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Make sure that the little arm that stops the gear is facing the right way.
Make sure that the green gear is facing the right way. In the code, set the motor group velocity to 100%. The default is 50%. I don’t know why.
I’ve seen this and fixed it before.
The way this works.
On “pull the arm down” the motors torque cause the 3x3 plate/gears to flip down and those gears engage the gears with the spool. The motors / gears pull the arm down. If you listen closely you will hear the pawl click as it passes over the teeth of the ratchet.
On “fire” the motor turns the other direction, the pawl stops the ratchet from turning. This stalls the gear train and the torque flips the 3x3 plate/gears away from the spool gears and it then unwinds.
The fix
As noted above make sure the green RATCHET is faced the right way and that the pawl (the pointy part) is mounted correctly and that there is a rubber band pulling it down to engage the ratchet.
Make sure that the 3x3 plate with the gears, ratchet, etc. can flip up and disengage from the gears with the spool.
Good luck!
The winch mechanism is supposed to latch onto the gear moving the catapult when moving one direction, and release when the motor moves the other direction. Since your mechanism does not release when the catapult moves up, you probably have a faulty ratchet system. Does your green gear only spin one way? If not, then there is a problem, and you will need to correct the mechanism.
Hope this helps
Thank you all for your feedback!!! The boys fixed it!!!
I agree, it’s really annoying remembering to fix that.