The Filament Flinger V3

Introducing The Filament Flinger V3! This design is a catapult gun designed to shoot filament purge over large distances. Simply pull back the arm until it clicks into the trigger, load the basket up with filament or other small objects, pull the trigger, and launch!

Prints in place

Fast print time, around 1hr

Doesn't use much filament, around 30g

Launches filament purge incredibly far

Improvements from previous versions:

Fits better in the hand

Better trigger design

Revised basket design

Only uses one small support

Notes:

When printing, there is one small support on the trigger catch piece. It is extremely easy to remove and doesn't use much filament, so it shouldn't be much of an issue.

There is a bit of bridging on the basket, that could be better or worse depending on your printer. If you want it to be as clean as possible, consider adding a support to this piece. Note that this bridging will not affect the functionality of the design, only aesthetic reasons.

The effectiveness of this design will vary based on filament. I printed this model out of Bambu Basic PLA which tends to be stiffer and it worked well, but some types of PLA that are more brittle/wet will probably not work as well and might crack. I imagine that it would work well in PETG, but this is untested. I recommend using quality dry filament for printing this model.

If you are having a hard time getting the arm to lock and it is slipping out, try pushing on the lever arm more towards the back of the basket like in the gif. this will help ensure that the arm locks into the trigger.