Flinging things, for SCIENCE!

HamelinHamelin
edited July 18 in For SCIENCE
My friends and I are extremely bored, so we decided that we are going to build a Trebuchet out behind the house. Right now I'm looking at plans.

If anyone finds anything promising, send it my way, would you?

Here's some of the stuff I've come across so far that seems useful:

http://www.io.com/~beckerdo/other/trebuchet.html

http://www.tasigh.org/ingenium/medium.html

http://www.tbullock.com/trebuchet.html

http://www.butlercc.edu/engineering/en115/en115_basic_treb_design.cfm

Comments

  • Amoeba BoyAmoeba Boy
    edited May 2006
    Some friends of mine did this for a project in physics. It depends on how big you want it, but I could definently ask around for plans and ideas.
  • ApathyApathy
    edited May 2006
    Hammy, you're my hero.
  • SerephelSerephel
    edited May 2006
    I demand photos when you finish.

    For SCIENCE!
  • HamelinHamelin
    edited May 2006
    Of course there will be photos of the finished project, and the following hospitalization and/or court proceedings (if applicable).
  • mjc0961mjc0961
    edited May 2006
    A what?

    *does some googling*

    Oh, it's a type of catapult. Cooool. Screw pictures, we need video of this thing in action.
  • deku12345deku12345
    edited May 2006
    My boy scout troop once made about a 3 foot tall trebuchet once a couple of years ago. There's plenty of plans on google, thats where we got ours.
  • hlavcohlavco
    edited May 2006
    Woo! Tree buckets!
  • X'o'LoreX'o'Lore
    edited May 2006
    Ah yes! I had an uncle/cousin build a small trebuchet once. They had it out at my folk's place and were flinging apples into the horse pasture. This was later used in an attempt to fling cake at the bride and groom during a wedding reception. It sorta failed on account of the ceiling being too low so it got cake stuck on the ceiling.
  • godgod
    edited May 2006
    that is an even better idea than if you decided to build a balista
  • ApathyApathy
    edited May 2006
    A ballista would be a whole order of magnitude more difficult, you'd have to be a lot more aware of the flexibility of the material etc.
  • Amoeba BoyAmoeba Boy
    edited May 2006
    Apparantly my friends just googled trebuchet or trebuchet plans and went from there. So I guess it's not all that hard, good luck.
  • HamelinHamelin
    edited May 2006
    Attempt Number One: Crude Small Trebuchet

    The wood we used was all scrap lying around in the barn. In hindsight, even through it was all that was availible, using pine 2x4s was a mistake as we had a hell of a time nailing/screwing the thing together. Wood was just too hard.

    Results:

    After about two hours of construction (we weren't working very hard) and some fine tuning we managed to fling a piece of concrete on a string roughly 50 feet. Nothing to write home about, but it's a decent first try. For working without any real plans, it turned out ok.

    When next time rolls around we will:
    • Make the machine larger. How could we not?
    • Make the machine heavier. As you can see, there was a bit of kickback and the machine came off the ground a bit when it was fired. A few spare pieces of concrete fixed this and increased distance by a few feet. Jon suggested to drill holes in the base of the next one so it can be held down with stakes too.
    • Make the machine sturdier. A bigger design will demand this. Notably, the throwing arm wobbled back and forth a bit, some extra pieces of wood nailed to it around the axle should help with this. Also, a large piece of plywood as a flat platform would work better as well.
    • Make better plans in advance. For a bigger machine, I think this is very important. The size and weight of the throwing arm is critical. The lighter it is, the more efficient the transfer of power is.
  • ApathyApathy
    edited May 2006
    Awesome stuff, man.

    But even if it's just a prototype, it needs a name. Something like the hobo-pult.
  • HamelinHamelin
    edited May 2006
    I'll take some more pictures of it tomorrow if the weather's nice.
  • ApathyApathy
    edited May 2006
    Excellent.

    At the end you may have something on your hands to rival solardeathray.com
  • SerephelSerephel
    edited May 2006
    You are truly gifted in SCIENCE!
  • HamelinHamelin
    edited May 2006
    The weather was not nice at all! Also, I don't have any batteries for my camera.
  • ApathyApathy
    edited May 2006
    The government obviously used their weather control devices to stop the awesome.
  • HamelinHamelin
    edited May 2006
    Even so, I need batteries.
  • godgod
    edited May 2006
    you dont have any because SWAT teams seized them all while you werent looking
  • X'o'LoreX'o'Lore
    edited May 2006
    That treb looks hideously crude next to the little apple tosser I saw, but tossing concrete vs apples suggests yours is still quite functional (albeit the apples were being launched around 200 yards rather than 50 feet). Continue the work! Producing engines of destruction is truly the work of SCIENCE!
  • BehemothBehemoth
    edited May 2006
    Indeed! The next time I'm sieging a castle, you're the first one I'll call.
  • mjc0961mjc0961
    edited May 2006
    Damn you SWAT team! *shakes fist in anger*

    You should totally chuck concrete at them with the catapult.
  • LangLang
    edited May 2006
    People in my physics and Latin classes have been tribuchets. If only I could have partaken in their construction!
  • HamelinHamelin
    edited May 2006
    You know people who were trebuchets?
  • LangLang
    edited May 2006
    Wow. I...

    Yes.

    (I think meant "built" or something.)
  • mariomario
    edited May 2006
    I would have loved to assist in the construction of trebuchet friends! Especially ones that speak Latin!
  • Drooling IguanaDrooling Iguana
    edited May 2006
    If that volcano had only erupted a few centuries earlier and recharged the Ark when trebuchets were still being used...
  • LangLang
    edited May 2006
    Jeez, what's wrong with my typing today?

    As opposed to other days.

© Vanilla Keystone Theme 2023