[Robotgroup] Ponginator Results #4

[Ed Xavier Gonzalez]

Okay, with a shopvac-styled blower, just lots larger (about 500cfm), I was 
able to reliably shoot a 38mm ball twenty yards  (the darn ball is so 
light, it won't go any further).

BUT, a quirk related to how the air flows around the ball dictates the tube 
be blocked until the ball is let go, something akin to a gate 
valve.  During the tests, the ball squeals like mad up until the tube is 
blocked (because the ball is vibrating like mad as the air flows around it 
within the tube), but the moment the end of the tube is allowed to flow 
after the vibrations stop, ZING, the ball shoots out.  It looks neat!

Sooooo . . . how to build/construct a gate valve before or after the 
ball?  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . .

Ideas?

Or should we stay with a compressed air styled cannon?

Right now, time is a friend to no-one, so unless somebody else can get 
another idea running and prove it works, I'm going to continue with what 
I've got.

Build it and they will ZING.

<We all have the same 24 hours.  How we use them is up to us.>

Ed Xavier Gonzalez
Oak Hill Laser
ohlaser at swbell.net
(512) 288-5243