I have been wanting to make one of these for a while as I have seen plenty on YouTube. It took me a while to find somewhere that stocked these old style mousetraps. All the stores seem to stock modern humane types that are no use for this project. Eventually I found some in an old style hardware store. This was an interesting build as I learned something practical about leverage and gearing.
Following a comment about “melting the paperclip” I gave this reply which may help other people.
Whoa, you don’t melt the paperclip, you are just heating it so it melts the plastic coat hanger. To be honest this was a very complicated way to do a very simple task. You can just use a bamboo cane and strap it to the mousetrap lever. Here are another couple of my mousetrap cars that use that method https://youtu.be/TC2OIjuPIs0 https://youtu.be/-zDOYLI2_YU
Camera Fuji Finepix E900
Editor Serif MoviePlus Starter Edition
Main Components
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Mouse Trap
Plastic Oval Conduit
4 CDs/DVDs
8 plastic bottle tops
4 Ball Pen Tubes
2 skewers or garden canes
Heavy Duty Fishing Line
Glue
Main Tools
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Hobby Saw
Hot Glue Gun
Power Drill
Selection of Drill Bits
Nippers
Pliers
Bradawl
Large Paperclip
Heat Source
Lesson learnt.
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Adjust the thickness of the back axle to change the “gearing”. A thicker axle gives more leverage to the wheel so a long arm will work, but will reduce the distance travelled as it takes more line with each rotation.
I thickened mine up with a foam rubber disc but I am sure I could have got better results with something a little thinner, just slightly thicker than the bare wooden axle I started with.
I suggest you try building the rear axle diameter slowly with layers of cardboard or tape to find the optimal combination for your mousetrap.
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I wrote this reply for somebody who wanted more information so I am pasting it here for others to see.
At around 8.20 I show that I put a cable tie on the back axle. I tie a loop in the end of my string and that hooks over the cable tie on the axle to hold it in place as you wind it up. When the string unwinds the loop can drop off the hook and the car can carry on freewheeling. The other end of the string is tied to the big red lever I attached to the mouse trap arm. The red lever arm is used to extend the lever of the mousetrap so that it moves further and you can use a longer length of string and the car goes further. I used fishing line instead of string because I didn’t have any string.
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Some help files
Making the CD wheels https://youtu.be/ZRrjBuWfmrM
CD Wheels with Cardboard Hubs https://youtu.be/Js1rtn2IGTE
Putting rubber tyres on CDs https://youtu.be/ZnuPnveCbxs
Connecting rubber bands https://youtu.be/EbYuhdwknbs
Connecting the band to the axle https://youtu.be/0wPYxloUFJQ
Related playlists and videos
Let’s make a Mousetrap Car #2 https://youtu.be/v1n4PtRaM9Y
Let’s make a Mousetrap car #3 https://youtu.be/ltnWjaNonuo
Mouse Trap Powered playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB1jSyRMjw31ptEYAAkZRF6H
Rubber Band Power Cars https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB3g5RiX8Kf_uUBOL0Tb7AS0
Gravity Powered Cars playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB1zzCqDckAnlOzz8iViuM94
Fan Cars and Boats playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB2BNUWVU5G6qQld3G1W604W
Electric Toy Cars playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB0yTUYmJSS3ML5xxaBzHl3e
Water Jet power https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB0pfu5VQgMPzOrChJKi6De4
Toy cars playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB3lGxxzEo_ZDnjnOtIlk50Q
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Post time: Sep-20-2017