You Gotta Have One is a basic slingshot design. What makes it more original than any other was its unique folding ability. It folds in a "Z" fashion. This is to maximize the height and length, while keeping the collapsed depth to a minimum. As can be seen in this CAD drawing, Ya Gotta Have One boasts a firm structure, held in place mostly by the front crossbeam. The crossbeam is rotatable about one firm bolt after the other three are rmoved. The launching basket, lined with taped in cotton balls is attatched to the frame by surgical tubing above the main crossbeam. The launching basket connects to a gate latch, mounted on a crossbeam that attaches to the baseboards of the frame at varying distances. The launch angle changes as well as the displacement stretch of the surgical tubing as a function of latch placement (all of these facets were included in the simulations). The launcher fell perfectly within the specifications set forth in the rules. It is thirty pounds on the dot and is about three cubic feet under the maximum volume. Again this is due to Ethan's collapsability idea. (Another little known fact is that the cup used is actually the top part of a big Gatorade bottle.)
Testing the design involved taking it well off campus (as required) and launching several balloons aver the complete range of the machine. The only problem seemed to be the occasional burst of balloons upon release. The surgical tubing, however did not keep all of its stretching capabilities, so its k value slowly decreased. Had we known this threat, testing might have been kept to a minimum. The absolute final touch was the lovely paint job; its main purpose was to make the launcher more asthetically pleasing.
