Are there plans/schematics for Iron Willy?

B

broken

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I want to build a "stroke-bot" and I remember that some university or lab had built a robot/mechanical jig to shoot balls with.

That was years ago. Surely the price to do something like that has come considerably down.

Any information or websites would be helpful.

Thanks in advance,
broken
 
broken said:
I want to build a "stroke-bot" and I remember that some university or lab had built a robot/mechanical jig to shoot balls with.

That was years ago. Surely the price to do something like that has come considerably down.

Any information or websites would be helpful.

Thanks in advance,
broken
Click to expand...
Dr. Dave has assigned a cue stick actuator project for his mechanical engineering/robotics students. I suspect his website has a description of the projects.

Predator changed the design of the original Iron Willie to better match a human shooter. I don't think they ever put in an electronic actuator.
 
The late Anne Mayes built a machine when she was designing her low deflection shafts.. kind if like a swing, swung the cue like a pendulum.. Most of her stuff is no longer on the net, but if i can find it, I'll post it up..
 
broken said:
I want to build a "stroke-bot" and I remember that some university or lab had built a robot/mechanical jig to shoot balls with.

That was years ago. Surely the price to do something like that has come considerably down.

Any information or websites would be helpful.

Thanks in advance,
broken
Click to expand...

I remember sitting in some coffee shop with Steve Titus while he was sketching out what later turned into Iron Willie on a napkin back in the 70s, which was 20 years before he and McCarty built it.

Ernie Gutierrez had a sort of fulcrum deal hanging from his ceiling early on that he used to test shaft design, ferrules and tapers with. No matter how large an area you build that in, it still arcs the cue a bit and maybe that disrupts your testing.

I think I read that Barioni has some sort of rig he has set up to test and display how low deflection his shafts are.

Kevin

Here is Barioni's rig:

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rig.jpg
 
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I've been thinking of fooling around building one, but keeping it very simple. Simple such that it is easier to build with common and lightweight wood, more portable, and easy to install and remove from the table. It would be human powered, as opposed to a gravity powered pendulum like most of the current ones.

Basically just a guide for your existing stroke. The machine would be a long thin board that sits on the table. On one end would be a mechanical bridge head or similar permanently affixed to it. On the other end, wold be a V-block cradle that the butt of the cue would rest in and be clamped to (or maybe it would float and not be clamped). The V-blcok cradle would slide on the board, and be constrained to only move in a linear fashion by the board underneath it.

Your hand would hold the cue as normal (the V-Block would not be in the way), and you'd stroke the cue as normal. The machine would ensure a perfectly straight stroke, within the design tolerance of the machine.
 
Thanks Kevin & I used to be rich.

The Barioni set up looks fairly complicated. I guess i'll build a "wooden willy" first.
 
It is interesting that the machine pictured is fashion in order to reproduce arm movement more that the cue movement. This can never be done because of th wrist. There is no way to build a machine that will reproduce how someone uses their wrist.

If you just focus on the cue movement, you can come up with something like a catapult used to launch jets off a carrier.

The "grip" can be a dolly driven by a electric motor where you can control both the back swing and follow through as well as being able to have absolute control on the cue stick speed.

The "bridge" can be a v block as suggested before.

But to try to reproduce the human movement of the arm, elbow and wrist is a tall order considering no two people do it the same.

I mean, how you gonna get a machine to do slip stroke whereas just focusing on how to move the cue straight and level can be done.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Dr. Dave has assigned a cue stick actuator project for his mechanical engineering/robotics students. I suspect his website has a description of the projects.
Click to expand...
In 2007, I had three groups of students design prototypes for three different cue-testing-machine concepts. The only info I have available online are the following three videos:
Pneumatic cue-stick tester
Spring-loaded cue-stick tester
Motorized cue-stick tester

We ended up going with the spring-loaded concept, which was the basis for the final unit we designed and built for CueStix International. More information, including experimental results and design advice, can be found here: squirt robot test results.

Enjoy,
Dave
 
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