Mousetrap Racer: Maximizing Speed & Minimizing Friction

[Sutton360]

There is a lot of stuff on the web about how to make a mousetrap racer go for a long distance. For anyone who has done anything on Mousetrap racers, do you know the way to make the racer accelerate to its top speed fastest, considering torque and friction, without making it skid. Should i use CDs as wheels or plastic wheels?

Thankyou very mcuh for your assistance :)

Sutton360

 

[wysard]

A Mousetrap racer is essentially a single throw engine. Major variables are torque, wheel friction, bearing resistance, length of throw, impulse time and vechicle mass.

If you want high acceleration you need a strong spring or a short throw with low bearing resistance and high traction. Problem is that the high friction that gets you off the mark with minimum wheel spin means more losses to ground friction ( braking ) after the impulse is spent. Like most complex mechanisms there is no silver bullet. It's about what tradeoffs work best for your specific needs.

 

[kateman]

i used cd wheels
actually, use half cd wheels
see dvd's and cd's have two layers on them, but its ideal to have just one layer and some dvd 50 packs have them in it (odd just a clear disk that doesn't work and randomly gets placed somewhere in the pack).
less weight helps you. also drill circles into your wheels and body without damaging anything or making it collapse. Its all about experimentation and trade offs as mentioned above

 

[LURCH]

If you put pegs out the sides of the wheels and pegs sticking up off the ground (attached and stationary), you could get your initial push with no slippage at all.