Now that I am not only pending an article on the Mousetrap, but have discovered we have mice, it's time to revive my laserbox so that I can make the parts for the new mousetraps. Up to now everything has been living and breathing 3D printing, but these projects call for the laser cutter.
If you read the article for the original Build a Better Mousetrap (https://savagecircuits.com/build-a-better-mousetrap/), you'll see there was a point where a mouse was able to get its teeth on an edge of the enclosure and chew away at it until I got out.
One of the things I learned from having this trap in action for weeks was that if a mouse can get its teeth onto an edge, it will chew. By using cast acrylic, I can make sure there are no seams or edges for the mouse to chew on. As of the time I build the original prototype, I was not aware of, nor could I find anything similar online.
Since then, there have been many microcontroller-based (usually Arduino) mousetraps, though many seem to be demos, never actually having been in service, nor being build like a permanent project. What I mean by that is these projects just have wires connecting everything together and nothing protecting the circuitry, sensor or mechanical aspects. Some seem impractical.
But, the ones with enclosures seem oversized. That is, the mouse has a lot of room to run around inside. When you're crate training a dog, you must be sure the dog doesn't have room to move around inside the crate. They should be comfortable, but otherwise stay in place. There are several reasons for this.
So the new traps have smaller enclosures. The mouse has room to enter and walk to the peanut butter, but no room to run or jump. The original project had an enclosure the size of a cigar box. The newer versions have a square tube not much bigger than a large mouse. The V2 mousetrap (https://savagecircuits.com/build-a-better-mousetrap-v2/) has an end-cap that traps the mouse and allows for release. The V3 mousetrap (https://savagecircuits.com/build-a-better-mousetrap-v3/) has the same thing, but also has a trap-door underneath to drop the mouse into the bucket.
This is all covered on the project pages, but it is time to get the laser cutter fired back up.
I plan on getting the baffle sanded on Saturday morning and installed by noon. I will then perform some test cuts in anticipation of the Mousetrap projects, which need laser cut acrylic. I will post some progress on here.