Getting my Toaster Shooter to shoot higher

Hi there everyone. I am trying to re-engineer a toaster to shoot out pop tarts really high; like 5-6ft high. I've tried a whole lot of different springs of varying sizes and tension, but nothing really seems to be doing the trick. Can get it to shoot about 2 ft, and that is all. It could be the toaster design I am messing with, or if it's not possible in general with the amount of travel a toaster has in the pop up action to ever get it to such heights.

I don't need the toaster to actually function as normal, it won't be plugged into a wall, or even have the heating elements attached, and the mechanism will be triggered remotely, so the design of it could be something completely different to what comes in the factory toaster package. As in, is there a better way to fire toast (pop tarts) out of a narrow slot with about 6inches of travel?

Thanks for any help on this.

Welcome to PF.
Play it safe. Search propane cannon, or spud gun.
A very short barrel, with a pop tart on-edge barrel section profile.

It sounds like a prop.

I might start by talking with Beez McKeever, who was the "prop diva" for Mystery Science Theatre 3000. She probably can't help, but I think she;d be fun to talk to.

Next, I;d remove the heating elements. They are dangerous and just in the way.

If what you get is 2 feet and you want 6, you need 3x stiffer springs, or 3x as many springs. If that doesn't work, you are scraping against something. You'll have to prevent that, or lower the friction.

I might try slathering the interior surfaces with sewing machine oil (glad the heating elements are gone now!) and see if that helps. That may cause other problems, but at least it would let us know iof we're on the right track.

Does the toast need to be toast? Or ust look like toast?

Thanks for the replies. You are right, it is a prop. It's actually going to be a little remote control car toaster, that drives around, and (Fingers crossed) shoots out a pop tart. So, again another little problem as they are a touch heavier with the filling.

Going to try a couple of these tips, remove any resistance, help it move as freely as possible. It's also possible that the regular household toaster that it is won't be able to handle the compression of a spring that is needed. They are pretty flimsy in there, and obviously not really intended for such force.

Is there any thoughts or ideas on if it's more effective to have a spring pull the mechanism up, or push it up? Via either an extension spring (like what comes in the original factory toaster) or putting in an uncompressed spring and forcing it down. I've tried both to similar results, but would love to know if there's one better than the other.

Thanks again for the help on this. It's fun working it out.

You might think about scrapping the toaster interior, building a pop-tart tosser (possibly with (electro)magnets. which can act as powerful springs, or to retain powerful springs) and put a toaster cover on the mechanism.

Otherwise, you may be replacing parts that aren't strong enough one at a time.

A word of warning - if you are looking at increasing the height dramatically, you need to increase the force on the pop-tart dramatically. The pop-tart may not survive.

ToasterGuy said:

...effective to have a spring pull the mechanism up, or push it up?

They would be equally effective, it just depends on where you have more room to put them.

Also note that the center of force should ideally be in line with the Center-Of-Gravity (COG) of the pusher/platform with the projectile in place. Otherwise, if you have a spring say at only one end of the pusher, the pusher will try to rotate upon release. It and the Pop Tart will have a tendency to tilt and jam in its guides, if any.

That said, if you are using multiple springs, put them equidistant from the COG, for instance at each end of the pusher.

I haven't really thought it thru yet, but another thing to try is have the pusher guides at the COG rather than at the pusher ends.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Tom

Baluncore said:

propane cannon, or spud gun.

I think that direction would be the most promising. In air guns, the short range of movement of a strong spring is propelling a bullet much longer way (through all the barrel).
Adapting this - well, maybe you could have a bucket worth of wide piston below the socket of the toaster..

Just thinking