Pivoting shooter ideas

[JKWarrior]

my team is thinking of using a pivoting shooter. Anyone have an idea on a way to do this other than feeding balls into the shooter from the bottom or top.

[dpeterson3]

Were looking at doing the same thing. I was thinking of having balls either fall/get lifted to right behind the actual shooter. Then, a wheel or kicker would knock them into the actual shooter. Hope this gies you an idea.

[DonRotolo]

Is there a problem feeding from the bottom or top?

Feeding from the side, front or back each present their own problems; the side being least problematic in my view.

The idea is to make the place where the ball goes/rests within the shooter move as little as possible relative to the mechanism putting the ball there. So the center of rotation of the ball conicides with the center of rotation of the shooter.

[shlink340]

what about a gravity fed hopper that has a wheel that spins to "shoot" balls out its loading from the top but its efficiant

[pfreivald]

In terms of maximizing your field of fire, feeding from the bottom through a larger lazy susan than what is in the KOP -- McMaster-Carr has one for about $30 that the ball will fit right through -- is pretty much ideal. You might not get 360 degrees, but you could come close.

I think that feeding from the side really limits your ability to pivot your turret.

Patrick

[joeweber]

Is your shooter drives going to be horizontal or vertical. If they are horizontal it is easy to feed from the back, top or bottom. You could also save alot of work by turning the robot instead of the shooter.

[fkm300]

You can cut the id of the 12" Lazy Susan larger but be very careful with the sharp metal. Be careful not to get the metal shavings into the ball race.

When cutting the id, leave the ball race intact.