Accurate Ball Launcher PVC by Davetorpe

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

In my physics classroom we study projectile motion. Accurate projectile launchers with consistent results are very expensive ($200+). Because of this, I find that I have many students working with few launchers, diminishing the overall experience.
I have designed a launcher that I have been able to create for my classroom that costs less than $5 in materials. Aside from plastic, you will need a large spring ($0.80, I used menards part#88228, 13/16 x 3-1/4 compression spring), and a 5 inch section of 1" schedule 40 PVC pipe.
To launch, a paperclip is used to hold the plunger back. A swift yank will release the plunger, and your projectile should be launched. I used a 1/2" ball bearning, and I found that the projectile would travel around 11 feet, with an error of around 6 inches.
Some of the troubles I ran into, that I expect you will also find:
-PVC sizing is not as consistent as I initially thought. I had to adjust the scaling percentage slightly depending on the batch of PVC.
-PVC is not perfectly round. I found that every piece of PVC is slightly oval, creating asymmetric hot spots on the plunger.
-If you buy several springs, they will not create equal projectile launches.
-if you do not glue the printed parts to the PVC well enough, the launcher will disassemble itself during launch.
-securing the launcher in place is tricky, so I included a bracket that should effectively clamp the launcher to another surface with a nut and bolt.
Overall, my school was able to buy a cheap 3d printer (monoprice mp select mini) and print a dozen of these launchers for less than the cost of one traditional projectile launcher. The printed launchers do not shoot as well, but they are still quite accurate.