Pneumatic Antenna Launcher uses Android, Free App for AR Scope

We have covered Alan’s Biocca’s fantastic clearinghouse site antennalaunchers.com before, and Brookfield, CT, resident Andrew Stoev’s basic launcher design appears to be a slightly up-gunned version of Alan’s CSV19 pneumatic antenna launcher. Andrew describes his basic modifications of Alan’s design:

• Slightly larger compressed air tank – my launcher is using 10 inch length of the 4″ diameter pipe for the tank vs. Alan’s 8 inches. The reducing coupler I am using as part of the tank gives a little extra volume too.
• Longer barrel – 18.5 inches vs. Alan’s 16 inch barrel – I had lengthen the barrel a bit in order to account for the larger pressure vessel and have enough clearance for the Zip Reel.
• More reliable and safer pressure vessel – instead of drilling a hole for 1″ pipe and epoxy gluing the pipe for the high pressure outlet in a 4″ end cap, I am using a 4″ to 2″ reducing coupler and and 2″ to 1″ reducing bushing as part of my pressure vessel. Another advantage is that I don’t have to drill precision large diameter hole – unfortunately I don’t have a lathe.
• More reliable and safe coupling between the barrel and the high-pressure pipe – I am using 2.5″ to 2″ reducing coupler and 2″ to 1.25″ inch reducing bushing. It is much easier to assemble the launcher that way! Alan’s design yields for drilling a 2.5″ end cap and epoxying the 1.25″ inlet (actually, a 90 degree elbow) in the hole
• I made the spacer between the pressure tank and the barrel out of two pieces PVC, sliced from 4″ pipe scrap. I adjusted the curvature of each piece to follow the outside diameter of the corresponding pipe and glued the pieces back-to-back.

It’s a beautiful build, but my favorite feature is the quick-release mount he added for his Android device. Using a free app called GeoCam, his phone, when so mounted, becomes an augmented-reality aiming scope that provides GPS location, compass orientation, and (probably most usefully for this purpose) phone inclination data. [via Hack a Day]