Texas Tech Floating Arm Trebuchet

ASME's entry into the Texas Tech College of Engineering Engineers Week trebuchet competition.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Floating
• Arm
• Trebuchet
• FAT
• Texas
• Tech
• ASME
• Catapult
• Launch
• Watermelon
• Toiletpaper

[Midnighter169]

im completely sure that it can handle a much heavier counter weight you should try it

[daijohns]

@Midnighter169 We would have if we had had more weights to add. And if we hadn't launched stuff until the weight bar bent and the rollers broke.

[1chrisdaman1]

nice,sweet epic and all the other positive words i know! but it wold shoot further if you channge the reallisings moment

[daijohns]

@1chrisdaman1 The release mechanism was the hardest part to get right (and you can see that we didn't quite get it right).

[Terminator714]

weak...my 8inch could huck further than that

[daijohns]

@Terminator714 could it "hunk" a gallon jug of water further than that? Of course it all depends on your projectile

[dgl6y7]

@daijohns adding more CW requires re-tuning the rope length and the piviot point of the arm. simply adding more weight would make the arm fall too fast and the ball would take a really high trajectory (or slam into the ground depending on how the release works). this looks really good the way it is. if anything just reduce the MOI of the arm. steal some carbon fiber from the areospace lab, theyll just waste it anyway!!! lol Great job tho!

[PREXSTASY]

Dude -- you need to scale this up. Fling some boulders =D

[Midnighter169]

@daijohns oh well thats unfortunate sorry you know when something i make breaks it almost feels like a friend has died

[cLaX1227]

lol airsoft airstrike: --->  launch an oil drum full of bb's with a more powerful trebuchet

[gastfreund76]

It's neat, especially since it's so compact. However, I can imagine that the falling weight bar in the frame causes some friction since it touches the frame while falling, doesn't it? That may take away some force.

[bassaddict1231]

needs more arm movement you should start it higher up

[dagoogler01]

@daijohns nah thats the best engineering process! what i do for almost everything i build

[Gurflob]

do floating arms throw farther with less weight than traditional ones?