Quoted from jonesjb:
Can you share any tidbits on the your 2.0 lock... Something to tide us over for the holiday year end?
Sure!
The locking mechanism is not that complicated. It is a horse shoe loop with 2 drop targets at the openings. There is a center post right int he middle of the horseshoe. There are 2 sets of optos on each side of the mech behind the drop targets and one set of long throw optos in the front of the drop targets and the scoop. The long throw opto set is there to give the software a heads up that there is an incoming ball at high speed. It's actually a super cool assembly that uses all off the shelf parts, which I am a huge fan of. In this configuration, you can load 3 balls into the lock.
The phases of the lock mech can be this:
Open Loop:
Both drop targets down, with no attempt to capture a ball. This will act as a super high speed turn around from both directions.
Ready to capture 1 ball:
When a lock is qualified, the mech will still leave both drop targets down. A ball can be captured by shooting the lock in either direction. This will capture the ball on one side.
1 ball in lock, but number 2 not qualified:
This is a cool situation, both drop targets will be up in this case and will allow you to transfer the ball from one side to another, or use it as a captive ball by putting center post up.
1 Ball in lock, ball 2 lock qualified:
The first locked ball in this case will act as a captive ball and ball 2 can be locked on the opposite side. The drop will be open and ready for the second lock on the opposite side of where ball 1 is captured.
2 balls in lock:
After ball 2 is locked, the balls can act as 2 separate captive balls in 2 separate locks by the up post keeping them separate. Another thing I was thinking about, but is going to make Eric kill me, is that we could allow someone to put a 3rd ball in the lock by hitting one of the locked balls and letting it double stack on the other side with the other ball. Then open up the empty side and ready it for lock 3. This is just an idea at the moment, and not sure if we will use it. This also opens up other cool ways of separating the balls again into a 2 locked scenario.
There are a bunch of possibilities with this thing and we are working hard on making it as fun as possible. Right now, it is very fun to play and has been very reliable. Eric knows his shit. This is just one of the super exciting mechanical aspects of this layout that I love. Well, I hope that was enough for you guys to digest for a while.
--Scott