Mousetrap Vehicle C

[rafaelnadal]

How do people manage to cover the entire distance with banebots? I can't get enough string; if I use the length i actually need, i lose the tension. Ended up hurting my score really bad, so I have to switch back to CDs

How long is your vehicle? Ours is almost 50cm between the ends of the front and rear wheels, and we were able to make the nearly the whole distance with 2-7/8" banebots, with the very end of the distance (maybe 50cm or so) being carried at a pretty quick speed with momentum alone

Can i ask what your lever arm length and your axle lengths are?

[4Head]

submitted a rules clarification as well, but section 3b states that other sources of kinetic energy must be in their lowest states in ready-to-run. Does this only include energy contributing to propulsion of the vehicle itself or does it refer to any stored energy?

[Alex-RCHS]

submitted a rules clarification as well, but section 3b states that other sources of kinetic energy must be in their lowest states in ready-to-run. Does this only include energy contributing to propulsion of the vehicle itself or does it refer to any stored energy?

This is just my personal interpretation of the rules.

In my opinion, it refers to anything that increases the kinetic energy of the vehicle, aside from the mousetrap. I think that if it doesn’t act to do so it isn’t against the rules. For example, you could have a compressed spring on the vehicle as long as it doesn’t decompress during the run (or its decompression during the run doesn’t add to the kinetic energy of the vehicle, but since it’s decompression would likely do *something* you probably couldn’t have r decompress). Both scenarios seem useless to me though.

[4Head]

submitted a rules clarification as well, but section 3b states that other sources of kinetic energy must be in their lowest states in ready-to-run. Does this only include energy contributing to propulsion of the vehicle itself or does it refer to any stored energy?

This is just my personal interpretation of the rules.

In my opinion, it refers to anything that increases the kinetic energy of the vehicle, aside from the mousetrap. I think that if it doesn’t act to do so it isn’t against the rules. For example, you could have a compressed spring on the vehicle as long as it doesn’t decompress during the run (or its decompression during the run doesn’t add to the kinetic energy of the vehicle, but since it’s decompression would likely do *something* you probably couldn’t have r decompress). Both scenarios seem useless to me though.

Makes sense. Thank you

[dhdarren]

How do people manage to cover the entire distance with banebots? I can't get enough string; if I use the length i actually need, i lose the tension. Ended up hurting my score really bad, so I have to switch back to CDs

How long is your vehicle? Ours is almost 50cm between the ends of the front and rear wheels, and we were able to make the nearly the whole distance with 2-7/8" banebots, with the very end of the distance (maybe 50cm or so) being carried at a pretty quick speed with momentum alone

Can i ask what your lever arm length and your axle lengths are?

Don't know the exact off the top of my head, but the lever arm should be just around 45 cm, and we're using 1/4" carbon fiber rod for the propulsion axle that the string wraps around.

[pioverrated]

How do you make the vehicle go backward? I made my car and it goes forward pretty well but I don't know how it is supposed to go in reverse.

I'm thinking about maybe adding another mousetrap and triggering it after it goes forward but I don't know if that's allowed.

Any suggestions are helpful! I'm a build event noob!

[Otkrlj]

How do you make the vehicle go backward? I made my car and it goes forward pretty well but I don't know how it is supposed to go in reverse.

I'm thinking about maybe adding another mousetrap and triggering it after it goes forward but I don't know if that's allowed.

Any suggestions are helpful! I'm a build event noob!

To do it you can just wrap your string around the axle at an elevated point ( like I am using a zip tie) and when it is time to go the other way, loop the string around the zip tie and wind the other way.

[PM2017]

How do you make the vehicle go backward? I made my car and it goes forward pretty well but I don't know how it is supposed to go in reverse.

I'm thinking about maybe adding another mousetrap and triggering it after it goes forward but I don't know if that's allowed.

Any suggestions are helpful! I'm a build event noob!

This has been answered a couple times in the forum, but what you do is you have a peg on the axle, (something like a zip tie superglued on), wind one way, then, when you get to the point where you would like to wind the other way, you slip it around the peg, and start going backwards.

I don't want to double post so Ill ask a question here as well -- for those of you who are getting sub 8 second runs, how much does your car weigh? (I'm getting approx 10 seconds on a 246 g car, but I have yet to replace the axle with titanium, and drill holes in the wheels.)

[4Head]

How do you make the vehicle go backward? I made my car and it goes forward pretty well but I don't know how it is supposed to go in reverse.

I'm thinking about maybe adding another mousetrap and triggering it after it goes forward but I don't know if that's allowed.

Any suggestions are helpful! I'm a build event noob!

This has been answered a couple times in the forum, but what you do is you have a peg on the axle, (something like a zip tie superglued on), wind one way, then, when you get to the point where you would like to wind the other way, you slip it around the peg, and start going backwards.

I don't want to double post so Ill ask a question here as well -- for those of you who are getting sub 8 second runs, how much does your car weigh? (I'm getting approx 10 seconds on a 246 g car, but I have yet to replace the axle with titanium, and drill holes in the wheels.)

got ~8 when i attached new mousetraps. after a few competitions and transporting with the lever arm fully flexed, gets around 9. weighed around 300g without holes in wheels, steel drive axle and aluminum axle.

Your car should definitely be going faster for how light it is.

[PM2017]

How do you make the vehicle go backward? I made my car and it goes forward pretty well but I don't know how it is supposed to go in reverse.

I'm thinking about maybe adding another mousetrap and triggering it after it goes forward but I don't know if that's allowed.

Any suggestions are helpful! I'm a build event noob!

This has been answered a couple times in the forum, but what you do is you have a peg on the axle, (something like a zip tie superglued on), wind one way, then, when you get to the point where you would like to wind the other way, you slip it around the peg, and start going backwards.

I don't want to double post so Ill ask a question here as well -- for those of you who are getting sub 8 second runs, how much does your car weigh? (I'm getting approx 10 seconds on a 246 g car, but I have yet to replace the axle with titanium, and drill holes in the wheels.)

got ~8 when i attached new mousetraps. after a few competitions and transporting with the lever arm fully flexed, gets around 9. weighed around 300g without holes in wheels, steel drive axle and aluminum axle.

Your car should definitely be going faster for how light it is.

Thanks for the info. I forgot to change my old mousetraps out (probably the biggest factor) and the person who was recording time for me apparently started sooner and ended later than he should have.