Mousetrap Vehicle C

[MangoTTT]

Depending on your wheel size, 15cm could be fine. Mine is currently about that length and works fine (times around 10s, not amazing but certainly not limited by the lever arm). It depends partially on your wheel and axle diameters.

Edit: 500g is a little on the heavy side, but I don't think that would prevent it from moving. What are the diameters of your drive wheels and axle?

I'm using 1/4 diameter rod and cd wheels

[Alex-RCHS]

Depending on your wheel size, 15cm could be fine. Mine is currently about that length and works fine (times around 10s, not amazing but certainly not limited by the lever arm). It depends partially on your wheel and axle diameters.

Edit: 500g is a little on the heavy side, but I don't think that would prevent it from moving. What are the diameters of your drive wheels and axle?

I'm using 1/4 diameter rod and cd wheels

That seems fine to me. You might want to extend your lever arm but at the current length it won’t prevent you from moving. I’m not sure why your car won’t move.

[Chameleon02]

I know this is a basic question, but how are you guys activating both mousetraps with one pencil? And what material are you using to join them together

[Unome]

I know this is a basic question, but how are you guys activating both mousetraps with one pencil? And what material are you using to join them together

If you're reversing the rotation direction of the string to reverse, put a thin wooden plate on top of both mousetraps (this seems to follow 3.a to me). If you're using one string for each direction, you should only need to activate one mousetrap.

[PM2017]

Hi, one problem I had when building the mousetrap vehicle is that when I put everything in place and set it up, the car won't move when I put it on the floor, and I used two mousetraps. Is there any way to fix it?

Is the cord spinning around the axle instead of spinning with the axle?

[windu34]

Depending on your wheel size, 15cm could be fine. Mine is currently about that length and works fine (times around 10s, not amazing but certainly not limited by the lever arm). It depends partially on your wheel and axle diameters.

Edit: 500g is a little on the heavy side, but I don't think that would prevent it from moving. What are the diameters of your drive wheels and axle?

I'm using 1/4 diameter rod and cd wheels

Are you using ball bearings? I think its a static friction problem

[19sawickin]

How do you recommend attaching the wheels to the axle? Don’t know the technical linguo, but I basically had these two plastic things sandwiching the CD and the axle could slide in. However, it’s not really secure. This was from a kit by the way.

[dragonfruit35]

How do you recommend attaching the wheels to the axle? Don’t know the technical linguo, but I basically had these two plastic things sandwiching the CD and the axle could slide in. However, it’s not really secure. This was from a kit by the way.

What is your axle made of? Sounds like you were possibly using washers, but that wouldn't be enough to hold the CD in place. If your axle is threaded, then you can use nuts to hold the wheel on or maybe you could glue it in place. Definitely make sure that the wheels aren't rotating around the axle, but WITH the axle- otherwise, the car won't work.

[JasperKota]

My local hardware store only has Tomcat mousetraps (from what I've read Victor mousetraps are more reliable), should I order a bunch of Victor's online or would the Tomcat ones I have now be fine? Also, how do you test which mousetraps you have is the strongest?

[Unome]

My local hardware store only has Tomcat mousetraps (from what I've read Victor mousetraps are more reliable), should I order a bunch of Victor's online or would the Tomcat ones I have now be fine? Also, how do you test which mousetraps you have is the strongest?

Testing the strength of a mousetrap - tie a string to the metal catcher, securely hold down the mousetrap, and pull the string sideways with a weighing scale (one of those hanging types) until the catcher points straight up (for consistency, and also to get the perpendicular force, since that may be useful).