Field Artillery
 

In this episode, teams will be firing weapons down a range toward plywood targets. The task is to hit them from 100 meters away with their ammunition. They have the obligatory three attempts to hit the targets. Oh, the ammo...bowling balls.

Colonel Dick is having his team build an oversized pitching machine. The bowling balls will travel down a chute, from a hopper, to a pair of spinning wheels (powered by an engine). The ball will slip between the wheels and be fired forward to the targets. The upside is that this will allow them to fire up to 5 balls per turn. The downside is that this machine will have lots of moving parts, increasing the chance of something going wrong.

Hackett and crew will make an air cannon. An air compressor will fill the barrel of the gun with air to 12psi (pounds per square inch). To keep the air in, the end of the barrel will be capped with a piece of latex rubber. Once the desired air pressure is reached, a "woodpecker" (a nail on a pivot) will pop the latex allowing a quick release of the air and the ball with it. The problem with this design will be accuracy on test day.
 
 
 
The Red Team 
Doyle, Monk & Liam
The Blue Team 
Jack, Sarge & Jared
 
 
Red's long barreled air gun
Blue's pitching machine
 
 
A looong PVC sewer pipe will 
make an excellent barrel
This propane tank will serve as an 
air reserve tank for more oomph
 
 
The blues try freeing this axle from a 
trailer which they do eventually
Monk had to leave by the medic's 
order, so bring in Chris
 
 
A gas-powered air compressor 
will provide the air guns power
Instead of removing the engine, they 
cut a car in half, making life easier
 
 
To attach the barrel to the tank, 
they weld a flange to the tank
To hold the compressor and loong 
barrel, a luggage conveyer car works
 
 
The wheels are in the upright 
and locked position
Since you can't weld PVC to metal, 
the tank and barrel get bolted together
 
 
Oh no! The first item brought in by the
Blues was this flexible tubing which they
never check would fit a bowling ball!

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