Ultimate Trebuchet DIY Project

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Uploaded by on Sep 28, 2011

This is video of a medieval siege engine called a trebuchet. It is not a catapult as many people don't know the difference between the two. This was the ultimate in siege warfare until the cannon was invented. Mine is 27 feet tall, the throwing arm is a willow oak tree, and the counterweight ranges from 1600-2000 pounds. The projectiles were watermelons, pony kegs, and 16 pound bowling balls.

There are a couple clips in this video that I don't like. One is the second clip of the trebuchet (20seconds in.) It seems to show a projectile falling quickly and not going far, but we had tied a pink flamingo to the bowling ball and that is what you see falling so fast. Then there is a shot of the tree line (58 seconds in) from when we launched 16lbs of flour. You can barely make it out, but there is a giant puff of flour in-between the trees. The flour got ripped apart as it was released from the sling.

Please feel free to comment and ask questions. To date, this is my best DIY project. I will build a larger version one day though.

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