Falling Target Paddles- Project Plan

Hotchkiss Ag Ed 2020
Materials:
 12-gauge steel
 Angle iron
 ¾” cold rolled round
 1” rolled tubing
 ½” x 11/2” Bolts
 1” tubing
 2” tubing

Structure Body
The base structure of this plan is 4’ long piece of angle iron in which the paddle targets and righting
system will be attached. In order to to spaceout the paddles along the 4’ angle iron, please measure
and mark the middle of the angle iron for the middle paddle (2’). Then measure in 4” from each edge
of the angle iron for the outside paddles. After that, find the middle between the outside paddle and
middle panel on each side (1’2” and 2’10” from the edge), the center of each paddle should be 10”
apart. See the diagram below:

After the angle iron is cut ot 4’ in length and each paddles center point is measured, measure 3 1/8” from
each center point in both directions and drill a ½” hole throught the base of the angle iron at that
point, this is where your paddles will attach. There should be a total space of 6 1/4” between the drilled
holes.
 Structure Legs
Each leg of the structure are going to be made of two 10” long 1” round pipe cut to 45˚on each end
(going opposite directions), one 3’ long 1” round pipe cut at 90˚ on each end, and one 4’ long 2” pipe
cut at 90˚on each end, and mig welded together. Make two legs. See the diagram below for reference.

Corner Cover
Cut two additional pieces of angle iron at 1’ each to cover the corners, they will be used to mig weld
the round tubing to the main angle iron structure body. See images below:
 Paddles
There will be five 8” steel paddle targets that will be attached to rolling bracket on the angle iron. This
will need to be designed and cut out on the CNC table and any remaining slag ground off with the
grinder. You are more than welcome to spray paint the paddle targets or put a target design on them
but that is not required.

Rolling Brackets
You will create five rolling brackets that correspond with the five paddles. The rolling bracket is the
piece that will be welded to the paddle and attached to the hinge portion of the set up. For this, weld a
piece of 4”x3” 12-gauge steel to a 3” long piece of 1” rolled tubing. Black marks indicate the location of
the welds.
 Mounting the Paddle to the Rolling Bracket
To create the falling effect of the paddles you will offset the plates (vertically) by 1” and weld the
rectangular part of the paddle to the rolling bracket you have created. The black marks indicate areas
to be welded (mig).

Hinge
To create the hinge for the paddle and brackets you will cut two pieces of 1” rolled pipe to 1 1/4” long.
The piece of ¾” cold rolled round will need to be cut to a length of 7 1/2” and two ½” holes drilled in
each end 1/8” away from each cut edge. These holes will correspond with the holes in the angle iron
where they will be attached with bolts. The center piece is the rolling bracket that has already been
created and is attached to the paddle and will fit over the ¾” cold rolled round. Once cut out and
spaced correctly measure 1 3/4” in each direction from the center point on the angle iron and weld the
two 1 ¼” pieces of 1” rolled pipe to the angle iron as pictured below. This leaves space for the ¾” cold
rolled round to be inserted into the pipe and the rolling bracket added to the center of the hinge and
then each end bolted down to secure it.

Similar image but not the exact same project

 Paddle Pick Up
After the paddles have been knocked down there has to be a way to set them back up from a distance.
In order to do this, cut another 4’ long piece of metal. You will use three steel hinges and weld them
beneath where paddles 1, 3 and 5 sit on the angle iron. To each of these hinges you will weld 9” long
pieces of steel to the bottom of the remaining free side of the hinge and then weld the 4’ long bar to
the top of all three 9” pieces.

Hinge 9”

Hinge 9”

Additionally attached to this pick up attachement will be a spring that attaches each leg to the pick up
piece. One end of the spring will be placed in a drilled hole on the leg and the other end will be welded
to the 9” piece of steel to help resent it. An additional arm will be welded to the steel at a reclining
angle so that a piece of rope can be attached Hinge
to it and be used for resetting the paddles from a
distance.