I Built a Produce-Throwing Merlin Trebuchet | Random Video Thursday's
I built this almost entirely out of on-hand scrap materials. A few cheap, but critical components were purchased as somewhat of an insurance policy though. Total cost of those components were under $20. I could have done without any spending, but I didn't want to skimp out on a few things that matter. I have only tested throwing apples, cucumbers and golf balls with this style trebuchet. I may try other objects, but my goal was to throw over 300ft with these things and I effortlessly achieved beyond that. I found that the sweet-spot counterweight for this build is roughly 30lbs.
Before I built this one I built a traditional trebuchet. It used 80lbs of counter weight and did not throw as far as this one can. The best part is, this will throw those items further with only 1/4 of the counter weight used in the traditional style. In order to throw lighter objects further, I found that kinetic energy in the form of speed mattered more than potential energy in the form of weight. Air resistance becomes a larger variable with lightweight objects and a traditional style trebuchet is limited in throwing speed. It does not matter how much weight is used because gravity pulls at the same rate. A traditional trebuchet is good at throwing heavier objects though. The A-frame of this was actually the original base for the traditional style build. I basically just built a new throwing mechanism and added the counterweight extension.
I used kevlar line for this because it has a high working load limit for its small, less resistant size and over a 500lb breaking strength. Kevlar also has little to no stretch which otherwise would cause a loss of energy. Other cordage types would make the counterweight halt point become difficult to get right due to line stretching. I used a thin pull line because the thicker the cordage is, the more friction it has and the more resistance incurs from moving directional changes during use.
There isn't much I can share in the way of materials, but this is the kevlar line I used and recommend. - https://amzn.to/3doKvRF
These are also handy, inexpensive bearings - https://amzn.to/3AdE24X
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