I’m having to make these titles up as I go. Anyway there had to be a way to divert the excess balls for quarter strike to the rack that holds then for the hours strike when needed. Making a fast moving ball take a 90 degree corner was problematic. This took far longer to accomplish than I had anticipated. I ended up remaking this section three times. Ugh!
The first step was to establish a track between the exit path over to the magazine (lower track) that was just installed.
Considerations:
- The balls had to have enough speed to make it to the magazine after being diverted.
- There had to be a way of sensing that the magazine was full
- The route had to consider the other tracks that would be involved with the hour strike
A section of track was made that connected the exit path to the lower magazine track. There had to be enough slope for the balls to roll into the magazine.
A feeler lever was installed in the striker magazine to sense the presence of a ball. This was attached to a shaft that moved a piece into the path of the diverter section when a ball was in the full position in the magazine.
The exit path was reworked and a new section made so that the weight of the ball coming through would make it drop to a lower position making the ball run into a solid diverter block and bounce into the track section leading to the magazine. This happens very quickly.
If the magazine is full, the exit path section would be blocked from dropping down and the ball would continue into the spiral and return to the second lift.
I reworked this section several times before coming up with a valid solution that worked consistently.
The movie shows the ball being diverted to the magazine. You will see the plate move that blocks the section from dropping when the ball crosses over the sensor wire on the way to the magazine.