Activating movers with something better than sticks.

[jmorris]

Sticks always seem to have their problems being consistent or at least different people set them different. Here are two I came up with, the first is for a regular swinger. Note: that you can latch the target either direction, so you do have to make sure it is at least reset to the same side. The other is a latch I came up with for some pop-up’s I built that can be tripped from any direction as they swivel 360 degrees. What other ideas are out there?

[Corey]

i like latch idea better than the standard stick. it should ensure that the swinger/mover/whater does it the same way every time.

[LT45]

The latch looks like a cool new way to do it.

My question is about reliability..

Since the range of motion on your latch looks like around two or three inches and the distance a popper or a foot activator pulls the cable is around eight inches...

How are you preventing damage to the latch piece and associated bolt?

Are you spring loading the cable that pulls the latch so that activation won't be putting excessive force on the mechanism and cable attachment points?

[Tom Mainus]

I don't like the latch idea. Not enough room for error. LT45 is right. To little

room for movement with the latch. If your popper moves or settles just a bit,

it won't activate, and you have a re-shoot. The best sticks to use are 2x2's.

Get the length you need, cut it in half, and put a hinge in the middle to join

the two pieces back together. Hook the cable in the middle by the hinge. Then

no reshoots because the guy resetting it put cable down instead of cable up. It doesn't

take much pressure to trip a hinged stick. It pulls from the middle instead of

the ground, or against the weight of the swinger.

Tom

[Pat Miles]

We use sticks (2" x 2" x whatever length needed) that have been cut in half and hinged in the middle so very little movement cause them to collapse and release whatever prop they are being used on. To ensure that the end of the stick is placed in the exact same location every time I cut plywood into 4" x 6" pieces and cut a 2 1/2" hole in the center. Two 1/2" holes are drilled close to the ends. This plate is nailed down to the ground at the exact location where the breakaway stick is to be placed when the prop is reset. The bottom of the stick is placed in the 2 1/2" hole. These two items (stick and plate) give a consistent release every time.

CYa,

Pat

[LT45]

I use 2x4's with a hinge. The cable is attached to an eye bolt. Then after the hinged block is in place I'll spike a 6" 2x4 on the ground to act as a guide to resetting it with consistency.

A little trick I do is attach a 3ft piece of cable between the hinge block and the base of the swinger.

This keeps the hinge block from launching across the bay, far from where it needs to be to get reset.

Other than having to replace a couple of shot cables, this setup worked flawlessly more than 400 times.

[JThompson]

The idea is not bad, you just didn't take it far enough. Do what you did on the top to the bottom. Have it so neither one locks on the prop, it just pulls away. That will give you a consistent reset, and allow for pull/throw from whatever is activating it. The catch is ya have to call it a Quinn latch. LOL

JT

Edited June 16, 2010 by JThompson

[jmorris]

Since the range of motion on your latch looks like around two or three inches and the distance a popper or a foot activator pulls the cable is around eight inches...

How are you preventing damage to the latch piece and associated bolt?

Are you spring loading the cable that pulls the latch so that activation won't be putting excessive force on the mechanism and cable attachment points?

We attached an 8” tension spring around .625-.75” OD to the latch on the popup and the cable attaches to the other side of the spring. We used one of them in TX state last weekend (190 shooters) without any problems with the latch/spring arrangement. We also had 4 swingers throughout the match using similar latches to the top photo, so I know those two work. I was just sharing them and looking for other ideas on what to build next.