Sentry Gun Project

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

I've been thinking about this (because damnit, I have all the bits now, I just need to put them together!) in order to reduce the load on the servos and maybe have more reliable function, have a flexible tube between the valve and the barrel that would allow the trigger to be fixed to the base, and have the tube itself as the BB chamber, without the inconvenience of vortex blocks etc.

[POLAND_SPUD]

hmmn not a bad idea.. 6/4mm polyamid or polyurethane tubing would be ideal

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

6/4mm polyamid or polyurethane tubing would be ideal

Coincidentally, I have this stuff (together with a convenient 1/8" compression fitting, I love my job ), 2mm I/D, 4mm O/D polyamide - according to the specs, it will take almost 2500 psi before bursting, and working pressure is listed as around 800 psi, so just right for what my HPA tanks are putting out

edit: feck... the little feckers still jam in the pipe.

For being such small projectiles, they really are a pain in the arse!

[Insomniac]

Haha, I was afraid of that when I saw the original idea. Oh well.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Haha, I was afraid of that when I saw the original idea.

As the diameter of the tube is exactly twice that of the ammunition I had similar fears, but hope springs eternal still, I like the idea of keeping the valve attached to the base, I think I'll try remaking it with a vortex block constructed with a bit more care fed through the tubing and see if that cures the problem.

[POLAND_SPUD]

uhmm AFAIK tubing also comes in 4X1.5mm size... though I don't know if that will help

EDIT
no I checked that link that's 4X2.5mm... but I could swear I've seen one with ID of 1.5mm

anyway that's exactly teh tubing I've been talking about... you can also get push-to-connect fitting for them (which can be quickly connected disconnected).. the one you have right now is
screw-to-connect fitting

[Insomniac]

Why not build it so that the valve and air supply is on the base, with the block and hopper on the turret? I haven't bothered to read back though the topic yet so I'm not sure if your design could work that way, but it seems workable.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Why not build it so that the valve and air supply is on the base, with the block and hopper on the turret?

That's what I meant by this:

I think I'll try remaking it with a vortex block constructed with a bit more care fed through the tubing

Working on it as we speak

edit: I'm on to a good thing, but it's on hold for at least a month as I'm once again of foreign assignment...

[JeffSinger]

Why not build it so that the valve and air supply is on the base, with the block and hopper on the turret?

That's what I meant by this:

I think I'll try remaking it with a vortex block constructed with a bit more care fed through the tubing

Working on it as we speak

edit: I'm on to a good thing, but it's on hold for at least a month as I'm once again of foreign assignment...

Hey, I was on the the sentry gun site (aka The Sentry Project/PaintballSentry.com) http://www.paintballsentry.com and there are a few things you may not be aware of. They have released version 2.0 (which is free for current customers like yourself) with lots of upgrades. I get over 20fps on my cheap, $250 Acer netbook. It can filter out crap like swaying trees and I can adjust target lead. The upgrade list is here: http://www.paintballsentry.com/softwareHistory.html. The have updated their instruction pages too http://www.paintballsentry.com/Instructions.htm which illustrates how to use the system for many things like an auto tracking PTZ camera, autonomous water cannon for hazing geese, turret kit instructions, software instructions, etc. Also, they are selling the turret kits again. And they're cheap! There's no need to mess around for hours and hours trying to get the hardware figured out. The turret has a generic gun mount and trigger puller so almost anything can be mounted on it.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Fear not, I get the updates by email Looking forward to trying out v2.0 when I get home, that's in a couple of days time and this will be the first thing I'll be working on.

The turret kit is an attractive option for off-the-shelf gun systems but in my case, the combination of heavy duty servos with a compact lightweight firing unit should allow the use of a simple direct-drive mounting on these lines:

[jrrdw]

To the front of the line. 2

[JeffSinger]

Fear not, I get the updates by email Looking forward to trying out v2.0 when I get home, that's in a couple of days time and this will be the first thing I'll be working on.

The turret kit is an attractive option for off-the-shelf gun systems but in my case, the combination of heavy duty servos with a compact lightweight firing unit should allow the use of a simple direct-drive mounting on these lines:

that's going to be flimsy on the X axis pivot point because it's just a plastic servo horn. If you somehow found a metal disc for a servo horn then that would be much better. the entire weight of everything will put a lot of leverage on that plastic servo horn and make it want to flex really easily even if it's just a stripped down, home made airsoft gun.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

even if it's just a stripped down, home made airsoft gun.

The design I'm working on uses 1mm ammunition so light that you can have 24 rounds for the weight of a single 0.12 gram airsoft BB, it's not going to be putting much stress on the system.

Its latest incarnation (which I hope to have finished for firing tests by the end of this weekend) has the valve and trigger servo off the mount too.

edit: spoke too soon, I need to go back to the drawing board in terms of firepower...

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

While I'm waiting for the umpteenth incarnation of the 1mm BBMG to cure, here's something that might be of interest to those who want to make something similar but on a lower budget. Not sure how good the software is but hey, it's free

They also mention a "vortex block BB gun" as one of the "dispenser" options...

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

A bit demotivated from trying to make an effective gun for this thing, decided to have a play with the software interfaced with the servos and a laser pointer. First half of the video is the ghetto rig in action, second half is the target which was across the room

[youtube][/youtube]

Given that I calibrated it in 2 minutes and didn't bother refining the settings, as well as the fact that it's held together by tape and blu-tack - not exactly rigid - not bad