Slinging.org Forum - Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction

HurlinThom

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Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction
Jul 26^th, 2012 at 12:54pm

My latest project "Brutus". Actually started two years back but was put on hold. The frame is a little over 5 feet (1,5 meters) high and 6 feet long. Just fits in my truck bed and under my carport when in the truck. Construction is Douglas Fir, main members 2X6s and 2X4s, with some salvaged wood from discared furniture (Ikea, made in Finland) added in to the mix. It's heavy; I can just lift the frame itself. It's intended for launching small pumpkins at targets, to take over that task from the red, white, and blue one that couldn't quite launch them far enough to satisfy me.

Hasn't been shot yet, just one dry-fire with reduced counterweight to test the trigger. I have a curious situation of having the full counterweight set up but not an arm strong enough to use that and a medium-duty arm without a corresponding counterweight setup. The latter is easier to make. The full CW is a but much to move if you're not doing serious work.

And it will have a sling, of course.

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perpetualstudent Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 1405 Gender:	Re: Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction Reply #1 - Jul 26^th, 2012 at 1:54pm Very nice. One day I'll make it to punkin chunkin with something like that.
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jlasud Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Programming stones Posts: 2358 Transilvania Gender:	Re: Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction Reply #2 - Jul 26^th, 2012 at 3:02pm So i guess the CW weights about 40-50 kg Why not MURLIN?
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Mauro Fiorentini Forum Moderation Offline Forge your future with the hammer of your mind! Posts: 3442 Ancona, Italy. Gender:	Re: Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction Reply #3 - Jul 26^th, 2012 at 3:03pm This's nice as always Thom, and I'm going to move it on one of the existing topics talking about trebuchets Greetings, Mauro.
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HurlinThom

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Re: New trebuchet
Reply #4 - Jul 26^th, 2012 at 4:15pm

Mauro, this is the full-sized Brutus, which is why I started a new topic for it. The post you moved it to is Baby Brute, the half-sized prototype. I'll shoot a photo with both and post it.

Someday I'll try my hand at a MURLIN. It's one new system that I really admire, very efficient in turning gravitational potential energy stored in the counterweight into kinetic energy in the payload. It works on a very different principle and requires a special frame. Normal projectile for MURLINs seems to be baseballs, maybe 1/6 of a kilo.

This frame will function as a plain hinged-counterweight treb, a whipper, or a King Arthur OR as my own Lobbit system, which is my plan for it at the moment.

Planned counterweight is to be 230 to 240 pounds, 105 to 110 kg. Depends if I replace a couple of 5 pound plates with spacers to tilt the CW out more.

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Masiakasaurus Forum Moderation Offline mah-SEE-a-kah-SOR-us Posts: 6069 Alabama, USA Gender:	Re: Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction Reply #5 - Jul 26^th, 2012 at 4:25pm If you think this should be separate I'll oblige. We mostly try to consolidate pics only threads anyway. So what's the secret of MURLIN?
Back to top	Pikåru wrote on Nov 19^th, 2013 at 6:59pm: Massi - WTF? It's called a sling. You use it to throw rocks farther and faster than you could otherwise. That's all. ~Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily avialable, they will create their own problems.~ IP Logged

Mauro Fiorentini Forum Moderation Offline Forge your future with the hammer of your mind! Posts: 3442 Ancona, Italy. Gender:	Re: Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction Reply #6 - Jul 26^th, 2012 at 5:23pm All right Thom, then I'm going to add this topic to the Index Greetings, Mauro.
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HurlinThom

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Re: Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction
Reply #7 - Jul 26^th, 2012 at 6:43pm

Mauro Fiorentini wrote on Jul 26^th, 2012 at 5:23pm:

All right Thom, then I'm going to add this topic to the Index

Greetings,
Mauro.

Index librorum prohibitorum?

I really didn't want to make an issue of this, but did think a fresh topic was warranted. Here's the photo comparing the two. And I have a video of the first throw up on YouTube now.

http://youtu.be/zZLJWwySK7U

Masi, the MURLIN was devised by Leonard Vance, a professor of physics at the University of Arizona (or is it Arizona State U?) as an attempt at extreme efficiency. The counterweight is remotely mounted on a cable and maintains a pull nearly at 90 degrees to the fulcrum throughout its drop. It's sort of like what's called a wheel treb except that the wheel lacks a rim and the "spokes" are of lengths calculated to give optimum leverage in accordance with the amount of resistance the arm and sling are giving at a given point of arm rotation. It works like a bandit. It's not to be confused with the earlier (Magic of) Merlin treb, a big Punkin Chunkin competitor that has never lived up to its potential.

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Masiakasaurus

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Re: Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction
Reply #8 - Jul 26^th, 2012 at 7:07pm

The index was a reference to something we've been discussing in the moderators' area of the forum.
Mauro Fiorentini wrote on Apr 9^th, 2012 at 7:17pm:

Hallo guys,
these days I've been thinking about how to increase the forum's usability.
Now that these spammers are no more trouble, we had a lot of new members, and I noticed that some of them have opened new threads about matters that had already been discussed.
Others also contacted me asking about metal working, which is another matter we already discussed on related topics.

So here's my proposal to facilitate the forum's usability: why don't we create an index of such topics?
I'll try to better explain my idea using examples: we could gather all topics discussing of a certain matter (example: working metal, hardening leather, re-enactment, stone working, etc...), and divide them into groups; collect these groups into an "Index" topic in the "Other" section, and it's done.
I would hire the burden and the honor to look for, group and organize these topic's links into a .doc file, and send it to C_A for the final translation in web language.

Perhaps it's not so important, because the forum's legibility is not compromised: it's more a question of order, and it may come in handy for new members, as well as for elder ones.
Greetings,
Mauro.

Keeping your topic separate isn't an issue Thom, we just didn't realize that your chucker was different from the one in the previous topic.

That MURLIN treb sounds interesting. I always like hearing about recent innovations to ancient tech.

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Pikåru wrote on Nov 19^th, 2013 at 6:59pm:

Massi - WTF? It's called a sling. You use it to throw rocks farther and faster than you could otherwise. That's all.
~Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily avialable, they will create their own problems.~

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HurlinThom Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Leverage artillerist Posts: 1458	Re: Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction Reply #9 - Jul 26^th, 2012 at 8:38pm Here's a link to a video on MURLINS, by the innovator. Lots if info. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7mB5iftarQ
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Masiakasaurus

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Re: Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction
Reply #10 - Jul 26^th, 2012 at 9:31pm

I understood that until he got to the energy budget at 5:59, then it went over my head. I can calculate an energy balance for a small system but that's a lot of variables to take into account for the inefficiencies of the Treb. It would make an amazing pumpkin chucker if you can come up with an easier way of loading the pouch. Because of the way the sling hangs upside down until near the end of the swing, I think you're going to have trouble holding the pumpkins down. *The analysis of someone who hasn't touched a Treb in 8 years.

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Pikåru wrote on Nov 19^th, 2013 at 6:59pm:

Massi - WTF? It's called a sling. You use it to throw rocks farther and faster than you could otherwise. That's all.
~Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily avialable, they will create their own problems.~

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HurlinThom

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Re: Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction
Reply #11 - Jul 26^th, 2012 at 10:31pm

Masiakasaurus wrote on Jul 26^th, 2012 at 9:31pm:

I understood that until he got to the energy budget at 5:59, then it went over my head. I can calculate an energy balance for a small system but that's a lot of variables to take into account for the inefficiencies of the Treb. It would make an amazing pumpkin chucker if you can come up with an easier way of loading the pouch. Because of the way the sling hangs upside down until near the end of the swing, I think you're going to have trouble holding the pumpkins down. *The analysis of someone who hasn't touched a Treb in 8 years.

That's a whipper-style sling deployment. It's necessary to support the payload until it's time for it to swing out or the free end of the sling comes free too early and the payload exits the pouch straight down. There are static and dynamic holding systems. De-pouching is embarrassing and the resulting dry fire is hard on the machine, particularly the axle.

My eyes tend to glaze over when too many numbers get tossed around. 'rithmetic and a little simple geometry do me fine; haven't touched a math book since about 1960.

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Rat Man Slinging.org Administrator Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 13680 New Jersey, USA Gender:	Re: Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction Reply #12 - Jul 27^th, 2012 at 2:20pm Thom, that is totally cool!
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HurlinThom Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Leverage artillerist Posts: 1458	Re: Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction Reply #13 - Jul 27^th, 2012 at 3:35pm Rat Man wrote on Jul 27^th, 2012 at 2:20pm: Thom, that is totally cool! I now face the situation of having not enough room for these things. Two or three must go. The PVC one, the one in my avatar, and ???
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ChuckRocks

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Re: Weapon of Medi(a)eval destruction
Reply #14 - Jul 29^th, 2012 at 8:51am

Hurlin Thom is not new to the rodeo but has plenty of expertly designed and constructed trebs of all sizes.
HT also competes at Cal State, Fullerton's annual Pumokin Launch.
Brutus is one of Thom's largest and most "Brutiful" engine of smash distruction to date.
Roll Eyes

Note on Murlin: ldvance is currently entered in the SiegeMasters 1KFt Golfball Challenge and is bracketing the 4x8' target without yet hitting it. (1 KFt = one kilofoot = 1,000 feet)
See SiegeMasters facebook page for details.

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