MakerBot Industries

Cathal Garvey has been testing the traps submitted for his mousetrap challenge!

Regarding the Merry-Go-Round trap, I printed it and set it near the home of the “culprit” for the duration of the Easter weekend. It was baited with a blueberry and some crushed pine nuts, the latter were as close to peanut butter as I could find.

It was my intention to leave it there for several days, then leave it outdoors if no action was seen, then leave it in the lab if no results after the outdoors site.

As it turns out, there was a visitor to the trap; the nut bits were all gone, the blueberry was..soiled, and there was evidence of mouse pee on the plastic (ew). Unfortunately, the trap didn’t work; the wall didn’t seem to have moved, and I think the mouse just shouldered under it to get in and out.

My take on the trap design; it’s a really clever concept, and I think it really could work! But, the interior wall needs to be braced from both above and below, because in the print I made the interior wall just flops over in its seating. Ideally it’d also rotate really freely, so perhaps seating it in a bearing would help, too. As mentioned, it’d be nice if the design were circular with a side-hole for entry also to simplify things.

Overall, I love the concept and I think this trap could work with some design revisions. Unfortunately it didn’t work for this competition, so on to the next trap, ClapTrap!