Homemade CD Shooter? 115
Rinisari asks: "I've recently come into a very large amount of defunct, yet still structurally intact, CDs. I did some searching about on Google, but turned up nothing on my goal: A Compact Disc Cannon. Has anyone ever built a device for shooting CDs in a horizontal or vertical fashion? I'm thinking almost something like one of those foam disc shooters..."
Clay Pigeon Chucker (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Clay Pigeon Chucker (Score:1)
Re:Clay Pigeon Chucker (Score:2)
Re:Clay Pigeon Chucker (Score:1)
Re:Clay Pigeon Chucker (Score:2)
Re:Clay Pigeon Chucker (Score:2)
http://www.enjoy.co.uk/prodv/foam-disc-shooter/
Re:Clay Pigeon Chucker (Score:1)
Re:Clay Pigeon Chucker (Score:1)
Re:Clay Pigeon Chucker (Score:1)
Uses for CDs (Score:5, Interesting)
Hellrazor? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Hellrazor? (Score:2, Informative)
Are we looking to make something that will shoot them frisbee style, or frag grenade [slashdot.org] style?
Re:Hellrazor? (Score:2)
Re:Hellrazor? (Score:2)
Hellraiser III (Score:1)
Terrorist scum alert! (Score:5, Funny)
Shazbot! (Score:5, Interesting)
What I'd have is a typical gun structure, but with a loading mechanism made to support stock spindles (of 25, 50, or perhaps even 100 CD's). When recoiled, the CD should fall into place onto a small bolt or something. The trigger would drive this bolt forward sharply along a rail by a spring or rubber band. At the end of the rail, the bolt would have to drop down so the CD can fly free of the mechanism. I hadn't put much thought into a semi-auto system, though.
Hmmm... (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't see why you can't build one.... (Score:5, Informative)
You should be able to build this mechanism with little difficulty; the only problem might be that the CD's may be too fragile to be quickly accelerated in such a matter.
Re:I don't see why you can't build one.... (Score:2)
--trb
Re:I don't see why you can't build one.... (Score:3, Insightful)
I saw one of these ten years ago... (Score:5, Funny)
=)
Have you ever thrown a CD? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Have you ever thrown a CD? (Score:3, Informative)
Perhaps you can do what some others have done and make a set of groovy coasters by putting the cd in a microwave for 3-4 second
Re:Have you ever thrown a CD? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Have you ever thrown a CD? (Score:2)
Re:Have you ever thrown a CD? (Score:1)
Careful - I killed a microwave doing this once - but the CD was left in there a lot longer than 3-4 seconds, maybe 20 - 30.
Re:Have you ever thrown a CD? (Score:1)
Re:Have you ever thrown a CD? (Score:1)
Not true. Shortly after high school, I was renting a trailer house. I decided to clean out my cd collection by learning to throw the bad cds. By the time I was down to cds that I liked, I was able to throw the cds from one end of the trailer to the kitchen, 3/4 of the length of the trailer away.
They shatter into little, tiny pieces t
Re:Have you ever thrown a CD? (Score:2)
You have to throw CDs like you throw a playing card. If you've thrown a forehand, or hammer you know the deal already. Place it in between your thumb and forefinger. Snap your wrist, and snap it back on the follow through. You can get those things going at a pretty good clip. For extra CD type fun, get an old busted hard disk and you can skip those things across pools and bodies of water like you were some kind of IT Ninja.
Re:Have you ever thrown a CD? (Score:1)
I did see an episode of Mythbusters [discovery.com] in which the boys built some penny launching guns (the penny flew in frisbee fashion) - perhaps you could scale up something like that. One of them was an aluminum block with a thin slot for the penny on the end of a .22 rifle. Y
SCUD (Score:5, Funny)
Sort of. I used to fling bad CDs into my friend's cubicle. Written on each one was "SCUD... Don't worry, you probably weren't the intended target."
Combo Railgun and Dremel (Score:5, Interesting)
1) Magazine feeds a CD to a dremel motor which spins the CD in place to about 5000 rpm. As it is spinning up, the...
2) capacitors in the railgun are charging. Since the disk has an aluminum layer, it should be able to be ejected from a railgun. So when the capacitors are charged...
3) a switch kills the dremel motor, which drops the disk into the railgun receiver. CD shoots off, rack another one into the spinner-upper.
4) Repeat.
Alternately, hack an old CD drive to spin and release the cd.
Re:Combo Railgun and Dremel (Score:1)
Re:Combo Railgun and Dremel (Score:1)
Not to mention, the aluminum layer wouldn't make great contact with the rails....
Now... Maybe something more like a couple gutted dremels turning foam wheels at high speeds on both sides of the cd. The cd would be flicked into the foam wheels by a trigger. The wheels would grip the cd and send it flying away. Much like those sil
Re:Combo Railgun and Dremel (Score:1)
A nice idea, except for the one small detail that aluminum is not ferrous...
Re:Combo Railgun and Dremel (Score:1)
Physics 101
Re:Combo Railgun and Dremel (Score:1)
Overly complicated. (Score:1)
I've seen linear motors using aluminum sheets as the moving part, but the spinning of the disc means there's another problem to contend with. Unfortunately the eddy currents induced in a spinning aluminum disc by the electromagnets in the rail gun will act as a powerful brake, causin
PETA demands you stop this abuse! (Score:3, Funny)
Any attempt to use ferrets as weapons will be considered an act of murder and we will return the favor on behalf of our long slinkylike furry friends.
Re:Combo Railgun and Dremel (Score:1)
So...
Coil some wire and make the windings wrap around an axis that is coaxial with your CD's.
Cut a radial slot in an aluminum washer. Or alternatively, drill a hole and cut a slot in a disc made of aluminum.
Set that modified disc above the coils so that it is coaxial with the coils.
Turn
Re:Combo Railgun and Dremel (Score:2, Interesting)
BTW: it's easy to demonstrate that aluminum and magnets can interact with each other.
Get a really, really strong magnet. For example a rare earth magnet from a hard drive head actuator (early 1990's drives with lots of platters are great for this). Then find something flat made of aluminum, such as a screen door. Place magnet on aluminum. As expected, it won't stick.
Now slide the magnet on the aluminum surface. If the magnet is strong enough, you'll feel it resist the movement. The faster you move
A Dremel? Like in the a-splodin CD experiments? (Score:2)
Also consider, the stuff used to bind the aluminium to the plastic substrate is usually toxic.
Re:A Dremel? Like in the a-splodin CD experiments? (Score:2, Informative)
Mythbusters [discovery.com], though IIRC they used something much more powerful than a Dremel tool.
Great show: the scientific method meets real-life engineering meets blowing stuff up. Shame that the Discovery Channel gives it such little support
Re:A Dremel? Like in the a-splodin CD experiments? (Score:1)
Re:A Dremel? Yes! (Score:1)
1977 Ford F-100 (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:1977 Ford F-100 (Score:3, Informative)
Y'know, come to think, you may be able to rig up an old baseball auto-pitcher (the kind with the two tires). Make it one tire, vertically mounted, with a tiny gap above a steel plate.
Disclaimer: This is just a hypothetical device. I assume no responsibility for safety or liability if you actually build it.
Pitching Machine (Score:3, Interesting)
This thing shoots 6' long 2x4's at over 120mph using the same concept... Except using tires and a 500 cubic inch engine.
Baseball thrower (Score:1)
Ballista (Score:4, Informative)
An advantage to a balista is that once you tire of shooting CDs you can switch to other fun projectiles >:->
Since When (Score:2)
Survival Research Labratories Pitching Machine (Score:5, Informative)
An engine, two car wheels and a loading mechanism. You could use a similar mechanism for your CD 'tosser'.
But please, always remember to wear your safety goggles. And safety gloves. And a safety shirt...
Easy (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Easy (Score:2, Interesting)
I had a CD-ROM burner do this to me 6-7 years ago.
I has 12" away from the drive and it nearly got me.
The tray openned and the disk was spinning and bumping inside the tray like it was about to explode. It eventually hit one of the disc stoppers on the tray and that made it fly up and away. The wall behind me stop it, otherwise the 5 1/4" spinning ginsu would have done a lot of damage.
only 33 CD's?!! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:only 33 CD's?!! (Score:1)
Re:only 33 CD's?!! (Score:2)
Re:only 33 CD's?!! (Score:1)
Re:only 33 CD's?!! (Score:1)
Rotational speed and linear velocity (Score:3, Interesting)
My vision is of a CD spindle looking clip that loads the "ammo" from the top (gravity fed), with a bolt like thin sliding arm with a center spindle, to push the discs forward one at a time while holding the rest of the stack out of the way. When the trigger is pulled, the arm slides forward to launch a disc, and releases the next disc in the stack onto the top of the chamber. As the trigger is released the disc falls into the chamber where rotors on the sides of it, or the spindle on the arm spin the disc up to speed. When ready, the trigger is pulled, pushing the arm and spindle forward to the launching wheels. When the disc gets to the launching wheels, the spindle drops out of the way. The wheels themselves are rubber, touching each other, and spinning in opposite directions, such that when a disc is pushed into them, they spit it out rather quickly. They should be near the center of the disc on top and bottom of the track the disc slides on, offsetslighly to maintain the rotation on the disc itself, but keep the path of the disc somewhat straight out the end.
just a thought, dont look at me if you try to actually build somthing from this and hurtyourself.
tm
Rockets? (Score:1)
Simple (Score:2)
Once you have something that shoots, you can go the extra mile, evolve it into something along the lines of a CD gatling and make yourself one of these [gameamp.com] and post us some pictures of the result. (Yes, I know, the projecti
Well I haven't seen one.. (Score:1)
DON'T DO IT (Score:2, Funny)
"You could put someone's eye out with that!"
Re:DON'T DO IT (Score:2)
Think spinning tops, not frisbees. (Score:4, Interesting)
Think about tops, not disks. You guys are all thinking about spinning a CD down a slot. Instead, think of it as a spinning top revolving on its axis, like a CD is designed to do. Nothing says you can't modify the CD slightly. You could glue a small spindle into the center of the CD, or just cut a small slot in the edge of the center hole, so you can make a removable spindle with a keyed rod that goes in the slot to keep the CD from slipping.
So if you've understood what I'm getting at, you now have a CD with a little wooden spindle sticking up from the top and bottom. Essentially you now have a very thin, wide top. It used to be fairly common to have wooden top "launchers" or "brackets" with notches that held the top and bottom spindle on a top. In this case, you'd need a piece of wood about an inch thick and about 1 foot long. Cut a slot down the center of the wood to allow the CD to pass through. Cut a V shaped notch across the end of the stick, perpendicular to the slot.
Now you can set the spindle of the "CD top" in the notch. Wrap some string around the spindle, pull, and you've got the CD spinning at high RPM. flick the rod and your CD is flying.
I looked around the web and this page is about as close as I came to finding a top bracket.
http://www.turnertoys.com/tops4_toddlers.htm
You can kind of see what I'm getting at, but this version just drops the top down, it's not intended for tossing, and the plane of the top isn't centered in the bracket, it's below. But I think you'll get the idea. Now go build it..
Re:Think spinning tops, not frisbees. (Score:2)
Those wheels turned in opposite directions though, to shoot the ball forward. To put spin on a CD you'd have to make them spin in the same direction, possibly one faster than the other to control which direction the CD shot out. Or mayb
Re:Think spinning tops, not frisbees. (Score:2)
CD's are for sissies... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:CD's are for sissies... (Score:1)
The benefit is that when the platter shatters it launches in ALL directions.
And to all you retards, don't even THROW a CD at a solid object near other human beings. CD shards in the eye suck.
CDRoms shatter and 'explode' - be careful (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:CDRoms shatter and 'explode' - be careful (Score:2)
Re:CDRoms shatter and 'explode' - be careful (Score:2)
So I don't get too offtopic, a 16X DVD (or 40x CD) (by comparison) is 10,000rpms
Hammerhead (Score:3, Informative)
Old skewl (Score:5, Interesting)
One possibility (Score:4, Informative)
Avoid the temptation. (Score:2)
It worked rather well - but i guess it depends on your point of view. The person whome I hit in the neck, making a red line across his throat probably wouldn't have thought it was so successful.
With great CD power comes great CD responsibility.
What about the Ripper from UT? (Score:2, Interesting)
Some sugestions. (Score:2, Insightful)
Like everyone else, I'd recommend the use of an electric motor. The simplest design would be two rubber cylinders placed vertically, one powered, the other spinning only because it's touching the other. But the trajectory wi
Ouch! (Score:4, Insightful)
My first reaction was along the lines of "Man, that's asking for trouble". It'd be a fun toy to make, but once you fire a few disks you'll get an understanding of how dangerous this is. I know I'm not the only one to comment on this, but what the hey...
My experience is only with hand-thrown CDs (at a distance of 15m or so) but:
Sure, you can have fun designing a machine, but it's a downright dangerous result you're looking for. Can't you exercise your brain with a safer problem?
Like nuclear fission... ;-)
Re:Ouch! (Score:2)
Slingshot (Score:1)
Spinning CD could take someones head off (Score:4, Funny)
super dangerous (Score:2)
Re:super dangerous (Score:3, Interesting)
I wonder if wrapping a few turns of gauze over the cd would get you both the surface area and seal you need for a compressed air release? It is amazing what 200 psi will get you
How to aim horisontally rotating CD... (Score:1)
I would like to post an ascii blueprint here but the lame "lameness filter" won't allow it, sorry.
Brings back memories (Score:1)
The concepts I was working with:
1. Foam disc gun spinning roller concept
2. Yellow (or blue) metallic clicky spring-launched plastic disc concept (late 70's or early '80s gold or blue metallic plastic guns with attached magazine in front of trigger)
Option 2 I suspect would work on a larger scale. Of course, I decided option 1 sounded like more fun. Couldn't get a cordless drill to spin fast en
Re:Brings back memories (Score:1)
As a partner-in-crime on your endeavor, the details are exactly what I recalled (though you remembered more since the idea was yours and I was primarily the provider of the circular saw
Yorx CD player (Score:2)
CD solar concentrator (Score:2)
cd shooter concept (Score:1)
All he did was speed the cd up, then let it fall off the tool onto the floor. The friction between the spinning cd and the floor caused the cd to accelerate to a high velocity. When it hit a wall it shattered into pieces.
Idea 1:
Simple:
a) Speed CD up with dremel tool
b) Drop CD on its side onto a flat smooth surface (parallel to ground like floor), as Sam Burros did.
c) Make sure the CD is going to go away from you!
Idea
Start with a 5 cd changer (Score:1)
T
70's Toy Disk Shooter (Score:3, Interesting)
Another cool feature was at the top of the ammo cylindar was a rectangular funnel so you could theoretically catch disks shot at you and they would be back ready to be shot back.
I looked for a picture but I couldn't find one on-line, though I am sure I've seen smaller versions in the cheap-toy section of places like Target or Wal-Mart.
Re:70's Toy Disk Shooter (Score:1)
There's a lot of ways to do this... (Score:2)
The most obvious way is to take a couple of flexible rubber wheels, mount them so that they are touching each other, spin one really fast using a motor (causing the other one to spin in the opposite direction), and then feed the CD between them. Instant CD shooter.
-Advantages: Easy to build, works.
-Disadvantages: The major problem with this method is that the accuracy sucks. Although you can get some amazing speeds, your CD is shooting flat, with no spin to it. So you don't get much in the way of d
rate of fire (Score:1)
A gun with a rate of fire that's expressed in MBps !
A different approach... (Score:1)
Re:A different approach... (Score:2, Informative)