Vex Spin Up Shooting Mechanism

Our team has developed this system to shoot the triballs across the field so our other alliance member can start working with them

The triball goes in easily and it does shoot out easily, but it does not go very far at all. What can we do to make it shoot farther?

I know it’s not the best picture, but as a new member I can only upload one.
The shooting mechanism is the part with the sprocket and rubber bands. The motors controlling the shooting mechanism are attached to a 36T wheel which spins a 12T pinion, and thereby spinning the sprockets.

I did a lot of testing on a 2 rubberband roller flywheel design like this and I got it going ok but it was never as good as a catapult. I had to run the rollers at 3600 rpm to get over the middle bar.

In my opinion, a catapult is simpler, more compact, uses less power, doesn’t need to spin up to speed, and is easier to match load.

Even a simple direct-drive catapult goes further.

With a lot of work, you could probably make it shoot further but it’s a bit of a sunk cost. You could probably make a simple catapult in less time.

You can find heaps of simple Vex over under catapults on YouTube.

Hope this helps. :slight_smile:

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A couple of notes:

First, please make sure to categorize and describe your post in your title correctly. This says “Spin Up Shooting Mechanism,” while regarding triballs which makes it harder to help you. Please try to correctly title your post next time.

As for tips about how to make your flywheel shoot further, the rpm of your rubber band rollers is currently 1200rpm, (assuming you are using blue motors) but it probably needs to be more like 3600-4200 for the most power.

As for how good the flywheel design is, it’s alright. Many flywheel teams are switching to catapult bots, but it’s your choice.

:slight_smile:

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Our team built and eventually got our rubber band fly wheel to work, but it requires gearing your motors to 3600 rpm and using 2 30T sprockets with a rubber band in between each tooth. We switched over to a slapapult and then to a rubber fly wheel design.

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Why is this titled spin up shooting mechanism?

The guy wanted spin up shooters to get ideas for his over under launching mechanism.

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