Tbush173]

Forrrrrrr...

How far can it shoot a ball?

[Kyle A]

in the description of the picture it said,
2lbs as shown. I estimate the motor is about 20,000rpm. 4:1 reduction from motor to wheel. 3.4" wheel. Golf ball goes about 23 feet.

[bear24rw]

Originally Posted by 114ManualLabor

Pretty sweet. Is that thing made of lexan?

It looks like the red side plates are made out of PVC and the black kind of looks like lexan... just my guess

edit.. nvm the black doesnt look like lexan..

[Dylan Gramlich]

i am surprised no one has asked this yet...besides the obvious outrageous fun that could be had with something like this is there any alternitive purpose behind it(set up for some interesting comments)?

[Jeff K.]

Originally Posted by Dylan Gramlich

i am surprised no one has asked this yet...besides the obvious outrageous fun that could be had with something like this is there any alternitive purpose behind it(set up for some interesting comments)?

I think I can help Sanddrag answer some that question. I remember a few nights ago he was talking with me about this.

This was for a project, he had to shoot a certain number of golf balls 23 ft in order to get an A. It all had to be under a certain amount of weight, but other than that, the rules for the assignment were pretty lax as to what materials or methods he could use. I remember also what was pretty interesting is how most of his fellow peers were using catapult like devices, and he was the only one with a wheel shooter.

Oh yeah, that's a colson wheel.

Yeah...I think that's most of it. I hope that answered your question.
Correct me if any of it's wrong though.

[Andrew Blair]

It actually looks more like HPDE or UHMW...

Anyways, do you have trouble getting your hand out of the way before it gets launched? Or will we get to see some Tytus-esque pictures soon? (Hope not...)

[jackie Ha]

dude, thats sweet. looks awesome. can i use it sometime

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by jackie Ha

dude, thats sweet. looks awesome. can i use it sometime

No, because I know you'll fire it at me.

I did a lot of testing today. The golf ball can get about 28 feet max (on a 6 cell battery). With a 7 cell battery, that number might be a little more).

The requirement is to built a device that is no more than 32 inches long, 9 inches wide, 12 inches tall, and 4lbs that can fire a golf ball to land in a rectangular area 8" wide by 18" long that is centered 22 feet away. For a full grade, the ball must land in the scoring zone 9 out of 10 times. You are allowed as many testing shots as you need on the testing range. You are allowed only 3 non-scoring calibration shots on the real firing range.

I'm not sure what the plastic is actually. It is cutting boards from Ikea. It's quite flexible, but is a nice material to work with, and it's flexibility sets the pressure between the wheel and the ball as the black plates bow outward when the ball is in contect with them and the wheel.

There are no issues getting out of the way. It loads in the bottom and fires out the top, so...

Anyway, did lots of testing today. It is incredibly accurate. Even varying degrees of dirt on the ball didn't really seem to have any effect.