Mouse Trap car

Step 12 Wind up

Gently turn the back wheels backwards (if your unsure of the direction, put it on a surface and pull it backwards). When it starts to catch, lift the flap slightly and keep turning until the trap is starting to load. Keep going until it's pulled all the way back, then hitch it as one normally would setting a mouse trap (see instructions on package I guess).

Take a bit of care, because if the string snaps the trap will indeed close (quickly) and anything you have in the way will get hit. It's not exactly deadly, but not pleasant either - these things do pack enough power to make you go "Ouch".

Comments

[bergiemoore]

I really appreciate that A. you used common, easy to get materials and 2. your photos were in focus (big thank-you) and were an aid to the instructions you wrote. Thanks for the great visual tutorial. We'll be making these this summer at my Daring and Dangerous camp :)

[ultbandgeek]

Would you be willing to explain step 10? The step where he installs the back pen? please? Thank you(:

[bergiemoore]

To install the back pen, you will have predrilled (or poked (whatever) a hole and sent a thread through it. Tie a good knot in the thread to keep it from coming back out of the hole you just sent it through. Now put the pen through the two eye holes so it sits perpendicular to the wood trap in the two eye holes.
This is your back axle. After putting it into place I used a bit of hot glue in two single bars to keep the axle from slipping back out of the eye holes. The original creator used bottle top tabs. Mine were too big and hit the wood, not allowing it to spin freely so I decided to abandon the bottle tabs and use a line of hot glue.. After I got the back axle in place, I tied the string to the flip bar- the thing that will snap back in place once you let go it (the thing that originally was used to hold the little mouse down to the wood).
To make your car run after you add the wheels, hold the snap bar back and roll the back axle up so the thread is wound around the back axle. When you let the mousetrap bar go, it will fling forward and pull the back axle incredibly fast. I discovered that undoing one side of the bar so that it was actually straight on one side made it FAR less scary to use :) Check out a couple of the other mousetrap cars to see their strings attached to long poles. That is the mousetrap bar opened on one side and bent straight. So it goes from a staple shape to an "L" shape. It works just as well, but seems less likely to nip the user.
Good luck.

[ultbandgeek]

Thanks(: But the part that still confuses me is, what do we do with the string that comes out the other side (not the middle) of the cylinder ?

[bergiemoore]

You drill a little hole. You put the string through the hole so it comes out one of the ends of the pen. You tie a big ol' know in it, or tie it to a bead or something that will keep it from coming back out of the hole. Now, you pull the string again so all the string is out of the center of the pen, but it is stuck in the pen and can't come out. Once the axle is in place, and the wheels are attached. Take the string that's dangling out and tie it to the center of the mousetrap bar. The string should be coming out of the center of the axle and attached to the center of the flip bar. The flip bar is what will pull the string and make the mousetrap car move forward when it spins the back axles, causing the wheels to move, causing the car to move :)
Hope this helps. Let me know if you're still unclear. I will try to explain a different way.

[ultbandgeek]

That makes everything SOO much clearer(: Thank you so much!

[Thekeeganator]

Once you've wound up the back wheel, the string loses is slack and will not spin once the trap is set, what do I do?

[mousetrap22]

did anyone figure out why the string barely unravels?

[Nabibs513]

 im asking that same question

[theguy97]

mine does the same...What i did is i extended the cord and put an extra piece of wood on the end of the mouse trap. it worked perfectly.

[elson]

why would u make that

[BIG BUM FACE111]

DUDE WTF WHY WOULD U NOT

[Zach23]

BECAUSE ITS COOL

[dlbell]

That is crazy dog like 4 real if it is ur first time making 1 like that it will be hard 2 make because this is my 1 time doing it and it was hard 2 understand wat 2 say that just me

[oklokoloklo]

so would this go 2 meters? cuz im doing it for a science project/

[1111111111]

so am i. cool. gobble gobble gobble. hi five

[Zach23]

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[allthegoodnamesaretaken]

 What I did is cut out a block of wood the same size of the mousetrap, but about an inch thick, and nail that to the bottom of the mousetrap. That way you can put the eye hooks into there and avoid splitting your mousetrap. (Bad news for the other team on race day)

[richkidz6]

when i set my trap off the flap sprung forward but when the little bit of string unraveled to let the trap go back to its original position it didnt move the cds. any suggestion as to what the problem is??

[Nabibs513]

 same with me!!! I dont know what to do??

[The King01]

kinda cool LarrySDonald

[cdawg10]

heythis looks easey

[soccerdude25]

this is awesome

[alysontaylor]

How far can it travel?

[IAMMAN]

mine didn't work. as I set off the mouse trap,all it did was pull a little of string and the rest just staid their. it only went 4 in. help me plz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mousetrap22]

yeah what the heck?!?!?!?!

[Mousetrapstoller]

mine too

[Saiyuri]

This happened to me too. Any suggetions on how to fix this problem?

[sarahissocoollike]

mine too. ARGH

[skrayline]

Hey is it all right to use this design: to the absolute extent, for my project?

[LarrySDonald]

The creative commons license is pretty clear, but yes, most uses is included. If it includes point-blank claiming text or pics as yours, I'm not the fuzz and won't exactly track you down to make trouble, though I'd highly discourage it. It's a good design and so many people using it is flattering, but it's also the #1 google hit for "mouse trap car" so pretending any of it isn't off the net is not a spectacular plan. If it's ok to use online instructions, sure, go for it.

[jake sandaland]

`=\

[armyperson59]

I have found that instead of balloons on the axles that electric tape works better. Thank for making this, I used it for a school science project.

[LarrySDonald]

Vulcanizing rubber tape would probably work even better. I thought about electrical tape, but I'm not wasting that much electrical tape (though for someone with some actual reason to do this other then playing around it might me different).

[anialator]

I use to use this project for my grade 8 students. if you want to maximize distance you will need to first reduce the over all weight of the vehicle (ex. can use smaller wheels on the front, you can cut out parts of the wheel - make spokes ...). for the back wheels the larger the diameter the better. also your lever (the part where the string attaches to) should be as long as possible (if you go to long, the car will not move, therefore you will have to reduce its size)