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Squirrel catapult diy3/9/2024 ![]() With the guides all nailed in place it’s time to sand the edges of the door smooth. You want to place the outer guides so that the distance between them and the inner guides is about an 1/8 inch wider than the thickness of your door. I used some old paneling nails to attach the guides. You want to position these so that they are flush with the edge of the top and bottom pieces. When the guides are smoothed out we’ll first nail on the short, inner guides. Smooth guides mean a faster and cleaner drop of the door. Before nailing we want sand the edges of the guides where the door will be sliding along them. Now it’s time to nail on the door guides. When you’ve finished sanding, nail the front side pieces on so that 1 ¾” of them (the part that’s sanded) extends out in front of the top and bottom pieces. This is to reduce friction so that the door will fall quickly and completely into place. ![]() The front side pieces are next, but before you nail them on, take your sand paper and sand the insides of them smooth. Next step is to nail on the back side pieces. Again, confusing but look at the picture. The hardware cloth should butt up against the back and be flush with the top of the top and the bottom of the bottom. Just make sure that the hardware cloth is secure enough to hold a trapped animal. I have found that short roofing nails are good for this job but you can use carpet tacks, small u nails, or even heavy staples. Now we’re going to nail our hardware cloth onto the sides of the box. That sounds a little confusing, but if you’ll look at the picture below you’ll see what I mean. The back piece should stick out ¾” on each side of the top piece and the bottom piece. The top of the back piece should be flush with the top of the top piece and the bottom of the back should be flush with the bottom of the bottom piece. You will also need to cut two strips of hardware cloth 8 ½” high by 22” long for the sides.įirst, nail the back piece to the top and bottom. So let’s cut out the pieces for the box and the door from our ¾” lumber.Ģ pieces ¾” x ½” x 7” for the inner door guidesĢ pieces ¾” x ½” x 8 ½” for the outer door guides ![]() Incidentally, the dimensions I’m using here will build a medium size box trap good for squirrels, rabbits, possums, small coons, feral cats, and (unfortunately) skunks. We’ll start out by building the box and door first, and when that’s done we’ll build the trigger and set the trap. The building materials needed are an 8 foot long piece of 1” x 10” lumber (actual dimensions are ¾” x 9 ½ “), an 18” by 2 foot piece of ¼ inch hardware cloth, a few nails, 4 small screw-eyes, and some string. A tape measure, a square, a pencil, a saw, a hammer, a drill with a few bits, and a sheet of sand paper are all you need. The construction of box traps requires minimal tools. They can be used to catch and relocate nuisance animals, or they can be used to catch food. Live traps, or box traps as they are sometimes called, are one of the easiest traps to build in your shop or garage.
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