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AOL CD Launcher

No, not TOTALLY useless...
  (+15, -1)(+15, -1)
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Well, it's pretty much self-explanatory...

Penny launcher module optional.

Half-baked D@nish, May 14 2001

Get rid of the Penny http://www.halfbake..._20of_20the_20penny
The other, somewhat less fun alternative. [Half-baked D@nish, May 14 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Or send them here? http://www.nomoreaolcds.com/
[jutta, Oct 18 2002]

Another alternative http://www.halfbake...Good_20of_20Mankind
WTAGIPBAN [krelnik, Oct 04 2004]

CD smasher! http://mysite.veriz...erine.holt/cmac.htm
A CD mace. [my-nep, Oct 04 2004]

Hammerhead http://www.philohom...head/hammerhead.htm
Lego implementation of this idea (2004) [notexactly, May 27 2019]

[link]






       The biggest difficulty with this concept is that the shot won't do much damage to the CD unless it hits it broadside. Some might regard this as an advantage (since it makes the CD's somewhat reusable) except that it makes it difficult to determine whether one actually hit the target.
supercat, May 14 2001
  

       ho would you actually launch the CDs? You could use the same technology employed in those foam disc "space shooters" or "Ninja Turtles Pizza Launching Attack Tank (Yes, i saw one of these...)". You have a tube filled with discs and a flat slot barrel. There is a rubber tire turning at an extremely high speed infront of the discs and a lever thingy behind one of the CDs (the bottom one in the stack) that pushes it forward onto the rubber tire, which spinns it up and shoots it out.   

       Annother method would be to make a launcher that spins up the CD and then jumps forward and lets go of it. There would be two beams, one above and one below the CD. The CD is held in a clamp, just like in a regular CD rom drive. These "clamps work like this (taking apart a busted 2X drive as I write this): the CD-ROM spindle motor has a plate with a metal raised portion that fits in the CD's hole. (the CD doesn't snap onto this like on a portable CD walkman, it just sits on it). Then is another round plate on top of the CD with dent that matches the raised metal portion of the botom (and a magnet to make it clamp down on the CD. The beams have rails or slots that the clamp and motor slide in. The motor and bottom plate ride in the bottom beam. The top clamp plate rides in the top beam. The motor and clamp plate are spring loaded to fly forward when you pull the trigger. The rails or slotts the the motor and clamp assembly follow are mostly straight and parallel from the back of the gun to almost the end of the barrel. close the the end of the barrel, the rails/slots seperate. So the motor and clamp plate seperate from the AOL CD, which will now shoot off. It would look somewhat like the Unreal Tournament Ripper. You could use some trampoline springs to make the motor and clamp shoot forward. You could get the clamp assembly from a dead CD-ROM, if your lucky, it's a 40X drive that spinns the CD to 8,000 RPM (you know, the kind that goes VROOOOOM and shakes the whole computer)
dr_photon, Jul 22 2001
  

       I've got a 56x CDRom drive that shakes my whole desk. AND it's slower than my old 24x.   

       <Nominates Dr.Photon for this week's 'Too Much Time On My Hands' award...>
StarChaser, Jul 22 2001
  

       I took this more as something creative and fun to do with all those stupid AOL CD's that get sent to you in the mail--like use them as coasters on your desk or frisbees for your dog or something along those lines...
human411, Aug 17 2001
  

       If you put a CD over a form and heat it gently in the oven it can be made into a small parabolic reflector. Can't get a very tight radius on the dish without making it wrinkle, though.
Dog Ed, Aug 17 2001
  

       This would make a great skin for the disc launcher in Starsiege Tribes (terrible game, by the way).   

       Supercat, if it's flying with any spin at all, it'll hit at the right direction to shatter the disc.
Deity, Sep 05 2001
  

       Parabolic reflector's a great idea... but why use just one? Create your own multi-CD array. Cook the neighbors cat!
RayfordSteele, Jan 07 2002
  

       Hm, I like this parabolic reflector idea.   

       I also have an idea to create a flat barrel for a pneumatic cannon, such as a potato cannon, that will launch CDs... If their edges were honed, they could be made to work like Odd Job's hat >:)
Crazy Bastard, Apr 24 2002
  

       Pull!
gastronaut, Jul 17 2002
  

       1- Place AOL CD label side down on microwave safe dish in center of (someone else's) microwave.   

       2- Cook on HIGH for 4 - 7 seconds.   

       3- Caution: Emits showers of sparks.
Mr Burns, Jul 18 2002
  

       In the 1981 BBC TV adaptation of The Day Of The Triffids, the hero armed himself with a "Triffid Gun" which seemed to fire sharp-edged discs, a bit like a high tech crossbow. With a "nibbler" to cut serrations in the circumference of the CD, a motor to spin the spindle, and a spring to fling it, you could make an interesting an possibly quite accurate "spinning flying saw" weapon - and you're never short of reloads....
8th of 7, Jul 18 2002
  

       In the most recent CD-ROM drives, the edge of the CD approaches speeds ove 180-200 mph. You can't go much faster than that ecause an old CD could have a small flaw or crack in it. At 200 mph, the flaw could make the CD disintegrate, explode and destroy the drive in the process.
Macwarrior, Mar 22 2003
  

       Seriously guys, we gotta think of a USE for all this material.   

       First try: when people like http://www.nomoreaolcds.com/ have a significant number, they could be stacked with a steel pipe in the middle, and make a column for a small building. Does anyone know the compression strength of CD plastic?
RusNash, Jun 20 2003
  

       I already seen this idea on some stick fighter site, you get this idea from there?
DarkRanger, Jun 21 2003
  

       //Supercat, if it's flying with any spin at all, it'll hit at the right direction to shatter the disc.//   

       Maybe when I tried it, I didn't have enough spin on the disk. You may be right that having more spin would make the disk shatter more easily.
supercat, Jun 21 2003
  

       i don't know about flinging them but if you tape a cd by the edges to a flat pice of steel and shoot it with a high velocity hollow point it will blow all to pieces :)) other wise you just put a hole in them
zippyt, Jun 22 2003
  

       one time me and my friends threw a bunch of old phonograph records at each other, they shattered pretty well
whatastrangeperson, Nov 23 2003
  

       Try throwing a cd into a ceiling fan - lovely pointy bits of plastic flying everywhere :)
ptrck, Jan 30 2004
  

       Does anyone remember Space Shooter Guns? Basically, they used a motor to spin little foam donuts, and then they were shot out of the front by pulling a trigger.   

       Unfortunately, mine broke before I got the chance to fit the edge with a razor blade.
WordUp, Feb 16 2004
  

       I made a CD smasher...[link]
my-nep, Apr 11 2004
  

       I'm making a sculpture with mine. I'm in the process of collecting about 100, after that I'm going to stick them all together, and use a lathe and electric saw to create a masterpiece.
dooper, Apr 12 2004
  
      
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