Trebuchet

by qwerty987

17K8716

Intro: Trebuchet


     I made this trebuchet a while back, and found that it could hurl a small fishing weight about 100 feet each time.  A trebuchet can fling a projectile by using the counterweight to pull up the arm and the sling.  The trebuchet was built to throw their projectiles high and not as far as possible.  In medieval times the trebuchet would be used as a seige weapon to throw corpses over the walls of a castle or fort, causing the inhabitants of the castle or fort to contract diseases and to die or weaken.


     Here is a link to the original plans http://www.schenectady.k12.ny.us/users/pattersont/IBDT%20Website/FinalActivityMay05.html

16 Comments

Bcook71099 6 years ago

Can you make this in a school setting? Our class would like to do this.

qwerty987 6 years ago

It's been a while since I thought about this project. My father and I made it for a school project when I was in the fifth grade. I think that it is made mainly of 1x1 inch wood and 5 mm plywood. The majority of the cutting would be doable with a miterbox, and a cordless drill would work just fine for the pivot points. I don't have the dimensions, but I'm sure that your students will be able to figure out the relationship between the arm length and the counterweight length with a bit of research. Sadly the link to the original plans no longer works. The weight that I used was lead picked up from a gun range. It would be a good idea to find an alternative to lead.

Best of luck with your class project, and hopefully this will be a good learning experience.

coloso24 9 years ago

can you send me the plane and sizes?

qwerty987 9 years ago

Hey, I’m sorry but I have moved to Germany for a year and I don’t have any measurements with me, and I did not bring the trebuchet. I can look online for the plans that we originally used, but we made it 8 years ago.

martyphee 10 years ago

I don't see any dimensions anywhere. Anyone have them?

qwerty987 10 years ago

I haven't had the time to post them yet. I am very busy with life and have moved twice since I have posted this so I don't know where it is yet.

H1T4TCH1 13 years ago

can you post ? please ? i'll DEFINATELY make this if you post!!!

qwerty987 13 years ago

I'll try to but I can't make a new one or take it apart so it will just be pics with lengths and other notes.

H1T4TCH1 13 years ago

okay I think that's enough to build... Thanks!

qwerty987 13 years ago

i will post so if you wait it will be more detailed than the current one. i am currently having problems on it and it wont let me put the pics on.

H1T4TCH1 13 years ago

okay man, i'll wait ;)

Kaptain Kool 13 years ago

Cool! A good history lesson also. Plus, now you seiging army will have cover fire!

~KGB~ 13 years ago

Looks great!

qwerty987 13 years ago

thanks and thanks for the 5.0