I rigged up a new trap a few weeks ago, designed to work with a pretty wooden drawer-box I found at the thrift store. It’s not too hard to disarm, but I like the simple design (details below the fold).
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Equipment: popper and caps, piece of spring steel, drawer (flash paper optional) -
To the back of the box (the part the drawer fits in) about half-an-inch from the left-hand wall, I glued an “L” of spring steel so it sticks out. I drilled a hole in the back of the drawer at the same place such that the steel sticks into the drawer when it’s closed. -
To the left-hand side of the drawer (right next to the hole for the steel) I glued the popper with the mouth facing up. -
The popper is made of a metal base (attached to the drawer) that’s attached by a hinge to a lid. Halfway up the lid is a spring-loaded hammer, and at the end of the lid is a firing pin that holds a cap. Set the popper by inserting a cap on the firing pin, pulling the spring back and closing the bottom hinge so the hammer can’t spring back. For extra effect you can stick a little sheet of flash paper between the cap and the firing pin. If the spring isn’t too strong, the popper won’t go off so long as the lid is completely closed and held horizontally (otherwise you’ll have to hold it down with another piece of spring steel while you close the drawer. -
When the drawer is closed, the spring steel will poke through the hole and keep the popper from releasing. Once closed, just tap on the side of the drawer so the lid of the popper rises just a bit, which gives it enough leverage that it will spring up completely when the steel withdraws as the drawer is opened again.
Here’s how it looks when the drawer is opened (with and without flash paper):
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| Drawer trap (Quicktime) |
Drawer trap with Flash Paper (Quicktime) |