Mouse Trap Booby Trap

Posted: 8th May 2011 by YardGnome
Categories: 1 Star, Fun, Project

 

Annotated mouse trap parts

Defin­ing some Terms: Here is an illus­tra­tion of the anato­my of a mouse trap, just so you know what the terms I use refer to.Removing and repositioning staple in mouse trap

 

The Sta­ple: The mouse­trap I bought had a small sta­ple which held the lever arm (the wire which is loose­ly attached at one end) from swing­ing around in the pack­age. If yours has this, use the pli­ers to pull the sta­ple out and then press it into the end of theUsing a stapler to insert a string guide wood mouse­trap base, just under the trig­ger which holds the cheese. Place it so the hole through the sta­ple is going up-and-down. If yours does­n’t come with this sta­ple, use a sta­pler or sta­ple gun to put a sta­ple in the same place. Make sure the sta­ple does­n’t go in all the way, but allow room for a string to run under it.

 

Cutting notches for the Mouse Trap Booby TrapNotch­es: Use the saw, if you have one, to make slots about 1/16″ to 1/8″ deep, on each edge of the stick at “Line C”. These notch­es are where one end of the boo­by trap string will be tied, keep­ing it from slid­ing along the stick. I just used a hack­saw blade. If you don’t have a saw or saw blade, you could use a knife to whit­tle small notches.

 

Clamping the mouse trap to the stick while glueingGlue: Glue the mouse­trap to the stick, with the “cheese trig­ger” end near “Line A” and the oppo­site end near “Line B”. Use the clothes­pins or small clamps, if you have them, to clamp the pieces until they dry. If you don’t have clamps, use some books to hold the pieces tight while drying.

Tying the string to the cheese triggerAttach the string: A 3′ length of string should gen­er­al­ly be all that is need­ed, but keep in mind that it is easy to replace it with a longer one if you have an idea that requires it, or cut it short­er if help­ful. I pre­fer black uphol­stery thread. It is strong and the black col­or makes is hard­er to see. Sewing thread is as strong as is need­ed to set off the trap, and it is also hard­er to see than, say, kite string. Thread the string up through the sta­ple, feed it under the spring-loaded trap wire, then tie it to the “cheese trig­ger”. The mouse­trap I have has a plas­tic “cheese trig­ger” made to look like swiss cheese, so I tied the string to the hole clos­est to the end of the trig­ger. The pur­pose of the sta­ple is to con­vert a pull of the string from any direc­tion into a down­ward pull to set off the trap.

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Comments
  1. YardGnome says:

    It would be fun to see videos of peo­ple get­ting “caught” with one of these. Post them to YouTube, and share the address here.

  2. parradoxx says:

    My broth­er used to nail me with these things all the time. We had a trap war for the bet­ter part of a year. I ought to build one just for old-timey sake!

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