Automatic Launching Device

a fully automatic catapult that can aim at both X and Y direction and self reset, + can easily change the force as well.

the entire thing is my original design and while there is some room for improvement, it is certainly completely novel, it took me 3 months on and off, about 2-3KG of PLA.

The machine contains 4 small mechanism:

Catapult Arm-Locking-mechanism driven with a servo, in order to lock the catapult at place

Large gear with a red TPU part popping out of it in order to 1# stop the catapult in the chosen angle (setting the Y axis) , 2# wind it back to the locking mechanism and 3# go back to the chosen angle for the next swing , it is being driven by a stepper motor with a high gear reduction of about 1:50. the entire process can be seen in one of the video links below

Gear suspension mechanism, which is an arc of a reversed gear that moves with a linear screw in order to engage the large gear, its there because the stepper alone will not overcome the force of the catapult when it at a very high speed

everything is on a bearing driven by the stepper located in the middle of the base

                                                                               SPECS:

Electronics: Jumper wires, breadboards, 3 stepper motors, 1 servo motor, A4988 stepper driver, 3 small buttons, 1 medium sized button, Arduino Uno. AC/DC 12V 2A Power supply

Software: Arduino language with accelStepper library. Solidworks

Mechanics: A bunch of PLA, standard white and 3djake's satin gold , about 15CM of 20X20 aluminum extrusion, the "stopper" is made out of TPU. some M4,M5,M6 Bolts and nuts, a single 4inch lazy susan (bearing), one z rod, a single 0.5in aluminum hex piece and 2 small bearings at the axis point of the arm.

overall pretty straight forward and not very complicated , it accomplishes a set of actions in an elegant way that without any high voltage/high torque motors -  eventually generates a burst of high force. a mechanical way of throwing objects from one point to in theory any point. using only cheap rpm motors.

i treated this project not only as an engineering challenge but an art challenge as well, i took great time and effort to make things not only work good, but also look good. 

Duration: started: 29/4/2023 end: 21/6/2023

Videos: