Backlog: Hurricane Launchers

A long time ago... (Ok, more like 2 or 3 years ago) I discovered the brilliant projects of Brian Davis. He researched Lego weapons and found that Zamor Sphere launchers are the best for use with motorized sets. He then developed a series of Zamor machine guns. First came DAZLR, a two-barreled (Dual Action) Zamor launcher. Next he made QuAZLR which, as you might have guessed, is a four barreled (Quad Action) version. Next he made it more compact, producing the Hailstorm Launcher, which was the pinnacle of Zamor launching technology for nearly 2 years. It fires 9.5 spheres per second, with devastating effect.

Hailstorm Launcher

With these projects, Brian Davis instilled in me a fascination with Zamor machine guns. When I got my own NXT set, I soon created Zamor launching robots of my own, but the only time I was able to match the power of a Hailstorm Launcher was when I copied the exact design. That changed forever when I brought a dual-action Zamor launcher to robotics club and Thomas Kein tinkered with it. He changed the gear ratio to make it fire faster, and by doing so he inadvertently changed the entire field of high RoF (Rate of Fire) Zamor launchers (Which I admit is pretty small). Soon afterwards I developed the Hurricane Launcher mark I, which fires 11 spheres per second.

Hurricane Launcher mark I

That little piece of machinery may not seem like much, but it not only broke the 2 year record of the Hailstorm Launcher, it paved the way for my other Hurricane Launchers. Just 2 weeks after I made the mark I, I had torn it apart and made a bigger version. The Hurricane mark II held the speed record for about 8 months with 22.5 spheres per second, more than twice as fast as any previous launcher.

Hurricane Launcher mark II

Now, I might have stopped there, but the Hurricane mark II was much less efficient than the Hailstorm launcher, and I wanted to improve that. I did a bit of research into the subject, and the result was the Hurricane mark III, which didn't fire as fast as the mark II because it only had 2 motors, but which was more efficient than even the Hailstorm. It fired 20 spheres per second, with an efficiency of 10 spheres per second per motor.

Hurricane Launcher mark III

Thus in less than 2 months I shattered both the speed and efficiency records of the Hailstorm Launcher, which had held both for nearly 2 years. Of course, I didn't stop there either. I continued to revolutionize the field of Zamor launching technology in the time since then, but that's a topic for another post.