Gadget Cache Help

[+TwistedCube]

I am going to be starting a gadget cache series pretty soon, and one of them I am attempting to create is a birdhouse gadget containing a pipe designed like an uncomplicated labyrinth with only a few turns in direction against the front of the inside wall. The cachers won't be able to see the pipe when they approach the cache or when the open it, as it will be sandwiched between two walls in the birdhouse. They will however see the birdhouse with arrows written on the front tracing the direction of the pipe and holes drilled into the wood at each switch in direction. There will be a marble at the bottom of the pipe. The cacher must use long rods to push the marble through the pipe vertically and horizontally via the holes and eventually trigger a latch which opens up the birdhouse. What kind of latch should be used so that a marble being pushed with a rod can trigger it and unlock the roof section of the birdhouse, which opens like a typical door but in a vertical direction? 

 

 

 

[+funkymunkyzone]

1 hour ago, TwistedCube said:

I am going to be starting a gadget cache series pretty soon, and one of them I am attempting to create is a birdhouse gadget containing a pipe designed like an uncomplicated labyrinth with only a few turns in direction against the front of the inside wall. The cachers won't be able to see the pipe when they approach the cache or when the open it, as it will be sandwiched between two walls in the birdhouse. They will however see the birdhouse with arrows written on the front tracing the direction of the pipe and holes drilled into the wood at each switch in direction. There will be a marble at the bottom of the pipe. The cacher must use long rods to push the marble through the pipe vertically and horizontally via the holes and eventually trigger a latch which opens up the birdhouse. What kind of latch should be used so that a marble being pushed with a rod can trigger it and unlock the roof section of the birdhouse, which opens like a typical door but in a vertical direction? 

 

 

 

Sounds like a cool cache.  If it was me, I think I would just make a latch mechanism that basically has a lever that would be pushed by the marble, and another arm that sits in behind a hook on the door.... depending exactly on which part of your housing opens.  And then use a spring that keeps it locked by default.  Good luck!

[+TwistedCube]

On 5/1/2019 at 7:10 PM, funkymunkyzone said:

Sounds like a cool cache.  If it was me, I think I would just make a latch mechanism that basically has a lever that would be pushed by the marble, and another arm that sits in behind a hook on the door.... depending exactly on which part of your housing opens.  And then use a spring that keeps it locked by default.  Good luck!

Great idea! I took your advice and made your locking mechanism idea into something more applicable to my cache design. I took a PVC pipe section and made a button out of a piece of dowel and a spring. The marble will push the dowel to allow the roof to open. It is difficult to explain without a picture but I hope you get the idea. 

 

Thanks!