Hi all, just wondering if anyone else has noticed what we have, and if so if you have any thoughts or clever ideas on how to mitigate it if possible.
So, the long and the short of it is that the BT200 and DOC200 are very slightly different in size (approx 2mm). On the whole that shouldn’t and doesn’t cause any troubles HOWEVER where this comes unstuck is that the trigger arm is the same size for both of them.
This means that on the BT200, which is about 2mm bigger in ‘frame’ size, but has a trigger arm designed for the DOC200, the fact that the trigger arm is slightly shorter means the plate sits up at much more of an angle than it should do ideally. On some of the traps it is up so high it looks like it would be a deterrent for the target species to even go through the baffle and get onto the plate.
I don’t have any photos of what I mean at the moment, but hopefully what I have said makes sense.
The main fix for this would be for Feilden metalworks to adjust their plan and make the trigger arm an appropriate size for the rest of the trap, however I am wondering if there is some sort of field adjustment we can do for the existing traps we have.
I’ve run into exactly the same thing and the solution was a steel bar of appropriate diameter under the treadle plate arm and applying force to the treadle plate/arm to bring it back towards horizontal without affecting the trigger to sear position so that it still sets correctly. These modifications were made in the workshop however and I don’t know how easy it would have been in the field. I’ve talked to the manufacturer about this and as far as I’m aware they are resolving this issue. Here’s some example photos from in the field. Hope this helps.
It’s quite easy to bend them into position by hand in the field. Make sure you have a safety catch on. I check my trigger Weight afterwards and adjust accordingly.
Thanks for the photos, great illustration of what I meant!
We are going to find a piece of metal or wood of appropriate size to try bending it down as you mentioned - going to try it with some traps at base and if it works ok we will see if we can do it in the field as well! I think it should work ok, I hadn’t thought of just bending the plate.
