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my tennis ball launcher

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:08 pm
by schmanman
this is a tennis ball cannon I built a while ago, for a competition. It had to fire tennis balls through a 4 inch opening from 15 feet away. to put it frankly, It helped us come in 4th out of our state. one place more, and It would of put us into the world finals. It needs a longer barrel to achieve any real good distance shots. beanie babies are fun with this thing, because you can shoot your friends without the slightest bit of pain.ooh, we got, with some practice, near 200 balls through the opening in 8 min.

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Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:24 pm
by squeaks
Nice clean construction. I like it. Just one thing, why didn't you mod your sprinkler valve?

P.S. On your signature, the proper quote is,
"I reject your reality and substitute my own."
-Adam Savage

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:33 pm
by schmanman
what if I reject ALL reality? I modified the quote since I did not want it to be the same. I did not mod the sprinkler valve because
1. I did not need the performance
2. at one time we were going to set up a timer and a hopper: we never did
and,3. It was easier.

do you like the stand? It is very adjustable horizontal (pivots on lag bolt) and vertically (the car jack out of our suburban)

the table itself is very sturdy.

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:40 pm
by judgment_arms
Nice, how far does that sucker shoot? And what is the maximum effective range?I like the mount, vary ingenious.

Say, is that your railroad gun in the background?

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:46 pm
by schmanman
you mean the swat gun? yes, those are some of the barrels. the swat gun is out of commission at the time.

with a longer barrel, I imagine It would shoot pretty decently. the maximum effective range? well, we shot the tennis balls through the backdrop at 70 feet at the party after. (the back drop was 1" foam, though).

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 5:04 pm
by judgment_arms
Not bad, considering the fact that the barrel is only about 3” long with an unmodified sprinkler valve.
Yeah I read the thread about your swat gun…

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 2:22 pm
by schmanman
although the pressure was 155 psi, with a constant push of air from behind because of the compressor. I ordered the tee for the swat gun a couple days ago, so It will arrive here today or Monday.

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 1:41 pm
by Killjoy
im pretty inmpressed considering the barrels so short and your elctronically triggering the valve. still clever way to use the car jack as a elevation ajuster.

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 1:50 pm
by schmanman
I recently put a 4.5 foot long 1.5 inch barrel on it, added a trigger, took it off the stand. very fun.

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 1:59 pm
by SpudStuff
I see DWV!...

But looks good, give it a longer barrel and a paint job :!:

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:23 pm
by schmanman
yes, This was built a week and a half before the swat gun, making it around a year old. I learned several days after about the dvw being bad. I corrected this mistake on the swat gun, and not a single piece of dvw can be found on it.