Drawing/Pics/decsriptions of 2001/2002 goal grabbers

[Ben Piecuch]

The Bobcats (Team 177) used a very slick statically operated latch. It was based off a similar design from Team 38's goal grabber in 2001, and refined by (then student) Tom Schindler. Simply put, as the goals' vertical pipes slid into the latch, a spoked gate would turn against a spring-loaded ratchet/cam. At this point, the goal was locked and could only be released by pulling the cam out of the way. We used two of these latches, spaced about 30" apart to secure the goal. We had zero problems with the latch, and never lost a goal once we had it.

Below are a couple pictures. One is a close-up, showing the rotating gate and the spring-loaded cam. The other is a top view, showing the placement of the two latches. The entire mechanism was extended horizontally on 8020 bearings.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

BEN

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