Finally, a Toaster That Properly Launches Your Charred Bread

Everyone is familiar with the classic cartoon toaster. The lovable, animated protagonist jams some limp bread into a traditional two-slot toaster, and a moment later the bread is launched to commercial jetliner cruising altitude before it falls back down and lands perfectly on a waiting plate. Unfortunately, as we all know, real toasters are pathetic in comparison. In Colin Furze’s newest YouTube video, he replicates that satisfying catapult-like cartoon toaster.

You may remember Furze from his gargantuan Hulkbuster Mech Suit that we featured last year. This Catapult Toaster project is on a much smaller scale, of course, but it’s just as entertaining to see in action. Furze started this build with a predictably weak-willed toaster that could barely lift the bread out of its own body, much less fling it upwards with any kind of enthusiasm. That was immediately cannibalized for its heating element, and Furze headed to the shop to build the ejection mechanism.

That mechanism is a welded steel arm that pivots on a toast-shaped sheet metal mount. A heavy spring on one end pulls the arm down with a lot of force. On the other end, next to the toaster, there is a strong electromagnet sitting in a 3D-printed mount. With the magnet on, the arm is held down and the kinetic energy from the spring is ready to be released. As soon as the toast is done, the magnet is turned off and the arm throws the toast with enough vigor for it to sail clear across the room — cartoon style.