Wooden Desktop Trebuchet

Step 9 Fire!

To fire your trebuchet, drop your arm into the uprights and hook the loop at the end of your projectile over the pin at the end of the throwing arm. Pull the arm down and place the projectile in the trough. When you're ready to fire, release the arm.

If everything is well, your whatzit will go launching off into the near distance. If your launch didn't go so smoothly, you may be able to do a few things to help it. If your launch is too high or too low, you can adjust your pin or the length of the cord on your projectile.

And there you have it. The whole thing is probably over engineered but it looks nice and works well. In fact, if you wanted to get crazy, the thing could probably hold pretty much as much weight as you could fit though the uprights, easily five pounds or more.

Thanks for looking. This is my first Instructable so I hope it's clear enough for you to make one for yourself if you like it. Please post your comments with any feedback.

Comments

[aagnitsch]

I had alot of fun making this. my daughter asked me to make a catapult but thought better of it and this was perfect. got wondering what else i can make with this extra wood i bought before i found this sight. Good work on the instrutions

[Alabamashawn]

I am doing this for a project in school, I found this site and then found this instructable, it is so simple and easy. Of course i am creating it virtually but still ill probably actually make it.

[Sergeant Dotson]

Extremely well engineered! I made this in 2 days but it was well worth the time and effort. It was also a well done intructables page! Keep up the good work!