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Trebuchet design (Read 5613 times)
Ethan
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Trebuchet design
Sep 20th, 2007 at 3:42pm
 
Well, my next awesome project will be a trebuchet. I've looked around with Google for quite a while, and I haven't found any formula for the proportions of the pieces. I'm looking to buildone about 4' high, for starters, and go from there.
If anyone has a proportions formula, or just tips and advice, I would greatly appreciate it.
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"Young men go to war. Sometimes because they have to, sometimes because they want to. Always, they feel they are supposed to. This comes from the sad, layered stories of life, which over the centuries have seen courage confused with picking up arms, and cowardice confused with putting them down."&&--Mitch Albom, The Five People you meet in Heaven
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slingbadger
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Re: Trebuchet design
Reply #1 - Sep 21st, 2007 at 2:07pm
 
First, go to the Grey company web page. They are a bunch of catapult enthusiasts.
  As for me, my Scouts had to build a catapult for a Viking themed Klondike a few years ago. ( yes, I know that they did not have them, but I was willing to go along with it.)
  Anyway, after a few experiments, I came up with a perrier type. It has no counterweight, but other than that, it is similar to a trebuchet. The proportion I used for the beam was to divide the beam up into 5 parts, then have it balance on the last division line.
  The thing looked awful, and the kids would not believe it would work, until they used it to launch a volly ball over 60 yards.
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The greatest of all the accomplishments of 20th cent. science has been the discovery of human ignorance  The main difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits.-Einstein   I'm getting psychic as I get older. Or is that psychotic?
 
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Trebuchet
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Re: Trebuchet design
Reply #2 - Sep 29th, 2007 at 6:53pm
 
slingbadger wrote on Sep 21st, 2007 at 2:07pm:
First, go to the Grey company web page. They are a bunch of catapult enthusiasts.
 As for me, my Scouts had to build a catapult for a Viking themed Klondike a few years ago. ( yes, I know that they did not have them, but I was willing to go along with it.)
 Anyway, after a few experiments, I came up with a perrier type. It has no counterweight, but other than that, it is similar to a trebuchet. The proportion I used for the beam was to divide the beam up into 5 parts, then have it balance on the last division line.
 The thing looked awful, and the kids would not believe it would work, until they used it to launch a volly ball over 60 yards.


Roite, Mate.

When you can lob a 14 stone chunk of stone 250 yards, drop me a line.  Grin

Trebuchet
(who never built one but always wanted to try.  My imagined goal was lobbing an uncoked egg 300 meters.)
Cool
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kellymcdman
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Re: Trebuchet design
Reply #3 - Oct 31st, 2007 at 1:29am
 
this pic should give you a good idea to start with. the coffie can is full of rocks and sand. dont know the exact weight. and it throws a golf ball over 100 feet. i'll try to post the trigger too. Smiley Smiley
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kellymcdman
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Slinging Rocks!

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Re: Trebuchet design
Reply #4 - Oct 31st, 2007 at 1:31am
 
here it is. remember to keep the arm as lite as you can, and make plenty of room for the parts to move. it tends to swing around quite a bit after launching. Smiley
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Curious Aardvark
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Re: Trebuchet design
Reply #5 - Oct 31st, 2007 at 8:12am
 
cool :-)
Crude but functional - my kind of work ;-)
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Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
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big_sling_gland
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Re: Trebuchet design
Reply #6 - Dec 29th, 2007 at 7:49pm
 
cool I made one that was powered by bungee cord
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