100% on-target. Thanks! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter L. Peres" To: Sent: Monday, June 24, 2002 4:37 PM Subject: Re: [EE]: Hummingbird trap > I think that your best bet are wireless doorbells. You can remove the > speaker and do some tricks involving a solenoid or a small motor instead. > > The approach of winding the string to close the trap door befits Rube > Goldberg 150%. It would probably work to catch newts or tortoises. > > A normal trap has a spring or some other mechanical energy storage device > and the trigger releases this. In practice you could have an elastic > trying to close the door and a 3V motor with a half-cup shaped paddle > soldered onto the axle hold the door back (by a protruding piano wire or > such). When the motor rotates the wire escapes the escapement and the door > slams shut and stays shut. You do not need to limit the rotation of the > motor in any way. The escapement must be adjusted with pliers so the > required force is low and the motor can spin that first turn. When I > played with such things I used a strip of 0.5mm tinned mild steel about 5 > x 3 cm, folded it down the middle and solder-tacked it to the axle of a > motor from a toy, with the axle inline with the fold (inside it). The > spring it released was a piano wire hook. This was to throw tennis balls > ;-). The fold made an angle of about 60 degrees (not critical). > > hope this helps, > > Peter > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList > mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu > > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu