SpudFiles

Hey well I was browsing the internet and I came across this
http://www.geocities.com/pest3125/pest/intro.htm
A centrifugal launcher.
Now does any one know what kind of fps is possible to reach using this type of launcher. Are there any formulas? What kind of motor would be good to make one of these? Has any one made one of these before?

For speed it would just be rotational rate time the circumference of the outer rotational area.

E.G. If you had a 5" diameter shooting mechanism spinning at 5000 rpm you would have:

5*pi*5000 inches/minute = 109 fps

Here is an interesting article about somebody trying to develop one for military use. http://www.defensereview.com/modules.ph ... le&sid=526

The more powerful your motor the more powerful or higher ROF your gun can be.

Edit: They also have very large centrifugal pumpkin launchers that are pretty cool, but they got nothing on the air cannons, probably because the Gs are too high to get a really fast speed out of it.

That launcher was mentioned in this discussion. It's a beautifully made project, no doubt about that, but looking at the power figures, it's nothing you couldn't achieve with an airsoft strafer, at a much higher rate of fire.

jackssmirkingrevenge wrote:That launcher was mentioned in this discussion.

Thats how I remember it! I was in the discussion! Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:10 pm
thats a long time ago!

I believe we had a spudchat a while back on it, but I must have not logged it in any of my chats.

Also,
http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/viewtopic,p,25450.html

http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/viewtopic,p,28494.html

Hey! I'm in both those too! What da know?

That DREAD military launcher is dodgy unless I'm missing something...

120,000 .308 or .50 rounds per minute and theres no recoil, no friction and no heat

Hotwired wrote:That DREAD military launcher is dodgy unless I'm missing something...

120,000 .308 or .50 rounds per minute and theres no recoil, no friction and no heat

The design was patented but nothings seems to have come out of it. The promotional video makes some dubious claims about performance (8,000 feet per second - right) though according to Defense Review it's still under development.

There wouldn't be recoil, but the gyroscopic effects of something that large turning that fast would be pretty intense, so I doubt it would be practical for moving vehicles.

Their performance is almost certainly exaggerated, even if it wasn't the spin up time for performance like that would be quite long, although it really would have a very high ROF once you got it going.

Given the size and drawbacks it is not really practical for a a real military weapon IMO, but still very cool technology.

I think its hilarious that they say there is not any friction or heat. Duh there would be heat!!! From the motor!!! And duh there would be friction! From the spindle!!! Plus, friction causes heat, so more heat!!! DUH! Maybe nothing significant enough for a good signature, but that was a whopper. I mean, my RC motor gets hot enough to make my skin blister, why wouldn't this get hot?

And, in space? Give me a break!!! The frickin thing would make the satellite spin like a top!!! Plus, slight imperfections in it would make that poor satellite go out of orbit prematurely due to shaking and stuff.