I'll start off with a little bit of background information...
I have been asked by my brother to build him a bowling machine, he is a very keep cricketer (like myself) however I cannot spend all of my free time at the nets bowling to him, as much as I would like to, coz her indoors wishes to see me too. I have agree'd to build the machine, having viewed similar ones on youtube used to pitch baseballs.
I have acquired a rewound single phase 0.18KW 2780RPM motor off fleabay for an absolute bargain, however this will rotate the wheelbarrow wheel I have for this job at 99mph... Incredibly fast. My question is this;
Is there a way of varying the rpm and therefore the straight line speed of the machine, electrically? I know it can be done using gears and belts, but as it is for the use of my brother and most likely many members of his team I would rather them not be fiddling with belts while practicing. Don't get me wrong he is not a child at 17 years old but still. If there is no way of doing this cheaply and safely I will just set up a gear ratio and permanently reduce the speed but I would like them to be able to vary it so they can increase decrease bowling speed to simulate different bowlers. I will post progress into the projects section when I get going but I want to compile the relevant components before I build it. Many thanks for this, I do have access to electrical engineers in work, but I am off for a fortnight and I wouldn't mind getting this up and running by the end of the week if possible.
I have been asked by my brother to build him a bowling machine, he is a very keep cricketer (like myself) however I cannot spend all of my free time at the nets bowling to him, as much as I would like to, coz her indoors wishes to see me too. I have agree'd to build the machine, having viewed similar ones on youtube used to pitch baseballs.
I have acquired a rewound single phase 0.18KW 2780RPM motor off fleabay for an absolute bargain, however this will rotate the wheelbarrow wheel I have for this job at 99mph... Incredibly fast. My question is this;
Is there a way of varying the rpm and therefore the straight line speed of the machine, electrically? I know it can be done using gears and belts, but as it is for the use of my brother and most likely many members of his team I would rather them not be fiddling with belts while practicing. Don't get me wrong he is not a child at 17 years old but still. If there is no way of doing this cheaply and safely I will just set up a gear ratio and permanently reduce the speed but I would like them to be able to vary it so they can increase decrease bowling speed to simulate different bowlers. I will post progress into the projects section when I get going but I want to compile the relevant components before I build it. Many thanks for this, I do have access to electrical engineers in work, but I am off for a fortnight and I wouldn't mind getting this up and running by the end of the week if possible.