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Launcher assembly

Files

Materials

  • Metal pole
  • Smoothcast 300
  • Smooth-Sil™ 936
  • Pigment dyes
  • Hot glue
  • A lock ring

Handle & Shaft

How to mold a handle

Handle was documented during Molding and Casting week.

Shaft was made from 8mm diameter metal pole that we found lying in the storage room. It was cast into the handle, as described in the above link. I cut the shaft to protrude about 12cm out of the handle.

Attaching it

I modeled a duct that the shaft could go into. It had three primary parts:

  • Round groove for the ball to stay in correct position.
  • Two rings the guide the shaft to the correct direction.
  • The distance of the rings was enough to fit a spring into. The spring should be strong enough to launch the ball the needed distance.

It was easy to model the part. The hard part was to put it together. I needed to go to the metal workshop to lathe a groove into the shaft, where I could attach a lock ring. The lock ring would press against the string when the handle is pulled, creating tension which will be released to the ball when the user lets go of the handle.

Too short

In the end, the shaft was a bit too short. It would need more length after the spring area that is taken up by the spring. Alas, that is not what I did here.

The contraption was hot glued to the surface, to the bottom right position.

Future Work

The attachment requires a bit more work. The ball does not always slide there, and just stops at the mouth.

Similarly the shaft is too short, so it needs to be remade.