Walker Rants

Over the years, man has sought to build a better mousetrap, a better beer, a better way to meet women and a better way to hurl pumpkins, but not necessarily in that order. It has been my quest to observe and analyze the various mechanisms which man has employed to perform the last of these with a view to application via extrapolation and hybridization.
I’ll cannibalize anything that works and pass the savings on to you.

To date, there are several machines whose mechanisms have epitomized the functionality of their genre; the King Arthur, the Whipper, the F2K and the AROC to name a few. These machines all have a commonality in their high Counterweight cocking position, a fact that demonstrates conclusively the benefits of Potential Energy.

FACT: The higher the drop, the more energy generated.

FACT: The higher the Beam Ratio, the faster the tip speed.

FACT: The higher the Beam Ratio, the more energy required.

FACT: You’re going to need a bigger boat.

FACT: The closer to the axle’s Y axis, the more the CW drops.
Ergo: get the CW’s line of fall close to the axle's vertical axis.

FACT: A curved surface rolling over a wheel goes farther than a flat surface in the same drop height.
Ergo: Why pivot when you can rock and roll?

FACT: You can’t win if you don’t play the game.
Truism: If you can’t build, find someone who can.


Long live the Fighters. Let’s Roll,

Walker

Because too many people seem to be able to replicate Ripcord's machine, the Tennisball Whipper and still not have any idea how to make it work,
I am giving away for free the following instructions for setting the timing and tuning the great wooly beast.

Tuning process:
Each step of the process must be accomplished with a test throw using a consistant weight payload, preferably the exact weight you will throw in competition.
This is time consuming and you may want to double up on the steps or skip ahead. DON'T DO THAT! This is a tried and proven systematic science.
Commit to doing it right or just close the page and go somewhere else. Just don't come crying to me later.

NOTE: STEPS 1 & 2 ARE TO BE PERFORMED WITH AN INITIAL PIN ANGLE OF 45 DEGREES.

The Steps:
1) Increase or decrease the angle of seperation to get the TA as close to 12:00 position as possible.
By this I mean the angle between the hanger and the arm should be adjusted in how far apart they are. The closer together they are, the more retardation to the arm rotation, the farther apart, the more you advance the arm. The object is to get the arm to be at 12:00 when the counterweight stalls.
If you can not get a clean stall, then you have other issues and you may as well stop here and get those resolved first. (I'll wait.)

2) Adjust sling length to release when TA reaches 12:00. The ballistics of release angle are up to you.
Because "A short sling swings swiftly" and inversly a longer sling takes longer you can change the swing speed of your sling by ghanging the length of the sling lines.
If step 1 is complete, then start with a sling length of 100% of the LA and shorten it, testing each change until the pin release occurs at the same time the arm hits 12:00, Cinderella.

3) Set the pin angle for micro fine tuning.
Change the pin angle only for micro fine tuning of ballistic trajectory.
The slightest change in pin angle can result in a greatly amplified degree in trajectory. Therefore do this step last and only if there is no other option.
Like when the sling is perfectly timed with the arm and you want to tweak your angle of trajectory a degree or two.


If you still need personal coaching for getting the timing exactly perfect, we at Evil Genius Labs have a plan for you.
Our Coaching Staff will come to your site and direct you and your team in a one day training session.
Please visit our site: http://evilgeniuslabs.org/
Note: upon reaching our site, your computer will be subjected to a security scan for government hitchhikerbots. If any such infections are found in your computer you will simply be left waiting at the gate, ignored. PERIOD.

Good luck,

Walker / Assist Vice Chairman's body double.

Recently a new member posted what he apparently thought would rock the world of heaving engines:
THE WHEEL IS A NATURAL THROWING ARM.

He's right, it is!
But he was also wrong that the wheel is better than the arm at being an arm.
(Anyone here use a hand sling?)

The truth is that the wheel and throwing arm have shared qualities that allow them to be interexchanged in many situations but not too many.
Infact, the larger the trebuchet, the less application the wheel has simply due to practical size.

Would you rather make a 25 foot TA or a 40 foot dia wheel? That's how they equate. Every wheel must go all the way around or else it doesn't count. But just the hub and one spoke of that wheel can serve as a TA.

Personally, I would rather have a 40 foot dia wheel serving as a MRT but don't ask me for the speed calculations yet.
I say this on a basis of COOL factor alone.
I sure don't want to have to build it.
Maybe there's a carnival somewhere that's going out of business.

Another point where my young wheel-spouting friend was wrong: He tried to compare a TA without a sling to a wheel with "A STRING". (I'll presume he just hasn't learned all the glossery yet.)
My point: Kid, don't play games with the facts, be true in your scientific process and learn what's true.

"Ye shall know The TRUTH and the truth shall set you free."

Note: I used the illustration of a 25' TA in comparison to a 40' wheel. I allowed a 5' SA to make the LA equal 20' which is the same radius as the 40' wheel.
Just wanted to stay true to scientific process.