Hey I am from team 4221c and i seem to figure out how other teams have made there catapult like wingus and dingus did. i have managed to understand the internals of a piston shooter like team 62, but i cant figure out the other type of catapult. Anything will help. Please post pictures if u have them. Thanks in Advance
There are many ways to build catapults. Wingus and Dingus have shared that their catapult is directly powered by motors with an elastic assist. The other way I’ve seen is using a cam (nautilus gear) to pull back the catapult, and the final method that I am using is a slip gear, where some teeth on a gear are cut off, and allowing the catapult to shoot forwards. The final two catapults use elastics only to power the shots and motor power to “■■■■” the mechanism.
Wingus and Dingus made a catapult that is motor driven and rubber band assisted. The motors act both to pull down the arm of the catapult and to launch it forward. This way, they do not have to keep travelling to the same place to shoot, instead they can adjust the motor power launching the ball. Depending on how far you want the catapult’s shot to be at its max power, you’ll have to experiment with elastic placement, amount of motors, the point where the catapult releases the ball, etc.
See this thread. it was started by their mentor to discus the launcher. It should give you a few hints.