Help with Lock and Release Mechanism

[SFPinkSmartie]

Good Day Master Builders

I'm after some ideas as I can't come up with any myself.

I'm making this sawn off shotgun, with the ability to open and close the barrel. A mechanism was modelled into the print however so far it fails at doing it's job. The current version has a small lever (it's blue) that slides a block into place which all sounds good in theory. The block has two pins attached to it, these go into the rails or divets in the print which should allow the block to slide into place, so far I've had issues with the pins bending so I replaced them with panel pins which fixed that, the pins jamming and not sliding the block.. This particularly happens when the other side of the handle is attached, the block jamming as its came out of position etc etc. I need something very reliable as there will be no access to this once the handle is put together. Hopefully this makes sense.

I tried a magnet solution, however the barrel is too heavy and the magnets I have cannot hold it.

At the minute am completely out of ideas, Would be great get some ideas and get this prop finished.

Worst come to worst it doesn't have to open but it's pretty close at the minute so don't want to give up..

 

[SFPinkSmartie]

It seems I placed my magnets in the wrong place, rookie mistake. To get the full force of the magnet it needs placed under the barrel latch thingy.. so at least there's one new idea.

 

[Duncanator]

It looks like those pins are having to take a lot of weight from the barrel assembly. All that weight trying to lift up on the front pin is probably gouging the pin into the upper edge of the pin slot. I suspect that is what is jamming it.
I would recommend replacing the pins with a metal tab that goes through the slidey-bit. You would have to cut a slot in the slidey-bit from one pin to the other, and insert the tab.
This should spread the load over a larger surface area, keep it from lifting and allow it to slide easier.

One other change I'd recommend is chamfering the bottom edge of the curved rail that engages the slidey-bit. This would just be to help them move past one another a little easier so there would be less wear and tear on the mechanism. Also you can use graphite powder as a dry lubricant to help everything slide better.

I hope that helps! It'd be easier if I was holding it in my hands, so these are my best guesses based on what I can see.

 

[SFPinkSmartie]

Great advice, The tab could potentially work a lot better I had considered it but just decided not to go ahead with it, I will give that a go. I'm also getting the curved rail remade so I will definitely get the bottom edge chamfered. Good call on the dry lubricant too, I sort of overlooked adding anything like that.