It’s finally published! Make Magazine Vol.31 has my Automatic Ball Launcher on the cover and a full build article inside!
I wrote the article around the first of the year and after much editing and emailing we put together an awesome how-to with great pictures, diagrams and detailed instructions. The people at Make did a great job creating the illustrations and building a cover version and a standard version of the “Fetch-O-Matic” for the article. Big thanks to Make for the opportunity to share this project!
I designed this ball launcher with three things in mind. Mechanical simplicity, ease of operation and ease of acquiring parts. You can readily get all the parts needed to build this ball launcher from online sources and your local hardware store. It has minimal wiring and requires a medium skill level in carpentry, wiring and machine work. Most people that make and fix things in their garage or workshop should have most of the tools on hand to build it. The whole thing is self resetting and mechanically simple with only three moving parts. It operates on a cordless drill battery, a windshield wiper motor (worm gear reduction/high torque), some wire, and a micro switch.
You can download the PDF build templates and schematic here.
For the whole build article you can buy Vol. 31 of Makezine, or subscribe to the digital version after the jump.
Now enjoy the video and when it’s done go build a ball launcher! Hack it up! Modify it, have fun with it, pass it on!
Thanks for watching and…
Keep on hackin!
Dino