What are the best materials for a mousetrap car?
A mousetrap car can be made from cardboard or balsa wood with CD’s for wheels and axles of wood or brass tubing. Power to drive the wheels is provided by a mousetrap to which a wand and string is attached to the snap arm.
What is the best wood for a mousetrap car?
Balsa wood, pine, or bass wood are excellent choices although balsa wood is somewhat brittle and hard to drill holes into without ripping. Other materials can also be used for making a light weight strong and stiff frame. These include Styrofoam, corrugated cardboard, plastics, aluminum and brass tubing.
Does the length of a mousetrap car matter?
Vehicle weight is an important factor to consider reducing if your mousetrap vehicle is not traveling far enough. The greater your mousetrap vehicle weighs, the shorter the distance it will cover and the speed it will travel. This consequence is due to the limited energy within the mousetrap.
What kind of string is best for a mousetrap car?
The string has to be strong enough to handle the pulling force but flexible and thin enough to wind tightly around the drive axle. We recommend using a Kevlar based fishing line because its high strength. You should stay away from nylon fishing line and dental floss, these do not work well with mousetrap racers.
How big should the wheels be on a mousetrap car?
The ideal size for an ultra big wheel on a long distance mousetrap racer seams to be somewhere between 10 and 15 inches. And the ideal size for a drive wheel on a speed-trap racer seams to be between 2 and 3 inches but no more than 4 inches.
What makes a mousetrap car fast?
A speedy mousetrap car will have smaller wheels (faster acceleration), a shorter lever arm (increased torque, but smaller travel distance), a larger axle (increased acceleration) and will generally be smaller to decrease air resistance.
What is the best length for a lever arm for mousetrap car?
For maximum speed, position the mousetrap 2 1/4 inches from the drive axle and cut the lever arm to a length of 4 1/4 inches. The lever arm can be cut using a dremel tool or by using a fine tooth hobby saw. The lever arm should always be “just” long enough to reach the drive axle or performance will be compromised.
What is the fastest mousetrap car design?
The Speed-Trap Racer is the fastest mousetrap powered racer anywhere and was designed after Doc Fizzix’s own record-setting mousetrap racer that traveled 5 meters in 1.2 seconds.
How do you reduce friction on a mousetrap car?
Try to have a minimum gap of 1/8 inch between the frame and any spacers (or wheels) in order to decrease any rubbing friction. Use thrust washers and graphite powder between spacers (or wheels) and the frame to help reduce the rubbing friction.
What can I use for wheels on a mousetrap car?
CDs make one of the cheapest and easiest to use tires for a mouse trap car. The type of CD doesn’t matter, and you can even use DVDs if you like. However, you should make sure you don’t want to use the CD anymore. Cheap blank CDs are available at most retail stores.
How do I set a mousetrap for a mousetrap car?
Leave half an inch on either side of the mousetrap and use duct tape to fasten it to the car. Next, tie a piece of string to the swing arm of the mousetrap. The string should be long enough to reach the rear axle. Now, pull the trap open and wrap the string tight around the rear axle.
Should a mousetrap car be heavy or light?
Lighter mousetrap vehicles will require less energy at the start and can use longer lever arms for more pulling distance. Always use lightweight components when building a mousetrap vehicle. bonus tip: lightweight mousetrap vehicles require less pulling force off the start.
Are big wheels better for a mousetrap car?
Wheels and Axles Larger drive wheels will have a greater travel distance per each turn compared to smaller drive wheel. It would make sense to use a super huge drive wheel so for each turn of this massive drive wheel the mousetrap vehicle will travel an incredible distance.
How long should a mousetrap car string be?
The length of the string is about 25″. Therefore the string can be wrapped around the dowel 25/0.785 = About 31.8 times. So the minimum distance travelled will be the number of times the string can wrap around the dowel multiplied by the circumference of the wheels, which is 31.8 x 14.92 = 474.456″, or about 39.5ft!
Is weight important in a mousetrap car?
The greater your mousetrap vehicle weighs, the shorter the distance it will cover and the speed it will travel. This consequence is due to the limited energy within the mousetrap.
Why is my mousetrap car not going straight?
If a mousetrap vehicle is not traveling straight then there is one reason and one reason only: the front and rear axles are not parallel to one another!
Why are CDs good for mousetrap cars?
Why do so many mousetrap cars use CD/DVD for wheels? Because CDs and DVDs are some of the best wheels you will ever find for building a long distance mousetrap powered vehicle. CD/DVD wheels can slice through the air with very little air resistance and they have very little rotational inertia.
What does the lever arm do in a mousetrap car?
Changing the length of a mouse trap’s snapper (or lever arm) is how you control a mousetrap vehicle’s acceleration and/or travel distance. Different lengths of lever arms can be used to increase and/or decrease the pulling force and change the amount of string that can be pulled off the drive axle.
Is 3 wheels better than 4 in mousetrap car?
So what is better, three wheels or four wheels? The answer depends on the contest, if we are to build a super fast accelerating speed-trap racer then over coming rotational inertia is one of the main objectives therefor three wheels will always do better than four wheels when it comes to performance.
How do you make a car that moves by itself?
Put a magnet at the bottom of the tabletop so that the pole of the magnet in the car and the pole in the magnet under the tabletop are opposite poles. If the magnetic poles are not opposite each other, the car will jump away from the magnet in a random direction.