I was recently given a 3D printer (!!) and have been 3D printing stuff like crazy this summer. One of my projects is a suction-cup mount for Hot Wheel tracks. This idea is an offshoot of a Hot Wheel track that I mounted to the wall in my son’s room. I plan to use these this year in our first-year physics courses. In the lab, students will brainstorm a list of factors that might influence the speed that a hot-wheel car attains once it reaches the bottom of the hill (such as height, angle, mass, type of car). Then, students will choose one of these factors to study how it affects the speed. One of the anchors is designed to hold a BeeSpi photogate. The track can be quickly set-up and easily modified, the BeeSpi photogate is ideal to use with Hot Wheel cars.
If you are interested in 3D printing any of these yourself, I am happy to share the “.stl” files with you. Just shoot me an email or fill out the Contact form on the next page.
Randall Physics 