Introduction: Wooden Trebuchet
Materials:
Wooden base
Wooden steaks
Wheels
Nails
L brackets
PVC Pipe
Metal Rod
Weight
Rope
Duct tape
Step 1: Buy Wood and Cut It
Start off by buying wood that is pretty thick as the base as well as 2 long sticks of wood for the sides. You can find this in the scrap isle at Home Depot and they can cut it down to the size you need.
Cut pieces of wood into four 45 degree angles that you will be connecting to make the sides.
Paint wood whatever color you perfer. We used an acrilic paint at Micheals for just .79 cents.
Step 2: Attaching Wood Pieces
Attach the 45 degree angles into triangles that will be standing on the base
Start off by hamering the triangles will a nail in between both pieces perferiablly a thin nail that dosent split the wood. Once you connect to pieces of the wood you can and nails and hammer them into the base at an angle so they are connected.
On both sides you can add L hooks to make it more sturdy.
Step 3: Attach Wheels
You can buy a pack of wheels this size at Micheals for just a few dollars.
Once you have your wheels add three wheels to each side and space them evenly. Once they are evenly spaced you can nail them in the base but not all the way through. Leave a little space so they can turn.
Step 4: Place Metal Rod and Pvc Pipe
Once the wheels and wooden steaks are attached you can place the metal rod in between the gap of the two triangles.
Make sure to have the right size rod that is the same distance as the wood steaks apart from each other. Have the PVC pipe cut down to where when you spin the pipe it goes a full 360 degrees and does not touch the base.
To keep the rod from staying you can either tie string to both the wood and rid or nail a bracket to it.
Step 5: Add Weight and Launcher
For your weight attach something the is even on both sides. You can use tiles and then just duct taped them so they didnt fall off when we launched our trebuchet.
Attach a measuring cup and cut a hole through the PVC pipe to add a string through to hold the measuring cup in place.
Make the string long enough that it can be pulled all the way back so that can be yor trigger when you launch.