The Mad Batter (World's Longest Home Run)

Another idea would be to have both bats separate when one fails. Including a break away tether to absorb the energy.

Joshua Jones

The bats where probably breaking due to the solid connection. Compare the brute force in this video to the finesse of the pro ball player. Just like when designing a steel building. I’m thinking of a Brush Cutter setup with a stump jumper.

Joshua Jones

In the final hit, - High-speed footage of the impact? - High-speed footage of the bat failure? - Why did the bat fail? What was the mode of failure? (appeared to be secondary to the ball impact) Safety... - overall... more attention to safety is needed. The kinetic energy of a wayward bat and the potential for penetration (fractured aluminum) are both quite high. - Barriers for 'pitcher', 'operator', and 'camera' all did not appear adequate. - Kudos on adding the vibration sensor. Consider adding a second. - Kudos on adding the pin to connect the two bats. Not ideal, but a good last-minute addition. - Pinning the apparatus to the ground is advised, as well as weighting the base to make it less susceptible to vibration. - For high-risk devices, consider adding "dead-man" safeties. e.g. on the main controller, and/or even a dedicated switch/person. - Did your insurer sign off on that shoot? Woof! :) General... - It seems like this project did not get quite as much planning as others. Given the general success so far, a "redo" or "revisit" may be worthwhile. - Additional high-speed camera angles (add one perpendicular to the flight path, and an overhead angle) to allow for better data collection - Additional analysis of the data (impact kinetics (ball, primary bat, secondary bat), flight path, machine vibration/harmonics, etc.) - Could you apply motor-braking (as done with your circular saw project) as a safety feature to the batting machine? In certain failure modes might this be *more* dangerous than without? - Yes, I realize that staffing, personal time/schedule limitations, and cost are factors that may rule out "bigger and better." Use the ideas as you see fit. Thanks for the open discussion of science and engineering. - - Aaron S.

I fully agree with your endorsement of Skunk Works. I also recommend Failure Is Not An Option, An Astronaut’s Guide To Living On Earth, and Apollo 13 (by Jim Lovell). They are amazing and remind me of Skunk Works. Less related, but probably popular to this audience is also Every Tool’s A Hammer, and of course The Martian for a little fiction. About to start Go, Flight! next, and welcome suggestions for similar books.

Marty Otzenberger

In the words of Clint Eastwood's character in "Trouble With The Curve", "My grandma could hit {a home run} with an aluminum bat." ;) Wicked cool setup and premise though!

James A. Thornton

I now have Skunk Works on hold in eBook form from my Library. Such pressure. :)

Andrew D Arenson

You might need to build your own bat, one that can withstand these forces

Stephen Robinson

That terrifies me.

Smarter Every Day

We isolated ourselves and didn't operate the device with anyone around.

Smarter Every Day

Interesting. I'll have to investigate

Smarter Every Day

Nope, unfortunately we missed the slowmo on that particular hit. Doesn't really matter because we had the camera setup in the wrong position to calculate velocity. We had it setup to the rear... which means we couldn't have calculated the velocity accurately.

Smarter Every Day

If you wanted to do this with a more substantial bat (and one that wouldn't fly apart!) my brother runs Baltimore Knife & Sword...just sayin'...

Emory Stagmer(VAXHeadroom)

My wife and I lost it when you grabbed the grates! What a great video where science wins!

Dungerdore

This seemed extremely dangerous. How did you ensure the safety of the public when doing this in a public space?

Mike Koss

As I look back over the years, there’s always an element of risk/adventure when experimenting and discovering. This one certainly had its risks lol. Hats off to Destin and Jeremy for pushing the limits of a garage made contraption. :)

I'm makes me so kid giddy that you got that final hit right before the bat slipped out. Thanks for beginning my New Year's with showing this fun experiment!

Matthew J Palka

I am kinda surprised it didn't go farther given the increase in bat speed and energy. Although I suppose you really start loosing a lot of energy to bat and ball deformation and the increase in the balls air resistance due to the higher speed. Did you ever calculate the speed the ball left the bat?

diyVT

Thank you for this New Year's present! You keep delivering the good stuff. It reminded me of my childhood, going to Tiger Stadium in 1967 to see Al Kaline play. That old stadium had a *long* center field. And in my defense, the only reason I didn't download Skunk Works is that I've already read it twice.

Bruce Grembowski

FYI, on the topic of harmonics: A double idler gear timing drive the two gears can introduce harmonics into a drive system. Where a single idler gear drive will not. Sssh,,, don't tell anyone. this is a Engine Masters secret! Its almost like the two idler gears start transferring the load between them causing the harmonics. (I always wanted to machine a load cell into the idler gears to view the results.)

Joshua Jones

I have a Big Block Ford race engine and I use a Fluid balancer on my internal balanced rotating assembly. There is a debate in the engine building community if they are actually benefit for a race engine. But, if you add accessory drive the fluid balancer helps reduce the harmonics from the accessories. (alternator, power steering, water pump etc.) Ya'll will have to excuse my typing, since I'm now down to one eye now it's been horrible! LoL

Joshua Jones

I thought about fluid too! Fluid might not have enough mass without getting into large volumes. (liquid metal!! LoL)

Joshua Jones

I was thinking the same thing about dynamic balancing with beads like are used in semi truck and motorcycle tires. Although it doesn't necessarily need to be beads, fluid provides the same results. I wonder if we will send Destin down a rabbit hole of understanding balancing beads?

Was this motor digital? The first time I used a Brushless Digital motor I was amazed. I just wonder with a little more controllable pitching machine??? I wonder if you couldn't add a wheel and tire assembly with balance beads inside the tire right under the bat's. I would think they could react fast enough to keep the destruction down after a broken bat. (If anything would help the bearings.) Second thought, tire might reduce the effect, might be better to just fabricate a flywheel with a ring attached for the beads. (Dynamic balancing I believe is what it is called? Its used in large truck tires or bias-ply tires. Some tires you just can't balance with enough stick-on weights or in a bias-ply case they get flat spots from not rotating and take a while to warm up and regain their shape when driving.)

Joshua Jones

Loved it! I can't tell you how proud I am of all the fathers that realize how much fun you can have in your Childs life and how it benefits their life in more ways than you could ever know. I was a Royal Ambassador Leaders at my church from 1999 to 2014 (Boys, 1st thru 8th) and I would have fathers assist me while their child was coming up. The fathers didn't realize that it wasn't just their own child they was benefiting but all the others as well.

Joshua Jones

Ahhhhh, I smile and laugh like a little kid every time you upload a video.

Kyle V Gilbert

What was the exit velocity on that home run ball? Also, do you have slow mo of the hit?

John P.

Looks like it went live on YouTube at the same time as the Patreon backers were notified.

Daniel Turner

Is this "for patrons only". The email notification said as much, but I also see the video is public on YouTube. Happy New Year!

Ryan Marks