Hey guys,

So I'm trying to decide what to do about a Strange Science which has a ball stop raise mechanism (Atom Smasher Close) that keeps sticking.

On this pin there's a raise/lower solenoid pair. One lowers the ball stop, which engages a latch. The other pulls the latch in, which releases the ball stop (on a spring). See picture.

This mostly works ok, but at this point about 50% of the time the latch doesn't pull. It's always been a little flaky since I got the thing years ago, but after sitting mostly idle for a couple of years it seems worse than ever. Previously I'd cleaned and reseated and that seemed enough to get it to engage...95% of the time. But at this point:

- The coil is definitely engaging even when the latch doesn't pull (and there's motion in the mech - it's getting pulled, just not enough.
- I don't believe I'm getting low voltage
- It doesn't seem to be particularly catching or jamming on anything; and once the latch pulls enough the ball stop ALWAYS raises
- Nothing seems warped or broken at all. MAYBE the slug (or whatever it is) that sticks out from the coil is very slightly flattened at the main impact point, but it's 1 or 2/10ths of a mm or so at the very most
- I've done a basic clean on it, but nothing too aggressive yet.

Any suggestions? Seems like it just needs either a little more OOMPH, or a little less friction (it's metal sliding against metal but I *think* this is normal).

Lowered/locked:
Lowered/locked

Solenoid "engaged":
Solenoid engaged

Raised/released:
Raised/released

Thanks for the reply here LTG

On Yellow+Red - no, not cracked or bent. It's just cut at a 45 degree angle at that point. Better picture below.

On Blue.... I guess I could try that worst case (actually not 100% sure where you mean to bend, but I suppose a few places there MIGHT), hoping there's a better solution than maiming the thing, though.

Screenshot 2021-06-12 1.46.02 AM (resized).png