Bullwhip Machine

Ideas and instructions how you can make your own bondage toys.
SMDave
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Bullwhip Machine

Post by SMDave »

Hi There!

I am new to the forum, and want to build a bullwhip machine. A real bullwhip costs many hundreds of dollars, and takes a very skilled mistress to wield correctly. Yet the "business end" of a bullwhip - the fall and the cracker - is cheap and easy to make. So my plan is to build a machine that can move the fall at a suitable speed so as to crack the whip in a precisely known location, at a controlled velocity (just supersonic). Has anybody else done this? My thoughts so far are as follows:
Energy Storage:
You can buy super-power rubber bands built for spear guns - the bands are available separately.
Compressed air is convenient, but running a compressor in your bedroom is a bit of a pain.
Springs - tension springs are too heavy (limits velocity) but torsion springs work great - but the rotary motion has to be made linear somehow.
Electric - Milwaukee Tools make an electric nail gun powered by a LiPo battery. Dismantling one of these might give a motor rated for impulse operation with enough power to do the job.
Motion Control:
A system of 2 levers like a human arm might work, but would be very large and awkward. Plus you would have to bolt it to the floor somehow.
A rail with some kind of carriage running along it is tempting, but difficult to make it light enough. The carriage has to be light compared to the fall and cracker, only a few grams.
A belt running over 2 pulleys. The band would be tied to the lower part of the belt, the fall and cracker to the upper part. The belt would only do 1/2 of a revolution during operation, and would serve to guide the fall without a rail system.

Has anybody tried this, or have any thoughts?

I was the Public Whipping Boy at Burning Man last year, and had a great time! One time I had 45 lashes from a real bullwhip wielded by a Hollywood trained stunt woman. It would be great if everybody could do this, either solo or with an untrained partner.

Dave
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Gregovic
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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by Gregovic »

The problem is the fall and cracker on their own won´t reach supersonic speeds unless you get the drive mechanism really close to that speed also. The length of a bullwhip is what makes it works. As the `swing` of the arm is transmitted to the end through the whip the speed of the wave is increased as the material gets lighter and lighter towards the end. The cracker then momentarily breaches the speed of sound when the wave reaches the end of the whip. The whole length of the whip is involved in making the fall and cracker reach the speed needed to make that lovely whip noise.

If you want a cheaper bullwhip you can make one out of paracord. Just google for "paracord bullwhip" and you will find plenty of how-to instructions.
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bound_jenny
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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by bound_jenny »

Gregovic has it right - the supersonic crack of the tip is just the end result of the whole whip's construction and handling. It would be very difficult (if not outright dangerous) to build a device capable of moving something around at supersonic speeds... part of that machine would also have to go supersonic! :shock:

You gotta love someone who understands the physics of whips. :love:

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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by OrgasmAlley »

The simplest effective* build for a whipping machine is to repurpose a clay target thrower. A cheap 12V model like the Raven from Do-All-Outdoors is a fine choice (about $300). You'll strip off most everything, down to the bare mechanism, and replace the spring with a lighter one. If you're interested, a powerful actuator can adjust the stroke power by pre-loading the spring more or less. Typically, because there is less mass being spun and a lighter spring decelerating it after the stroke, you'll need to adjust things to get it to stop between strokes. The end result is that closing a switch starts each stroke... and you can do that with the included foot pedal or something like an Arduino.

* The simplest built is an electric drill spinning a length of cord of thin strip of leather on a small offset. This approach is effective but so uncontrollable that it's not of much use, IMO.
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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by Old Timer »

Picture if you will, a large wheel with a weighted bottom. The whip is attached about 45 degrees ahead of the weight on the wheel. A small electric motor and some gearing engage the wheel slowly bringing the weight to the top. The wheel propelled by the falling weight snakes the whip out. The motor / gears re engage and as the wheel rotates the whip is guided back into position ready for another strike.
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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by SMDave »

OrgasmAlley wrote:The simplest effective* build for a whipping machine is to repurpose a clay target thrower. A cheap 12V model like the Raven from Do-All-Outdoors is a fine choice (about $300). You'll strip off most everything, down to the bare mechanism, and replace the spring with a lighter one. If you're interested, a powerful actuator can adjust the stroke power by pre-loading the spring more or less. Typically, because there is less mass being spun and a lighter spring decelerating it after the stroke, you'll need to adjust things to get it to stop between strokes. The end result is that closing a switch starts each stroke... and you can do that with the included foot pedal or something like an Arduino.

* The simplest built is an electric drill spinning a length of cord of thin strip of leather on a small offset. This approach is effective but so uncontrollable that it's not of much use, IMO.
This sounds like a good idea. I like the use of a 12V battery as an energy source - safe and portable. And best of all, most of the work has already been done - I just have to modify an existing machine. It even has a foot pedal to activate it already. And the steel spring will last a lot longer than a rubber band would. This should be a lot easier than starting with a spear gun, or building from scratch. Also safer, I can stand behind a barrier when I test it, Mythbusters style. BTW I notice your name is OrgasmAlley - are you affiliated with the company of the same name that makes an air powered spanking machine? We had one at Burning Man, but it only does paddles and not bullwhips.

It is not just the cost, but rather the ability to use an untrained partner which I find attractive. I already have a couple of bullwhips, and I can crack them pretty well - so that gives me a head start in the design process.

@Gregovic The machine moves both the fall and the cracker together. By conservation of energy, the speed of the cracker should be given by the speed of the assembly times the square root of the mass ratio. (The energy of the moving fall + cracker should equal the energy of the cracker moving by itself at the end of the stroke). So the cracker should wind up moving at several times the speed of the machine, meaning that the machine itself is well below the speed of sound. A 25:1 mass ratio (cracker + fall / cracker) would give a required arm speed of around 200 feet per second, which is doable with care. Of course there will be quite a few losses in the system, so the arm speed would need to be somewhat higher than this.
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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by Gregovic »

SMDave wrote:
OrgasmAlley wrote:The simplest effective* build for a whipping machine is to repurpose a clay target thrower. A cheap 12V model like the Raven from Do-All-Outdoors is a fine choice (about $300). You'll strip off most everything, down to the bare mechanism, and replace the spring with a lighter one. If you're interested, a powerful actuator can adjust the stroke power by pre-loading the spring more or less. Typically, because there is less mass being spun and a lighter spring decelerating it after the stroke, you'll need to adjust things to get it to stop between strokes. The end result is that closing a switch starts each stroke... and you can do that with the included foot pedal or something like an Arduino.

* The simplest built is an electric drill spinning a length of cord of thin strip of leather on a small offset. This approach is effective but so uncontrollable that it's not of much use, IMO.
This sounds like a good idea. I like the use of a 12V battery as an energy source - safe and portable. And best of all, most of the work has already been done - I just have to modify an existing machine. It even has a foot pedal to activate it already. And the steel spring will last a lot longer than a rubber band would. This should be a lot easier than starting with a spear gun, or building from scratch. Also safer, I can stand behind a barrier when I test it, Mythbusters style. BTW I notice your name is OrgasmAlley - are you affiliated with the company of the same name that makes an air powered spanking machine? We had one at Burning Man, but it only does paddles and not bullwhips.

It is not just the cost, but rather the ability to use an untrained partner which I find attractive. I already have a couple of bullwhips, and I can crack them pretty well - so that gives me a head start in the design process.

@Gregovic The machine moves both the fall and the cracker together. By conservation of energy, the speed of the cracker should be given by the speed of the assembly times the square root of the mass ratio. (The energy of the moving fall + cracker should equal the energy of the cracker moving by itself at the end of the stroke). So the cracker should wind up moving at several times the speed of the machine, meaning that the machine itself is well below the speed of sound. A 25:1 mass ratio (cracker + fall / cracker) would give a required arm speed of around 200 feet per second, which is doable with care. Of course there will be quite a few losses in the system, so the arm speed would need to be somewhat higher than this.

Except the fall and cracker on their own are too light to build up all that energy and get a proper whipping effect. The air resistance on the cracker is quite considerable. And if you think 200 feet per second is doable and sane on a home build rig in a bondage situation.... Knock yourself out, but I'll be staying WELL clear. (For those used to thinking in highway speeds, thats 140 mph or 220 km/h! :shock: )

I still advocate putting in the effort and fun of making a whip yourself. (I've been told making a leather bullwhip is actually quite doable and way more affordable. It just takes a LONG time to braid all those strands of leather, which is what makes commercial ones so dang expensive)
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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by KinkInSpace »

I miss a very important part in this scenario.

The technique to use a whip effectively is so important. If a whip is used improperly, it will rip the flesh apart or cause lots of damage. This machine will likely do the same.

What a mistress does that this machine simply can't, is anticipate when to pull on the whip to stop the whip from reaching its target. This makes that only the end of the whip creates a superficial impact that hurts, but doesn't do any critical damage.

Also, a mistress who can use a bullwhip has years of experience. You need at least this experience before starting to make this machine, which means you need a whip which likely invalidates the idea to make this machine in the first place.

Lastly, if it were not that hard to make such machine, it would've been made already, but given that you can find many spanking machines, but not a single bullwhip machine tells me this is far more dangerous than you think it is.
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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by KinkInSpace »

Gregovic wrote:I still advocate putting in the effort and fun of making a whip yourself. (I've been told making a leather bullwhip is actually quite doable and way more affordable. It just takes a LONG time to braid all those strands of leather, which is what makes commercial ones so dang expensive)
I made one of simple rope. Material costs was like 15 euro. Rope and some duct tape. Its only a tad light for a whip, but that simply makes it easier to handle as the damage it can do is less severe. If I would add something to it (like more rope or heavier materials) it would definitely become an actual whip.

Took me about 3 hours to braid the strands, but its a nice whip nevertheless. I did notice its damn hard to control the whip, but seeing conversations about using a bullwhip already told me it would be this hard.
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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by OrgasmAlley »

Yes, I'm that same OrgasmAlley. I actually have a pneumatic whipping machine as well... but I decided that it's not commercially viable. It's a little too complex and a lot too dependent on the whip being used. Highly effective though.

Slave_L, many people have made whipping machines, using the two approaches I described above and any number of others. I've done perhaps six different approaches. The Pain4Fem machine is probably the most well-known clay target thrower build.

If you're referring specifically to cracking a bullwhip, they I agree completely. If the objective is specifically to crack a bullwhip with predictable location and application, that because quite a difficult challenge. Doable, but not especially practical, I'd say.
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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by SMDave »

Just to clarify, I already own 2 good bullwhips and can crack them well. My objective is to make a machine that can crack a bullwhip with a predictable amount of force, a predictable location, and that can be used indoors without hitting the ceiling and with minimal skill required. Obviously such a machine would not be commercially viable, but I might post free plans on the Internet somewhere!

I know how to interface transducers and Arduinos and stuff, and how to do engineering design so I hope that might help.
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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by KinkInSpace »

Yes, I was indeed referring to cracking the whip precisely.
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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by OrgasmAlley »

The issue is the motion required to crack a whip. The extreme acceleration comes from running a loop down the length of the whip, around a curve at its end... that loop accelerates forward as the whip is retracted, in the same way the top of a wheel is moving twice as fast as the car to which it is attached. (Note that the "tip breaking the speed of sound" theory has been refuted... the tip will actually be traveling substantially faster than the speed of sound). It other words, to crack the whip you not only have the throw it effectively, but you have to be retracting it with extreme precision to get the acceleration required to crack it.

Is that possible? Sure, nearly anything is, especially when it comes to replicating manipulations of the physical world. My general assessment is that it is so difficult as to be impractical, though. I look forward to hearing what you come up with.
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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by SMDave »

Yes, I never thought it would be easy.
How does your pneumatic bullwhipping machine work? Is it a single arm with a single actuator, or something more complicated, more like a human arm with shoulder, elbow, and wrist?
I would love to see a picture of it if you have one.
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Re: Bullwhip Machine

Post by OrgasmAlley »

That unit is a simple swinging arm... really not much different than a clay target thrower in basic principle. However, the effectiveness of this design is directly proportional to the rotation over which the implement is accelerated. The target thrower works over a bit under 180 degrees. My pneumatic whipper gets more than 270. Combine that with the ability to precisely adjust the power applied (by changing air pressure and/or entry aperture) and a boatload more power available, and the thing can swing much heavier implements effectively. A full-blown flogger, for example. It won't crack anything or come even close, though. I'll see if I can get a picture for you. It does wreak havoc on whatever its mounted to when throwing something of even moderate weight, which is a major problem.
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