We are attempting to make a linear puncher that shoots from different angles and are struggling to figure out how to get the ball puncher to adjust angles.
Do you have an extra motor to spare?
Much easier than linear: rotate a gear on either the tilting part or the base. Connect the other part with a bar to a hole near the edge of the gear. Then as the gear rotates the bar pushes them apart or pulls them together. While using a second motor is pretty straight-forward this way, it isn’t necessary. Since it’s on a gear, if you want you can use sprockets to get a single motor rotating one way to work the firing mechanism and rotating the other way to tilt it.