I have been going through ideas for a flywheel launcher for this years competition, but by doing this I have come up with a question: does the type of wheel used for the flywheel affect the ball, and how would it affect it (for example, would it be better to use a smoother wheel to decrease friction or a wheel with bumps to increase friction and grip, or whether it’s better to use a heavier or lighter wheel). Thanks in advance!
it depends on the type of shooter, if your shooter is using two counter rotating wheels, then, you will want more friction, that will help with acceleration, if you are using one wheel rotating against a shoot or other surface, you will probably want less friction, but I am not sure on that one.
in terms of wheel weight that really depends. a heavier wheel will be harder to get up to speed, but, it will loose less speed when you hit a ball, and will have less tendency to slow down when you shoot. the lighter wheel will slow down more, but will be easier to spin up. In the end I think the heavier wheel will be better, but really I have no idea that just my gut feeling
This thread has some info on larger/heavier flywheels: https://vexforum.com/t/managing-range-errors-caused-by-ball-mass-errors-use-biger-flywheel/29699/1
Thank you to both Collin and Kevin for the help 