2014-06-01 (Su) Tennis Ball Launcher



I took a nice walk around the foot trails near my apartment.  This may have been the most interesting part of my day and was certainly, without a doubt, undeniably, 100% the most mosquito filled part of the day.  And to date, the most mosquito-ey part of 2014.

I didn't touch the pictures up or even do any color adjustments.

This animation was meant to be a panorama shot but Google animated it rather than splicing it together.  I find it hypnotic

This was the first cement block I saw

There were a lot

The trails must have been popular at some point

Enough background.
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16 gauge steel wire was purchased to maintain the exposed ends of the bungee.  The original ends were crimped with steel wire but a heavier gauge.

Steel wire and a cutter

The rear pulleys were released after having twine threaded into the eyelets by forming a basic hooked needle from the steel wire.

 Steel needle

 Twine threaded through the pulley eyelet

Testing the twine to make sure the pulley would come back out

With the bungee no longer tensed it was easy to unknot the loose end.  The tape was neatly trimmed and the end was folded over on itself.  A length of steel wire was wrapped around the doubled end by hand then tightened by using pliers.  This was repeated for the second end.

 Trimmed tape

Hand-wrapped wire
 
Pliers were needed to continue wrapping

Nice and neat


Rotational view

The bungee was not removed from the tennis ball hammock so the bungee remained in place.

To do:


  • Mount PVC in usable fashion 
  • Build then mount trigger + handle 
  • Attach release mechanism 
  • Test 
  • Refine 
  • Decorate 
  • Document



 Journal page

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