I built this launcher for a high school science teacher for use in his physics class. He wanted something small and not overly powerful and a little more reliable that the taped-together-beer-can model that he had made in the early 80's. About a week later I built another one that was electrically fired for a woman that needed a way to shoot tennis balls for the purpose of training her dogs. The launcher pictured below is about 30" long and weighs just shy of 10 lbs. It has a ratio of 0.75:1. The modified 1" sprinkler valve dumps the 3" x 12" air chamber instantly and produces a fairly loud report for a small unit. This launcher also comes with a ram rod (not pictured) 
Over/under configuration with a 3" x 12" air chamber and a 24" long 2 1/2" tennis ball barrel. A piece of 1 3/4" plywood cut with to correct radius's and an industrial zip-tie to hold the unit tightly together to prevent flexing and breakage. Shown below is the optional chamber fill control valve. This allows the launcher to be hooked up directly to an air compressor or regulated CO2 tank. The amount of pressure the chamber is filled to is controlled by simply holding the little lever down untill the desired pressure is reached. (eliminates the need to fill the chamber with a tire chuck) And as always, the Schrader valve for filling the chamber, pressure gauge, and 125 PSI safety pop-off valve come standard with all SGTC pneumatic launchers. 
Here's a view from the "business end" of the launcher. 
The TBL500LP is a good launcher for all kinds of applications. In addition to the educational purposes that it was originally designed for It also works extremely well for launching training dummies for hunting dogs. Or if some one just wants a pneumatic launcher for weekend entertainment but doesn't want the excessive power or the higher price associated with a big air cannon, this is the ticket!!
document created 7/7/2002 10:54:38 PM;
last modified 9/8/2002 3:00:21 AM
| 
Increase accuracy and safety with new rifled barrels!
New Forum