Over the
course of this week, the shooting mechanism for the design was constructed. The
following list details each part and provides links to where they were
purchased:
-Air Pump: 70 PSI Deluxe Hand Pump, used
to fill the design tank with compressed air. Available here.
-Air Blow Gun: Shop Fox Heavy Duty Blow
Gun with removable 4 inch nozzle and 180 psi maximum pressure, used to shoot
the tongue mechanism, the retraction mechanism will be latched on to this part.
Available here.
-Air Intake (Shrader) Valve: attached to
the bottom of the pipe/tank, the compressed air will be filled through this
valve. Available here.
-Thread Sealing Tape: ½ Inch PTFE Seal
Tape, used on the threads at the bottom of the gun and on the air intake valve
to prevent air leakage. Available here.
-1 ¼ inch PVC Pipe: used for the body of
the tank and available in any hardware store.
-1 ¼ inch PVC endcaps: connected at the
extremities of the pipes. These endcaps will be connected to the threaded air
gun on one side and air intake valve on the other. Available at any hardware
store.
-PVC Primer and Cement: used to seal the
endcaps to the pipe. Available at any hardware store.
The tutorial
section of this website provides a comprehensive guide to the assembly of these
parts.
The holes on
the endcaps accommodating the threads of the air gun and the air intake valve
were drilled in the machine shop, the PVC pipe was also cut down to a length of
10 inches at the machine shop. The tank was assembled and tightly sealed using
PVC Primer and Cement. Three to five layers of thread sealing tape were wrapped
around the air intake and air blow gun threads before the whole mechanism was
assembled with a wrench.
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| Assembled shooting mechanism |
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| Assembly connected to a pump with a pressure gauge |
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| Reading on the pressure gauge |
