Squash Stack Studio

Here is the central mechanism of the Yellowjacket. The gears simply translate vertical motion (like that caused by pressing down on the pressure plate) into linear motion, and back again in the other direction (lifting the ‘stinger’ that dislodges the ball). The left and right sides of the Yellowjacket are mirrored versions of the same mechanism.

Part of my goal with the Yellowjacket was to capture some of the spirit of Rube Goldberg – maximum effort for minimum result. I think I succeeded, given that all this elaborate mechanism accomplishes is to move the ‘stinger’ about 2 cm. Scroll down to see top and back views of the device.

The basic mechanism for the Yellowjacket can be found in a EuroBricks forum post, solution provided by user BusterHaus. Shortlink here: http://bit.ly/2kNi7xF