Quick Lock Mechanism?

Hey, I need a good and efficient way to make a hanging lock mechanism. Pictures would be greatly appreciated.

elastic powered trigger
activated when the arm goes above X height
(because in game, the arm would never go that high anyways)

Mine actually goes completely up to score and hang. Any other ideas? Im buying a set of single acting pistons that I can put into lock mechanism. The competition starts friday. I need a quick build plz. Thanks guys.

One lock mechanism I have seen is to have a piston push metal into the space between the bottom and middle bar of a six bar.

Check your PMs

when arm is all the way up, it pushes the foldable hook up (kinda like a foldable knife)
when the arm is not all the way up, the hook folds back via elastics (so it can still go under the barrier)

Whoops, I thought you were asking about locking mechanisms to keep the robot hanging after the match is over. 2587z has a nice hanging hook that can also knock big balls into the intake Beach ball knock - 2587z Discobots - VEX TossUp - YouTube

I think he is talking about the locking mechanism.

Yeah I am talking about the lock to remain hanged during the end of the match.

What type of lift do you have? Also, do you need to lock for a high hang, or a low hang?

Six bar, I am interested in locking at both stages, high and low, at the moment priority is high hanging. If you have a way for low hanging it is appreciated aswell.

This is our latching for a low hang.

I had to watch that vid like 8 times before I figured out what was going on. Very cool :).

i think i got exactly what your looking for, its a high hang lock, uses a piston
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whW36j-eVCY

Advertising your goods. Nice!!!

:rolleyes:

Very great stuff I saw some stuff I can try on my robot and see if it works. These lock mechanisms… are they able to unlock in a match or remain locked the whole game?

Ours remain locked so we cannot use them for an autonomous hang, but they are simple and add virtually no weight to the robot. So far they have never failed to work which is the beauty of simplicity.

Ours can unlock (we use a piston lock) but it takes some effort and time. We were also worried about the potential for the buckys in the corner to get in the way when dehanging, so we decided that it wasn’t worth it and don’t use it for autonomous.

how long does it take you to hang?
if you have time just pick them up before hanging and problem solved.

as for locking mechanisms, I would find someone with a large collection of hand tools and study them one by one. I always walk out with new ideas