Trebuchet CATAPULT Project/Worklog Updated 12/12/06 Please COMMENT

Now I don't have any pics of reassembly process but here are some finished pics.


Here you can see we used the ladder to support the arm as we lifted it to the axel so it will be easier to hold up and insert the axel to the throwing arm.


A view of the entire thing in its glory from afar. Excellent example of leverage even with no weight on the otherside it is incredibly hard to pull down from that end. Friend being goofy hanging on it.


Aiming lol We couldn't put it on the football field due to games but we were shooting onto the field.


Attaching the counter-weight box was tricky and here you see us beggining to string up the throwing arm so we can keep it vertical while we attached the counter-weight box. At the end we had two guy holding ropes going to the tip of the arm to keep it from swinging foward and back as well as a assortment of ropes at the counter-weight side to stabalize it while we attached the box.

Here is a test swing being done with no weight but the box which was just enough to bring the arm down but at no dangerous speeds.

Admiring Our work lol

We painted it black due to availability of house paint to help protect the wood from the elements.

This thing was tall

Though it was not without mishaps here is a pic of our counter-weight box geting unhooked due to we were using plastic coated steel cable and the plastic broke and slid off the steel cable. It was easily fixed though with some solid steel cable and chains.

We also broke one of our axels due to overambitiously putting a lot of counter-weight in. This wasn't that easy a fix though we had a spare and was fixed.

So we were testing and having to much fun to care about pictures sorry and were going to video tape it but a tornado occured first.


Walking to the school to survey damage. Never good when a tree is snapped like a twig at the gate of the school.

Rather large downed tree in our courtyard outside the cafeteria

Who said we can't be silly some guys I was working with over the summer and me on the left.

You should recognize this that is where we loaded and unloaded our materials and finished pieces. Tree down there too.

Trail to athletic fields has a tree down in it as well.

our trebuchet was there behind the shed. As you can see there is a hole in the treeline now and you can see where the tornado went thru.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

oh well what can you do

Our scoreboard was not as well built as the trebuchet at least ours stayed in relatively big pieces.

Thats always great a tree on the school

On the way home .....

Well that is it once again comment all you want I love how you guys wanted a follow up I never did it cause I didn't think anybody cared. Also as I said any ideas please say I would love to partake. I like your idea stuey but I might make a desktop trebuchet and shoot led flashlights that are on in the dark to make cool effects. Otherwise don't know how practical it is.

 

Hydro. Just to let you know a scaled verision of the yeolde days is ridiculous. As you can see mine was pretty big but it doesn't have a range of 100's of meters. Though the world record for pumpkin chucking distance is held by a trebuchet the thing is about double the size of mine. Yet I had a 800 pound counter-weight though. So good luck but I so want to do that too but it is a massive undertaking.

 

Dude.... thats gotta be gutting to see all that work trashed. My housemate has a desktop trebuchet made out of balsa wood that is pretty funky. Will get a picture later

 

Eh yeah but hey you learn from your pitfalls. Nexttime I build something I will build it tornado proof LMAO. W/e **** happens nothing you can do about it.

 

Nooo! Unlucky mate.

Nice pictures though...

 

Awesome trebuchet - I made one a while ago using 20' beams. It tore itself apart, the force on the axle is insane!
Counterweight came off, throwing arm kept spinning around, and hit one of the legs - 4" sq beam was snapped cleanly, then arm hit ground and snapped. Not quite the same as being hit by a tornado (act of god perhaps lol)

I feel for you - painful stuff!

 

That's a gutter man. I was following this thread too, but I haven't been on Bit for a while.

'Tis a shame to see all that hard work ruined.

Nothing you can do but build it bigger and better again!!!

_C

 

Looked pretty neat when you had it finished. Did you consider putting wheels on it to get more distance or decide it would be too much of a hassle? If you make a desktop sized one put it on here so we can see. A desktop size trebuchet + flaming anything (golf/tennis balls, jello shots, etc) = really awesome.

 

Yeah tornado's bummers well thats the idea double_c and this time I won't build it in NY too many tornado's pass thru ..... w/e I using this to get into college should be intresting.

 

So close, well building it can be half the fun anyway.

 

MK2, bigger and better?

 

Unlucky dude, are you going to build another?

 

it's to bad man, My bro built one for a "school" project and it was awesome. Some tips that he used.

Instead of using a sandwiched uprights get solid wood.
For housing the counter weight try using a steel barrel and welding a bracket to attach to the arm. Also use a dense wood. His stood around 8-10 feet and flung chunks of wood about 300+ yards. Sucks about the tornado though.

 

MATE!!!!

Oh well, I agree with everyone else, bigger and better is the only way to go!

Keep us posted.

 

Yep

Wow kind of forgot about this thread but this did get me into college at Georgia Tech and in the spring will actually probally be building another one for a competition so yea.