# Newbie help!



## Razaray (Apr 14, 2015)

Hey guys. Found this site last year and it was a great help as a newbie to the Halloween overhaul seen. But now I have a slightly off topic project. Looking to make a softball pitching machine out of the portable air compressor with a simple catapult arm. The idea is to fully charge the tank at home, drag it out somewhere without AC plugs and have it fire off a couple hundred pitches in 10 second intervals. I got some free components off of a buddy and looking to make it work any suggestions on other components needed or design would be greatly appreciated.

I have: 
20mm bore x 50mm travel cylinder dbl acting
25mm bore x 50mm travel cylinder dbl acting
3 way solenoid valve
Timer to energize solenoid for .5 sec then de-energize for 10 sec. 
Flow control valve
ON/OFF Switch

Was basically going to mount cylinder about 2 or 3 inches up arm from pivot point and hoping to launch the ball 30-40ft. 

The rest of the functions like arm return and ball loading are going to be mechanical or electrical. And to save air I only want to use air to launch the arm not retract or anything else. One worry I have is if the cylinder is slamming full extention if that will damage the cylinder over time. And if it will how might I arange to avoid it from slamming open or closed. 

Any help is greatly appretiated


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