Nick481 wrote:That's amazing that it scaled down so well.
Well, the original Mini-NASAW was built in 2010 as a proof of concept before NASAW was even fully designed, and when new it too fired pretty well. In fact, its power was what convinced us that yes, we should be scaling it UP to a big one. The wood rails just didn't wear well, and last time out at a demo in the Spring of 2015, the gates fell apart and the wooden frame broke in multiple places (partially due to not opening the gates before a shot...whoops!). The steel frame, while heavier (and even heavier than intended thanks to the steel shop giving me 1/8" wall for the 1.5"x2" pieces instead of 1/16"), should stand up well. It already has probably near 30% of the shots that the wooden one did.
And yes, it is REALLY smooth. Actually, it was smoother yet in the shop tests, during assembly for the demo event the gap for the gates was a touch tight and the wheels kind of had to jam the gate closed instead of falling closed. Something that we will keep an eye on whenever setting it up in the future.
Drop me a PM if 'yall are coming up to DE this year.