Hello all,

I'm planning on using a two-stage coil system to accelerate and launch a ball bearing from a two-rail track. Based on a Youtube video on building a coil accelerator for ball bearings, which used a 24V and 13A setup to achieve 4 m/s velocity (based on his estimate of achieving about 0.52 J with a 65g ball bearing), I estimate that I'll need similar but slightly higher settings for my purposes (I estimated that I'll need a launch speed of about 4.86 m/s), but I expect that I'll need to use a variable power supply to be able to tune my power settings to get the ball bearing to land on my narrow target window.

I'm trying to stay economical for this project, so I'd rather not invest in a benchtop power supply that I may not use again in the future. I'm intrigued by the adjustable AC/DC 3-24V power supply adapters I'm seeing on eBay/Amazon, but I think those won't work for me due to their 3A capacity limit. Should I be looking into batteries instead, or is there another beginner-friendly alternative to buying or building a benchtop power supply that meets my requirements? Thanks.

 

I believe that discussing rail-gun like projects is taboo on this forum.

 

I believe that discussing rail-gun like projects is taboo on this forum.

Shouldn't it be fine since I'm not building a "gun" of any sort (I'll correct my title, sorry). As I described above, it is a ball bearing launcher (shaped like a water-slide, if you want a visual representation), and it just uses the same principles of inductor coils to accelerate the ball bearing. And for this project, I have a narrow landing target about 1 foot away from the launching point.

EDIT: I'm finding that it's too late to make any edits to my OP or title, is that correct? If so, can a mod edit my thread title to the following, to clarify the "coilgun" miscommunication: "Advised Variable Power Supply for Inductor-Accelerated Launcher Project?" Thanks.

 

Shouldn't it be fine since I'm not building a "gun" of any sort (I'll correct my title, sorry). As I described above, it is a ball bearing launcher (shaped like a water-slide, if you want a visual representation), and it just uses the same principles of inductor coils to accelerate the ball bearing. And for this project, I have a narrow landing target about 1 foot away from the launching point.

EDIT: I'm finding that it's too late to make any edits to my OP or title, is that correct? If so, can a mod edit my thread title to the following, to clarify the "coilgun" miscommunication: "Advised Variable Power Supply for Inductor-Accelerated Launcher Project?" Thanks.

I think it's still a disallowed topic. I'll let moderators decide.

Terms and rules | All About Circuits
User Agreement (allaboutcircuits.com)

 

I think it's still a disallowed topic. I'll let moderators decide.
View attachment 280161
Terms and rules | All About Circuits
User Agreement (allaboutcircuits.com)

Ah, I see. Ok.

 

It never pays to pay games with the TAR (Terms And Rules, the link of which is at the bottom of every page on this site) I am therefore shutting this thread down.