mousetrap car design help

Questions:

How do I build a Mouse Trap Powered Car

Answer:
We get this question a lot. There is no one "right way" to build a mousetrap powered vehicle. The best approach is to apply your best understanding of the laws of physics without over exaggerating any one concept to your design. To build the "perfect" mousetrap racer you must try and find a harmonious balance between all the elements and variable that will affect a mouse trap vehicles performance. Do not be fooled into thinking there is only one way to build a winning mouse trap racer, we have been building mousetrap cars for over 15 years and our designs continue to change; one year everyone is designing cars with huge big wheels and the next year everyone has moved on to pulley systems. Be willing to try something original, it might be the next "thing". The first step to making a good mouse trap powered car is simple, put something together and find out how it works, it may not be pretty but it is a start. Once you have something working you can begin to isolate the variables that are affecting the performance and learn to adjust to improve your results. Building mousetrap cars is a simple process of design engineering, you build, you test and experiment, you change, and you do it all over again.

There are many good designs that will work for most first time builders but there is never a "perfect" design so as you build your mouse trap racer keep in mind that there is always room for improvement and being original is a good thing. Doc Fizzix continues to experiment with new ideas and designs all the time in order to go further and faster that everyone else, he never settles on one design. Many students expect to build a mouse trap car from a set of plans and have it work perfectly right after they are done assembling it. This is just simply not the case, you need to test your vehicle over and over again and must be willing to make changes to your design. Doc Fizzix has a great selection of mousetrap racer plans that will get you started in the right direction.

See the following related articles to get started:

• basic mousetrap vehicle propulsions (how to make it move)
• making a good distance traveler
• making a good speed-trap racer
• instructions on how to build a mousetrap powered car (links list)