getting it right
I had a rat trap that had lost the bit where the bait sits.
It’s just a straight bit of thin metal with a right angle bend near the end. simple, I can make that.
I had other rat traps to copy so I just got a bit of metal made a right angle bend, put a screw in one end to hold the bait and drilled a hole for the holding mechanism to go into. Easy. Ah the strip of metal was just too wide, just have to grind down the edges. done easy. Now it slides in easy but the hole for the release mechanism is just too low down. Easy just get a new strip of metal and do it all again. this time i’ll use a thinner strip so i don’t have to grind it down and move the hole slightly further along. done, easy. now i see that the strip of metal isn’t just bent at a right angle it is ever so slightly indented where it pivots on the staple that holds it loosely in place.
But how do i get the bit of metal with that profile under the staple. then i realize they bend the metal strip with all the holes and recess and grooves in and then they put the staple in last.
This job has taken me a hour and all i’m doing is copying someone’s design. I’m not building a new rat trap.
I am aware that the person who has designed these rat traps has gone through all these little modifications along the way. maybe on paper maybe in prototype but they have had to build and rebuild til they got it right. and this is just a rat trap.
It’s easier to build something the 50th time than the first time.
The Turkey's Nest 