[TriEmbed] Question concerning a mechanical release

[Scott Hall]

This is the old "release a ball bearing at the top of a track, and watch gravity
take it through a Rube-Goldberg style rig". It pays to keep around those old
1950's and 1960's science and experiments books.

Anyway, I would use a small box with a hole in it large enough for the weight to
pass through.  Blocking the hold underneath would be a small piece of bar stock,
fastened at one end so the swinging end blocks the hole.  Then you can use a
solennoid connected to the middle of the barstock, wired so that a signal
applied to it activates the solennoid, which in turn pulls (or pushes) the
barstock from under the hole, and weight drops down.

There used to be a project in the large Erector Set kit that was exactly like
this -- that you might find drawings of on the internet.

On 09/23/2013 06:57 PM, Lucas Rumney wrote:
> I am trying to make something that would achieve the following end:
>
> raspberry pi being able to release a weight on a string. 
>
> My idea was that the pi could send a signal to disengage some kind of clamp
> and release the weight, but I am not sure what kind of clamp or what I should
> use here?
>
> Does anyone have any better ideas how to release a weight on a string
> controlled by a pi? 
>
> Thanks, I can't attend this meeting because of my courseload, but I still want
> to participate in general discussions. 
>

-- 
Scott G. Hall
Raleigh, NC, USA
ScottGHall1 at GMail.Com

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