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How is everyone building their release mechanisms?

catfoot wrote:How is everyone building their release mechanisms?

There are a lot of simple release mechanisms that can be made easily. Last year we used a hook connected to the ramp that holds the rear of the car, a hanger stuck through the back of the car and ramp, and a stop in front of the wheels that retracted into the ramp.

Mine is just a string the I tie to the back of the vehicle and then cut with a knife mounted on a pivot. Works well, and it's stupidly simple

Isn't that just a one-time release then? How do you reset it?

New string, it's set up so the string can be replaced in a few seconds.

I was thinking about having a device that might have 2 points to release the vehicle from, for 2 different heights. I was looking at the spreadsheet on soinc.org and it allows for 2 different heights but not for 2 different predicted times. I understand why that would be for a team that uses the same height but does this mean if my heights are significantly different it is going to really hurt 1 or both of my predicted times scores?

iwonder wrote:Mine is just a string the I tie to the back of the vehicle and then cut with a knife mounted on a pivot. Works well, and it's stupidly simple

And you can trip this with a pencil?

Since the knife swings around I just push it into the string with the pencil.

OtherWhiteMeat wrote:I was thinking about having a device that might have 2 points to release the vehicle from, for 2 different heights. I was looking at the spreadsheet on soinc.org and it allows for 2 different heights but not for 2 different predicted times. I understand why that would be for a team that uses the same height but does this mean if my heights are significantly different it is going to really hurt 1 or both of my predicted times scores?

The rules explicitly state you can only make 1 prediction time.

Does anyone have anyone have any ideas for making sure your ramp is lined up with the dot. Because when we run our car it is always 2-5 cm to the right or left of the dot. So any ideas?