mythbusters motor cannon

A place for general potato gun questions and discussion.
st.croixsurfer
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On mythbusters last night they were testing the mith that a shreds of an eploded truck tire could behead someone. but the way they tested this was to take a truck and hoist the back up, then put an inverted trailer under the truck. then lower the truck so the back wheel rests on one of the wheels of the trailer. then they accelerated the back wheel untill it was at 18kph. at which point they proceded to push strips of tire in between the wheels, which propeled them at suprising force. but anyway i was wondering if anyone had ever heard of something like this or have made anything like this ,because i see potential for a potato cannon like possibilities. :D
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c19o
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I once made something like that with a dremel that shot pennies. Also on mythbusters they made a card shooting machine using the same way.
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jrrdw
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A while back someone posted a very clean, well built base ball pitching cannon, i think fully automated. Thats kinda along the same lines for what your asking for. If anyone else remembers it, do tell.
st.croixsurfer
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thank you :D
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Redcoat
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I saw that episode. It was AWESOME!!!!!!

You could try and make a mini one using a plug-in power drill though I think it won't give enough power for their results.

You should also try doing what they did and shoot small planks of wood.
:twisted:

Happy SPuddin'
Poo.
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Hotwired
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I believe automated pitching machines use a couple of spinning wheels to chuck out things like baseballs and tennis balls.
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jrrdw
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Hotwired wrote:I believe automated pitching machines use a couple of spinning wheels to chuck out things like baseballs and tennis balls.
Yes, they do. I'm going to go back through and try and find it, if i do i'll link it up in this thread for show and tell.
st.croixsurfer
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thanks everyone
st.croixsurfer
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does anyone know if it has a name
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Hubb
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st.croixsurfer wrote:does anyone know if it has a name
From what I've found, they are simply called pitching machines. I've also seen bowling machines that do the same.

I guess this one from Mythbusters would be called a rubber machine. (How funny does that sound?)
st.croixsurfer
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thanks i just made a smal proto type but its crappy
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Redcoat
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Post it in this thread, give us a look.
Poo.
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jimmy101
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There are also machines to fling CDs (or DVDs) that use a pair of spinning wheels, google "Lego CD thrower". Not only flings the disk but also spins it like a frizbie so it flies stably (more or less).
Image
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jrrdw
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The cannon i'm refereing to is blue, stands on a tripod, has it's own aircompressor, has a hopper, works off of remote control and the builder was the coach of his sons little leagh base ball team. And for the life of me i can't remember the cannon name or the member name. Maybe some of you senior members mite remember it. I search the pneumatic show case section, guess i'll do a post count search next.
nz_cannons
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On an early episode of Scrapheap Challenge one team made something like that which fired golf balls. It used a old scooter. The rear wheel was one connected to another one so they were both powered. They had big magazines filled with about thirty golf balls that they would load and were gravity fed basically. It shot suprisingly fast and accurately, as well as being fully automatic.
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