The Office supplies trebuchet

Bored at work? Build your own 3" trebuchet out of paperclips and throw balls of blu-tac up to an amazing 4 feet. WOW!!
Please excuse the number of steps. It is really easy and can be made within an hour and from bits lying around the office, hence very cheaply.

Step 1: The tools and materials list

You will need:

1 pair of pliers (needle nose would be best, where available)
1 pair of scissors (yay for scissors)
8 paperclips
Cellotape
thin string/thread
Blu-tac
Corrugated card (approx 6"X6")
Ballast (I used a bunch of batteries from our recycling box)
Rubber band

Comments

[blakesusername]

Cool, I made one of these at work, I used a D cell battery for the counterweight, and for a projectile I used a penny taped to a short piece of string, this string has a loop at the end and attaches to a hook on the end of the trebuchet arm. It can launch the penny about 10 feet with pretty good accuracy I was actually able to launch the penny into a cup. :) yes my job is very boring.

[vincent7520]

No video showing how to target you boss( left eye, and the face he makes when he gets it's on his sandwich at lunch time ???

Thank for the inst' anyway !…

;)

[123456789115]

you took this idea from another website you fail!!

[Scissorman]

Actually quite interested where you saw this. If it was the Discovery site, that was me. Anywhere else and they copied me.

[Scissorman]

No I didn't.

[Redmonkey17]

P.S. it makes it much more stable.

[Redmonkey17]

Instead of taping the two a-frame posts together, add an ex-paperclip support to make a tripod

[Mustapha69]

model magic also works

[Eviil~~PikmiN__{7}]

of course we all have PLIERS laying around the office

[The nerdling]

you could use the handle of the scisors as pliers

[Scissorman]

Why wouldn't you?

[bassclarinet23]

I do...

[ductapeman]

:D its funny because its sarcatistly true

[Fieldownage]

I carry at least a Leatherman Wave and a small swiss army knife with me always? He's not prepared?

[Scissorman]

Well, "someone" is not going to survive the zombie apocalypse. :)

[martzsam]

lawls

[ductapeman]

dduuuude make a 1 paper tat u can fold up

[the dudemaster]

this instructable would be 100% percent better if you added more measurements. i just grabbed eight paperclips out of my computer desk and got to work and my clips were to long so i had to guess my base measurements and the result wasn't pretty.

[venom1539]

and also, what size of batteries are those

[venom1539]

I've been trying to build a portable trebuchet so that i can bring it to school and shoot erasers during indoor recess but just having one is fine. Now i can shoot erasers at my friends when they come over.

[steeler65]

i wonder if it can be used with different sized paper clips becasue i cant ever find seven of the same paper clips

[nutsandbolts_64]

cut all of the paper clips to the size of the smallest one you have. unless it was ridiculously small... most pliers have a v-notch thing that allows you to cout wire so you can use that.

[Dumchicken]

then cut the small paper clip to the size of the big one

[nutsandbolts_64]

Lol, how ridiculous.

[Dumchicken]

I:(

[nutsandbolts_64]

No no, seriously, how can you cut a small thing to make it bigger? Maybe you misinterpreted my comment. Got any sarcasm left in you?

[Dumchicken]

duct tape :P

[Dumchicken]

solder

[Dumchicken]

spliceing

[Dumchicken]

I:(

[nutsandbolts_64]

maybe... lol

[Scissorman]

Play nice people. (But I can cut a hole in a postcard that I can fit through. Maybe I'll Instructablise that one)

[nutsandbolts_64]

haha :D He probably mistook it as an offensive statement, but I don't want to take it further.

[Dumchicken]

I:(

[MSM85]

Use The same length for the 5 that make up your A frames and throwing arm, and the others could be just about any size.  Mine works well with larger clips for the A-frames and arm, and smaller ones for the axle and trigger.

[krusher29]

i just used blunt scissors as pliers.

[Scissorman]

That's what MacGuyver would do.

[Air_Assassin]

tip: use a pencil eraser

[charris12]

tip:the steeper the doglegs the beter!!

[Capt. Kidd]

i made a full size trebuchet that uses a fishing pole mech to wind the rope back...