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Rapid Ball Juggler

Rapid Ball Juggler
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Hey y'all! This is my entry into the Kinetic Sculpture Contest.

This is a kinetic sculpture that catapults ping pong balls into the air, into a basket, and back to the catapult. It runs for as long as you want it to with a motor, and a rubber band powers the catapult. A mechanism at the end allows each ball to load into the catapult one by one. It's a useless machine, but fun to watch. :-)

This machine is made to use 38mm ping pong balls.

Here's the video of the ball juggler in action:



So, let's get building! I hope you like it!

 
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Step 1Parts List

Parts List
Here's all the pieces you'll need to make the ball juggler:

Rods: 279
  • green-98
  • white-38
  • blue-92
  • yellow-35
  • red-9
  • flexi-rod (gray rod length)-3
  • rigid tan-2
  • rigid black-2
Connectors: 225
  • dark gray-11
  • light gray-5
  • red-34
  • green-25
  • yellow-45
  • white-14
  • orange-24
  • blue-27
  • purple-40
Other: 127
  • blue spacer-51
  • silver spacer-43
  • tan clip-21
  • Y-connector-7
  • rubber band-1
  • motor-1
  • small blue gear-1
  • red gear-2

TOTAL: 631

If you have all of these pieces, then you may begin! If you don't, then you could still try, and leave some pieces out (even though it won't work as well). Tan (red rod length) or black (gray rod length) rigid rods can be replaced with red or gray rods.
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267 comments
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Apr 7, 2012. 2:41 PMD.A.V.E The Robot says:
Hey I managed to build 2 of these. I found a way to conect them together and with some moding i have a dual one. wil post a pic soon if thats ok :D
Apr 7, 2012. 8:25 PMD.A.V.E The Robot says:
after the ball gets flung into the basket the ramp leads to the other flinger then that ball gets launched into the other basket then it all happenes again...very donfusing...lol :D
Apr 9, 2012. 1:17 AMD.A.V.E The Robot says:
SMILY FACE SPAM...XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD ...LOL
Apr 14, 2012. 5:01 PMD.A.V.E The Robot says:
Looking back on that....I actually wonder how many people flaged me for spam...
Dec 30, 2011. 3:38 PMdaredevil499 says:
cool!
Mar 17, 2012. 7:22 AMdidexo says:
Somebody call the NBA I think we got an allstar :)
Apr 28, 2011. 7:15 AMRandomguy65 says:
Oh, what the heck. I've finally got some ping pong balls so why not. :-) I've got nothing better to do.
Apr 28, 2011. 3:17 PMRandomguy65 says:
I am having difficulties. :-(
Oct 10, 2011. 7:16 AMzwelch1 says:
me too its with the catapult it wont go all the way down to pick up the ball
Apr 28, 2011. 10:34 AMRandomguy65 says:
CRAP! The ball dosen't want to make it on the catapult because the arm doesn't go down far enough!!!!!
May 15, 2011. 11:15 AMpokerface1 says:
Shadowman39 I'm a huge fan of you and i build this thing, it's realy awsome and I have fun with it. I don't have a picture, sorry
I also build the Knex Cristmas Wreath and the Hole Puncher.
Keep on doing this great work.
Oct 10, 2011. 7:14 AMzwelch1 says:
i am having trouble getting the catapult to hit the ball loader i think you shortend te turning mechanism too much
Sep 25, 2011. 10:18 PMcharliethecreator says:
project juggle sounds good :)
Sep 2, 2011. 10:33 PMSnosageman99 says:
awesome
Aug 27, 2011. 5:48 PMOblivitus says:
This is great! 4.5 stars.
Aug 22, 2011. 8:06 PMKnex Yoshi says:
thx **5**
Aug 19, 2011. 4:31 PMKnex Yoshi says:
can you build with micro (I recently made the coin sorter but took it apart bcuz it didnt work
Aug 4, 2011. 5:19 AMknexman2001 says:
Best instructable EVER!
Mar 10, 2011. 5:47 PMKnex1235 says:
mine it isnt getting in the loncher in gets in the thing that holds it for the ball to get in but i wont go in the lonchger but any way it is good
May 15, 2011. 3:44 PMRandomguy65 says:
I did.
Jul 27, 2011. 1:11 PMmultimokia says:
i had the same problem but solved it by turning the tan connecters on the red connecters to echother exactly and i levated mine to make it look cooler
Jul 7, 2011. 9:58 AMCassisDude98 says:
Super cool !!!!!!!!!!!
( my name at youtube is CassisDude98 maybe you know me)
May 15, 2011. 6:51 PMnoahh says:
I don't usually like Knex Instructables, but this is very impressive. Well done.
May 13, 2011. 10:04 PMRandomguy65 says:
On the front page. :-)
1-40 of 267next »

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Author:Shadowman39(Visit my Youtube channel!)
Hello! I'm Kyle, also known as Shadowman39. I like building with mostly Knex, and all of my Ibles are Knex-related. I also like Lego, but I don't build with them anymore like I used to. I also play so...
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