Introduction: Giant Trebuchet
Make a giant trebuchet in less than a day with a couple of trees, some rope and a few other easily found parts.
Best made in a paddock with plenty of room for hurling and a tractor with a loader will make it easy to get the throwing arm onto the support frame.
Step 1: Prepare Materials
Actions required for step 1 are:
Select tree
Detatch roots from trunk
Remove branches
We used a couple of blue gums, a fast growing eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) approx 10 years old.
We cut the following:
Main arm 10.5m long
Legs 2 x 3m long
2 x 3.5m long
cross arm (pivot) 2m long
For cross bracing we used 1 by 5m length and 2 x 2.5m lengths.
(multiply by 3 for approx lengths in ft)
(note the chaps, face mask and safety helmet used when felling tree are omitted by model pretending to fell tree)
After cutting timber to length, find a good location for building the treb and set out timbers. Starting with legs, lash the tops of each 3m leg to a 3.5m leg leaving enough overhang at the top for the cross arm (pivot) to sit in. I had some help from my kids who had practised lashing at scouts with this step.
Step 2: Set Up Frame
Stand up the legs and hold in place with temporary bracing while you attach cross braces. We originally put permanent cross braces between the legs as this was easy to do. This was not a good move as you want the arm to swing freely without hitting the cross bracing. Yes seems obvious in hind sight. The mannequin in the second photo is demonstrating where not to stand when there is only temporary bracing in place.
Outrigger style cross bracing is a better solution. Lay a long pole (approx 5m) on the ground in front of the legs and fix to legs by lashing or heavy duty coach bolt. Then lash or bolt cross braces between the pole and the legs.
Step 3: Throwing Arm
Lash a cross brace about 2m from the large (butt) end of the large log chosen for the throwing arm. Rope is fine, but rachet straps make it easy to get nice and tight. There will be a lot of weight on this joint when the arm is vertical - the weight of the arm plus the counterweight, so this joint needs to be good. A chain screwed to the end of the log (butt end) and then back to the cross arm can be used if there is any doubt about a lashed joint.
Lift the arm and set the cross arm in the v at the top of the legs. We used a tractor so this was quick and easy. If you don't have access to a tractor, place the cross arm (which is light enogh to carry up a ladder) in position first and then use a cum along winch or block and tackle to lift the main arm and lash in place.
Screw a coach screw into the end of the throwing arm (long end) at an angle that is slightly above horizontal when the arm is pulled down to the ground. Leave the unthreaded portion of the bolt exposed. Cut the hex end off the bolt, leaving a smooth pin.
At the short (butt) end, drill a hole right through the log, close to the end at right angles to the arm and parallel to the cross arm to suit a long bolt or rod, about 16mm. Insert a rod through this hole to pivot a counterweight from.
Step 4: Counterweight
Attach a counterweight to the pin in the short end of the arm. The weight needs to be in proportion to the weight of the throwing arm and the strength of the structure. We have started with a 20 gallon steel drum, bolted chain to the sides of the drum and then used shackles to attach the chain to the pin. The drum was attached while empty and was then filled with rocks and sand.
Step 5: Throw Something
1. Every good treb needs a name. This was a job for the kids, and they dubbed her "Pain Bringer"
2. Tie a rope to the long end of the throwing arm that you can use to pull the arm back down for firing.
3. Keep people, buildings, cars etc away from the treb, particularly in front and behind. Yes it is possible to fire the projectile backwards
4. Always assume that a rope or a joint will fail. Place yourself and anyone you don't want to send to hospital in a place where they will not be hit if something fails.
What to throw? Plastic bottles filled with water are great, make a nice wet splat. Strictly a single use item. Small heavy thing go further, eg the hammer that we were using for the build.
Update - In the video we are throwing bottles of water 2 - 3 kg about 30m or 90ft. In order to pull the arm back by one person pulling on a rope, we were restricted on the counterweight size we could use. We recently increased the counterweight by only about 25% and saw the throwing distance increase fairly dramatically to 65m or 200ft. Why so much from a small(ish) increase in counterweight size? I think this is because the weight of the arm is also quite heavy and this offsets the counterweight, so increasing the counterweight by a relatively small percentage increases the difference in weight between the throwing arm and the counterweight by a much greater amount.
Participated in the
Redneck Contest
29 Comments
10 years ago on Introduction
The pouch is person size. *evil grin*
10 years ago on Introduction
what was your maximum throw?
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
About 40 yards. It really needs a much heavier counterweight to get good distance, but at the moment one person can pull the throwing arm back down, if I increased it significantly it would need a different arrangement to pull the arm down.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
Have you thought of using a boat winch (see http://www.amazon.com/Reese-Towpower-74337-Pound-Capacity/dp/B000WZ4KBS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1417229616&sr=8-4&keywords=boat+winch )? It would give you a mechanical advantage in pulling the arm back into battery.
9 years ago
I think the counterweight made a big difference here because the blue gum log I was using for a throwing arm was quite heavy and had lots of inertia so just didn't pick up speed fast enough with the smaller counterweight. Probably could have got similar results with a light weight arm too. No problems with the arm breaking on this one. I've got some big bamboos growing so maybe theses would be good for next time.
9 years ago on Introduction
I made one of these a while back. Smaller mind you, but just as fun. It flicked a soccer ball about 20 metres using about 25-30kg barbell weights. Regarding your comment with the 25% increase in counterweight weight leading to 100%+ increase in distance, I found that there is a critical ratio of sling length to counterweight weight. If the sling is too short for a given weight (i.e. the weight is too heavy for a given sling length), or vice versa it will release the :insert projectile type here: at the wrong time. Simply adding more weight will not necessarily lead to a further throw. I can't quite remember straight, as it's been a while since I tuned my treb, but I think the heavier the weight, the longer the sling needs to be to be "tuned". If the projectile is going high but not far, make the sling longer, or alternatively, remove some weight (having too much weight can result in snapped cross-members – I was using bamboo and snapped several). If it is hitting the ground early and at a shallow angle, shorten the sling, or add weight.
10 years ago on Introduction
COOL! who doesn't love an admittedly lethal giant trebuchet?
10 years ago on Introduction
Wow this looks amazing, does it is ilegal?
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
I can't see how a few sticks lashed together in the paddock would be illegal, but I would expect that there would be some laws that would bring you unstuck if pumpkins were in invading your neighbours airspace.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Then can you believe that a pair of sticks tied together by a rope/chain IS illegal? Also known as nunchucks. Taken from wikipedia:
Possession of nunchaku is illegal or nunchaku is defined as weapon in a number of countries including Norway, Canada,[21][22] Russia, Poland, Chile and Spain. In Germany, nunchaku have been illegal since April 2006, when they were declared a strangling weapon.[23][24]
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
I'll have to rule out how to make giant nunchucks for my next instructable.
Sounds similar to slingshots here. Again a simple piece of rubber tied to a stick and it is a prohibited weapon. It's regulated differently in different states of Australia, in WA where I live you can get a license to have a gun and is possible to obtain a permit to have a cross bow which is also a prohibited weapon, but there is no avenue for a license or permit to have a slingshot.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
So obviously government thinks it's far easier to kill using nunchucks and slingshot than with a gun. I'll leave the gun and take these whenever I go hunting :P
Next thing we know, fishing pole will also be illegal.
10 years ago on Introduction
Dude, this Is epic. I've made one before but not on this scale ,keep up the good work
10 years ago on Introduction
From memory there's all sorts of ratios and tuning that can increase your range dramatically. Things like ratio of end/pivot/weight on the main arm, length of throwing rope etc.
The bugger is that all the numbers are interrelated, so fiddling one messes with others.
It even makes a difference to the calculations if the weight is fixed or free-swinging from the end of the main boom, or if the whole thing is fixed to the ground like yours vs on wheels that allow it to roll forwards and backwards.
Try some of the calculators like http://ronleigh.com/ivytech/_ref-trebuchet-range.htm or theres some excellent software at http://www.algobeautytreb.com/
Mine's made from an old bicycle front fork, just haven't got enough lead for a decent counterweight yet. Should sling a pebble 50 metres when complete, if I get 10 KG of mass in the counterweight
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
I started out looking for some software to refine the concept before building, there were a few links on the Grey Company trebuchet web site, but could find anything that was compatible with the mac, so just went with trial and error, which was not difficult and kind of more fun as it gives a reason to keep firing it. The distance ranged from going backwards if the sling was too short to around 40m which I don't think is very far for this sized machine. I've spoken to a guy who said he had one that actually fired a lot further with a smaller arm, which I guess is because the counterweight is not big enough to get a large arm moving quickly enough. I have commented previously that to increase the size of the counterweight significantly would create a new challenge on how to load the device as at the moment, a (full sized) person can haul it down with a rope.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
http://www.algobeautytreb.com/ has a macintosh version.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Cool, works well, but the numbers don't fit in the fields very well, obviously designed for small devices. I have some fine tuning to do and I have to find some bathroom scales to weigh the counterweight.
From the first few runs, it demonstrates that a heavy throwing arm needs a big counterweight. Even with my approx 100kg counterweight, the inertia of the throwing arm takes a lot to overcome.
10 years ago on Introduction
Great job. Have you dialed in the optimum projectile size yet? That's my favorite part, though I've never made one that big before. Wow. I hope you have an ample supply of the severed heads of your foes to fling about.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
In absence of severed heads, melons or plastic milk bottles filled with water are good. The milk bottles explode on impact, soft drink bottles not so good as they tend to bounce rather than smash.
I've also had a recommendation to use a bag of flour to "print" the impacts of testing on the ground.
10 years ago on Introduction
Wow, nice job.
I remember seeing these on tv.
Theres a guy that likes to hurl old pianos.
Gets em going like 500 ft!