The Trebuchet

After playing Castle Clout we were inspired to make two things.  A really awesome remake and a really awesome trebuchet, all while using the word ‘awesome’ too often.  Joey and I spent the last half of our Friday making this really cool medieval weapon.

We started the build around 12pm.  We grabbed supplies and were back at the office in about an hour, and spent a good amount of time trying to figure out what final design we wanted.  Here’s what we bought:

20 feet of PVC
6 End Caps (PVC)
10 45 degree Connectors (PVC)
13 T Connectors (PVC)
2 4-Way Connectors (PVC)
Twine
PVC Pipe Cutter
PVC Glue
PVC Grease
Duct Tape

We decided on a standard design, nothing too fancy.  Simplicity works wonders.

After cutting a bunch of the pipe, remeasuring, and then recutting again, our design started to come together!

We forgot a crucial part of the trebuchet: the weight.  Luckily earlier that day we bought about 3 pounds of peanuts and other mixed nuts for the office snack bar, and were lucky enough to snag it in-time for the build.

We fired a few shots inside and magically it worked!  We then took it outside to see how far we could launch a Ball Revamped squishy.

With the peanut weight we can launch about 15-30 feet without additional manpower.  That’s pretty good for a 2-3 hour build.  After about 5 more tries we also discovered that the ball is the best item to launch.

Dan also had the idea of trying to push down on the trebuchet arm as fast as possible, and then we suddenly had a range of 30-60 feet!  It was a pretty awesome experiment, and we learned a lot of about Trebuchet physics to pick up and start this project.

And with that, here’s a screenshot of our newest game (click to embiggen).    We’re going for the Castle Clout style but we’re going to have a few more features and some new art style.  We have permission from the original artist, of course, so all due respect for his design is there.  I’ll let Joey update you on that news as it comes around, since he’ll be leading that project.

But seriously, trebuchets are fun.  Spend a couple hours making one, you won’t regret it.