From my individual research presentation, the padlock is a common device that people use and so is the ping pong ball. If I have enough time at home to complicate the launcher, I can create a locking mechanism that can hold a loop in a string on a shackle of a device that would act similarly to a padlock. When the string is held back, it should not move until it is cut and using a padlock type device would lock it in place so no one would need to hold it. Currently, the launcher has not locking mechanism because we only need to test how the spring does and not how it can be kept cocked back.
So far in the JPL project, it is going pretty great overall. I have been able to get the first versions of the spring-powered launchers made so we can start testing. The first spring that we got is strong enough for testing, but it may not be strong enough to get the ball through all the pipe that we have form what information was gathered during the initial testing. The main problem that we have had is that we can not find a good way to attach the launcher to the pipe so we can get an accurate test for the spring's power. Without the pipe, the spring was able to launch the ball across half of the room or about 15 to 20 feet.
In the coming weeks, I expect there to be a lot of small problems that will arise while testing. For example, the PVC pipe used is not perfectly rigid and when testing, I expect that it will skew the results in a negative way in analyzing how far the ball will go using the launcher. With any large or long term project, there are always things that people do not think of and when it comes into play, we will realize that there is work that would need to be done so the project can continue to be tested. Some problems could be easily fixed with the right tools, but not every tool can be supplied in the class, so we will need to wait until the next day to continue in that area of the project if a new tool can be brought in.
Outside of school I have a lot of hobbies and one of the most interesting ones is that I use a 3D printer and make stuff with it. For class I modeled the launcher and then printed it after school when I got home. One of my largest projects that I did was a large world map that I designed and printed for one of my friends projects. Recently I have used it to make little devices that have simple functions, but are very useful. On the nightstand next to my bed, there is a small ledge that something could clip on to and I have a clip that holds my phone charger so it does not lay on the ground instead.