For A Level Design & Technology

[Dazzer13]

I am looking at design and making pop up paintball Targets:

-An automated pop up system for paintball practice. Controlled from an external control box which targets time delays and hit status can be edited with feed back, also the targets can be change with there size or styles

I will be designing and making this product that is new to the paintball Market for my A level Project. It will use electronics for controlling the targets and mechanisms for the movement then radio waves to link/communicate between the both.

I have looked on the internet and yet found only one other type of product that’s close, which is a stationary Paintball Spinner Target system:

-“Paintball spinner target’s are designed specifically for paintball markers and boasts a hands-free design that automatically resets as each target is hit. The high-grade steel construction with 4 legs provides a solid and stable foundation a”
http://www.equipment-manager.com/paintballs-target.php

Basically the deign will be targets contacted to a motor by a linkage that drives the targets in/out from be hide barricades (still looking at deigning it for both supair and rec. paintball) each target is going to be remote so layouts of them can be change for different practices and improvements on players skills. The targets will be design for easy removal for cleaning and changing of size.

I am looking for primary and secondary research link with this project.
(hence this thread)

I was wondering about peoples feed back on the idea and possible improvements now, also as and when I update this thread/project.

I am also looking for clients for possible testing and evaluation on each model developed with someone who’s experience in the area of player’s skills and training in paintball.

Cheers

Daz


(and… possible sponsorships)

 

[John C]

Sounds like a good idea.

You will need a PIC or similar to control the targets.
http://www.microchip.com/

But it wont be able to do it on its own. You will need to link it up to a PC but thats fine as most modern PICs have built in USART

You have to use stepper motors and PWM for the precision. The best place to get steppers is from old printers.


It would be far less messy to design it for target reballs, then you will need a catch system to collect the fired balls for you and a vibration sensor to detect a hit (for the high scores ).

Again all simple stuff on its own. But getting it all to work to gether is where it becomes tricky.

Good luck

 

[Dazzer13]

Yer m8 I will be using a pic with PIX AXE software (used with a pc) the pic will control the time delays of the targets and the radio wave to control the movement of the pop up targets and like u said i will use a stepper motor. The PIC will be design to keep logs and generate visual display of hit counts etc.

at the moment i am still in the design and research stage

The idea of using reballs (solid paintball balls) and having a collecting system beneath (like netting or something) would be great

Cheers for the ideas m8

Daz

 

[John C]

You seem to be sorted, it souds like it would make a great product.

I would stay away from radio though, just use a wire. You can use serial communication which means the wire only needs to have two or three cores.

Also I would compile the logs and scores on the PC, its something a pic could do, but it would be more complex than the rest of the project put together.

If you just get the pic to send a signal to the PC to indicate a hit and the PC already knows when the target(s) is out (since it told the PIC to send it out) then you can determine if the target was hit in the required time.

 

[Jake]

Many many moons ago I designed a paintball target for my A level design and technology project. Except I was a lazy ******* and my finished product was rubbish.

I spent too much time drinking, that coupled with the fact I was next to useless at D&T. Thank god for the social sciences otherwise I would have done a proper degree.

If you want any help you can pm me

 

[Dazzer13]

Sure i will kep that in mind m8

Cheers

daz

 

[Dazzer13]

John C, if i was to not use radio waves and ster towards wires between each target, a) would get messy if there were more than 5, b) distances with the wires mite make the targets limited.

I hear wot ur saying about the interferance and maybe miss cominication of targets and data, but i have an ACE tech teachers whos in the know about electronics and i mean it

but i am not throughing ur idea out of the window yet something i would need to look into.

Cheers

Daz

 

[dan0011]

im doing an electronics gcse at the moment and my teacher is a stupid little mole and doesnt teach us anything, instead he plays championship manager on his laptop - what an idiot

anyway when september comes were getting a new teacher who knows his stuff

im making a subwoofer super powered ball to the wall type !!

for "A" level i think ill do something paintball related. Dazzer13 you've been my insperation

 

[Dazzer13]

Cheers nice to know i inspire other people. If u met me like Paradox113 and roulet have theres a different story

Yer i did something interesting for my GCSE work it was a electronic CAM'd miniture faire ground ride base on mecano.

Good luck with your sub woofer


Daz

 

[Dazzer13]

Ok here is a rough idea of the design for making the targets appear. It is my first idea.

If anyone has ANY improvements or idea there more than welcome

REMember its rough and the first

Cheers

Daz

if the pic doesn't work goto this url :

http://dazzer.13.tripod.com/pop_up_targe2t.jpg