Page 34 - 15 Dangerously Mad Projects for the Evil Genius

CHAPTER 2

Trebuchet

PROJECT SIZE: Small

SKILL LEVEL: ★★✩✩

SOMETIMES THE EVIL GENIUS LIKES to go for that
retro-look when creating his projects, and it’s hard
to get much more retro than a medieval siege
engine.

The trebuchet uses a weight attached to an arm
with a sling on the end of it to throw objects. In its
time, the projectiles varied, but were often big
rocks or dead and rotting horses, thrown into the
enemy fortifications during sieges. The Evil
Genius’ trebuchet will not throw much more than a
tennis ball, but it will throw it a decent distance,
and it’s a good project to try if you like
woodworking.

Figure 2-1 shows the trebuchet ready for action.
It’s a simple design that should only take a few
Figure 2-1 The Evil Genius trebuchet
hours to construct and needs little in the way of
special tools or equipment.
underneath the weight (Figure 2-2A). As the
Trebuchets are elegant machines that convert the
weight falls, the throwing end of the arm rises,
potential energy stored in a counter-weight into
pulling the sling and projectile along the slide on
kinetic energy in the projectile. Unlike the coil gun
the base of the trebuchet. At some point, the
of the previous chapter, trebuchets do this in an
projectile leaves the slide (B) and is swung round
efficient manner. The action of a trebuchet is
in a wide arc as the weight keeps falling (C).
shown in the sequence of diagrams in Figure 2-2.
The sling has one end attached to the top of the
The trebuchet has a sling attached to the
throwing arm, and the other end attached to a ring
throwing arm. So, initially the projectile is almost
that fits over a hook on the end of the throwing

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