T-Shirt Cannon

[Sunny]

We don't really need a pneumatic pusher.

When you drop a shirt in, instead of having a pneumatic cylinder push the stuff forward, you could have another set of wheels that do that.

[Tanner]

We don't really need a pneumatic pusher.

When you drop a shirt in, instead of having a pneumatic cylinder push the stuff forward, you could have another set of wheels that do that.

Well, I think it would be easier to work with. If you used wheels, you'd have a hard time having t-shirts drop into the system. I think you'd have to feed them into the system from the pack, which would be a bit harder and a more complicated t-shirt holding feeding system.

-Tanner

[ptwortman]

i agree with tanner. if we have wheels in the back pushing shirts into the wheels in the front, it'd be impossible to automatically load them/drop them in.

but i think we should totally do it, maybe 3 that can revolve 360 degrees and shoot at the same time in opposite directions, at different heights?

either way, we need to do it.

[Sunny]

Impossible...no. A bit tougher to think of, quite possibly.

Alright, let's steer away from a wheel loaded mechanism and look more in terms of hardware. A rack and pinion system is one that allows us to drive a vertical bar with a gear system. It's accomplished in VEX with linear sliders, but a picture can be seen here. (http://www.motorera.com/dictionary/pics/R/rack.gif) That's just an alternative to the already pneumatic solution available.

And as for a mechanism that would automatically reload, think of a magazine of an M-16 or AK-47. There is a spring action that pushes the ammo, shirts in this case, up into the firing barrel after each piece of ammo has been fired. If we create a "mock magazine" for shirts. Then we can definitely get some sort of "automatic-ness" going on. Better yet, we could use the Gatling Gun way of reloading but that could get a "bit" tougher.

- Sunny

[Tanner]

Impossible...no. A bit tougher to think of, quite possibly.

Well, its just another point of failure or a place where something could get stuck or caught.

Alright, let's steer away from a wheel loaded mechanism and look more in terms of hardware. A rack and pinion system is one that allows us to drive a vertical bar with a gear system. It's accomplished in VEX with linear sliders, but a picture can be seen here. (http://www.motorera.com/dictionary/pics/R/rack.gif) That's just an alternative to the already pneumatic solution available.

Whats wrong with pneumatics? Yeah its a alternative, but I think pneumatics would be easier.

And as for a mechanism that would automatically reload, think of a magazine of an M-16 or AK-47. There is a spring action that pushes the ammo, shirts in this case, up into the firing barrel after each piece of ammo has been fired. If we create a "mock magazine" for shirts. Then we can definitely get some sort of "automatic-ness" going on. Better yet, we could use the Gatling Gun way of reloading but that could get a "bit" tougher.

By what do you mean a Gatling Gun way? They used to load by gravity, now they load by a belt. A belt would be pointless, unless you plan on mass producing these for easy use. I'll have to draw this later, but why not have a gravity fed system like this? There might have to be a tab to stop the rest from coming in, there might not - testing will tell. Basically the same thing as a magazine, but less points of failure.

-Tannner

- Sunny[/quote]

[Sunny]

I actually thought a linear slide would be easier than pneumatics, but whateva.

The thing with the gravity system is that you'd to have a mechanism flap type of mechanism that you mentioned to prevent more than 1 shirt from coming into the barrel, and gravity is not the best way to have something fall into a barrel. The shirt can fall in at an awkward angle, you won't have that problem with a upward, spring loaded magazine.

And a Gatling Gun system would be ideal for a fully automatic system. And you would only have to have the belt made once. The shirts can be put into the little ammo slots before each use.

- Sunny

[Tanner]

The thing with the gravity system is that you'd to have a mechanism flap type of mechanism that you mentioned to prevent more than 1 shirt from coming into the barrel, and gravity is not the best way to have something fall into a barrel. The shirt can fall in at an awkward angle, you won't have that problem with a upward, spring loaded magazine.

I see having a spring loaded magazine as more complicated. And instead of using a flap, just use a fork to stop them from coming in. That way its controlled and it will just gently fall.

And a Gatling Gun system would be ideal for a fully automatic system. And you would only have to have the belt made once. The shirts can be put into the little ammo slots before each use.

Ideal, but we'd have to figure out how to use the belt, how to load it, and get around all the bugs we find with it.

-Tanner

[ptwortman]

lets compensate then: have a sideways "ammo clip", angled 45 degrees or so down into the barrel, with spring loaded action going on. that way gravity would pull/roll them down an angle, while the spring helps to push.

[Tanner]

I told Dad about the updates and he's not sure whether a wheel powered cannon would be powerful enough to shoot at a football game.

I suppose he could be right, but like if you gear it enough and give it enough time to spin up it could work. Though unlike pneumatics you don't really loose anything like gears (i.e. torque).

-Tanner

[Sunny]

Mr. Smith does have a point in that the linear speed of the wheels might not get high enough to launch the shirts, but I think it'll come with testing.

I'm immediately reminded by a baseball hitting machine. Those machines are capable of launching balls well over 50 MPH, and if aimed at the right angle, the machine can launch the balls incredible distances.

But then you also have to take into account momentum, and etc.

But I think it'll come with testing.