Hot Wheels Launcher

thingiverse

My son likes to play with the little toy cars and I thought, I'd build him a launcher for his cars. I started with http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1802809 but it didn't work out for me. I loved the simplicity so made a design with a similar mechanic. It's a simple design, just 3 parts, some rubber bands and a cable binder. If you arrange the parts properly and use layer cooling, everything will print nicely without supports (PLA). Originally I used a printed splint to keep the piston from shooting out. But the splint broke on the first try. So I went with the lazy option and fixed the rubber bands with cable ties. Sorry for the bad pictures. I printed in black which is not the best color for pictures. ASSEMBLY: 1) to make it easier, I suggest to hook up the rubber band(s) first. 2) insert the trigger 3) insert piston into the ramp (through the trigger, of course) 4) secure the rubber bands with a cable tie To load the ramp: I found it easiest to load the mechanism by turning the ramp upside down and push the piston in. Gravity will lock the trigger in place. EDIT: V2: I tweaked it a little. The piston is a bit longer and has small notches on the side to help keeping the cable tie in place. The upper latch on the ramp for holing the rubber bands is extended by 1mm to help hooking up the bands EDIT 2017-07-12: V3: made a slightly better design that is more stable and the rubber bands won't come loose as quickly EDIT 2017-12-23 I made a new piston after torkel_b's idea. That way a cable tie is no longer needed. Thank you for the suggestion! EDIT 2017-12-31 New Version! I added a Ramp that can be connected to a HotWheels track. Also The mechanism was modified so the trigger will lock in automatically when the piston is pushed back. And last but not least, the piston is a bit longer now... which makes cars go faster :-)