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Ryan LaFleur, Garrett Lui, Patrick Fletcher

Mr. Pochop

POE per. 5

29 September, 2017

Compound Machine Write-up

Progression of the “Shooty shooty bang bang”

For our complex machine, we decided to create a rubber band gun using an seriously over

complicated rube-goldberg conglomerate of gears, chains and pulleys to accomplish what

amounted to a fairly simple motion.


Throughout the production of this machine, the basic design, specifically the integration of the

release and firing mechanism, has changed various times to the extent that the final product

works quite differently than the original design, though it still accomplishes the task of firing a

rubber band (most of the time, I mean, we're talking at least 60% here) in a unique, albeit

convoluted, way. The greatest challenge of producing this compound machine was devising an

effective firing release mechanism, as most designs failed to work with consistency. Although

most of these designs likely would have been fine for the sake of the project grade, it just didn't

feel right to have a machine without a purpose. After various reconfigurations of basically

everything, we finally produced a (mostly) working product.

This was our original design:


In this original model, human effort would be input to a wheel and axle, the primary

generator of mechanical advantage, spinning a chain and sprocket system, with the end sprocket

being connected by axle to a gear train intended to create two opposing directions. The outermost

gears would then be connected to two inverse chain and sprocket systems by axle, spinning in

opposite directions. The end of the axle of each outer sprocket would then have a string thing

(for the sake of simplicity, let's just call it a pulley, as it should function similarly to a fixed

pulley in terms of mechanical advantage) coiled on it. The end of the string on the front pulley

would then be connected to an extruding bar, while the other would be connected similarly,

though this bar would have a wedge at the end. When spun, these two bars would be pulled apart

and eventually the rubber band would come loose on the wedge and be released. These two bars

would be on a sliding rail to allow them to move.


In the second design, due to size constraints and miscommunication, the first sprocket

that is fed into is scrapped with the wheel and axle (it really looks like a leaver though, am I

right) being directly connected to the gear train. The final gear to the front was also removed,

along with the pulley, and its chain and sprocket was instead diverted to the axle to the rearmost

of the machine through the new frontmost axle (the one adjacent to the center of the gear train) to

increase traction. At this time, the gear train is arranged to generate speed rather than torque, for

reference. The release platform was also changed, with the frontmost bar being affixed to the

front of the machine, without any maneuverability, relying on the rear bar to move. After this

second design, we opted to trade the sliding mechanism which was unreliable on shooting for a

sprocket release which is similar to that on normal rubber band guns, this change made the

machine prior to the launching mechanism a tension retainer, as that the end result does not make

the rubber band shoot, but stops it from firing. The new firing mechanism is much more reliable

due to the change regarding the sprocket.


The mechanism that retains the launching sequence has a overall actual mechanical

advantage of 4.3 , and an ideal mechanical advantage of 30. The efficiency of our machine is

4.3/30, or 0.1433The majority of the mechanical advantage comes from the wheel and axle, but

there is also a gear ratio of 3 which is contributing. The pulley and sprocket have a mechanical

advantage of 1. We only used them to change direction of energy not to increase distance of

energy.
On the first day we came up with the ideas and sketches. Second day we fine tuned the idea, built

the base, devised our gear system, and finished our wheel and axle. On the third day stabilised

the gear system and worked on the firing mechanism. The fourth day we redesigned the firing

mechanism and finished the overall machine.

General Timeline:

1. September 15, 2017


a. Brainstormed ideas - Everyone
b. Sketched ideas - Everyone
2. September 19, 2017
a. Revised sketch - Garrett and Ryan
b. Built base - Garrett and Ryan
c. Worked out gear system - Patrick and Ryan
d. Completed lever - Patrick
e. Documentation - Patrick
3. September 21, 2017
a. Stabilized middle bar - Patrick
b. Created firing mechanism - Garrett
c. Redesigned gear system and firing mechanics - Ryan and Garrett
d. Redesigned gear system again - Ryan
e. Redesigned gear system and firing mechanics - Ryan and Garrett
f. Redesigned firing mechanic again - Garrett
g. Documentation - Patrick
4. September 26, 2017
a. Moved lever location - Patrick
b. Attached spoil - Ryan and Garrett
c. Attached firing mechanics - Ryan and Garrett
d. Moved spoil - Ryan
e. Removed gear and axle - Ryan
f. Moved lever again - Patrick
g. Attached resetting mechanism - Everyone
h. Removed resetting mechanism - Ryan
i. Redesigned firing mechanics - Ryan and Garrett
j. Documentation - Patrick

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