The challenges we've faced so far and have worked out are;
Counterweight design.
-The counterweight needs to slip and float on the end of the arm. The box we built for the counterweight had a good design, but the way we hung it was poorly designed. It was hanging by chain, and rope, and had a lot of problems. With all the weight hitting the full speed of a swing it didn't take long to pull away the rope or chain we had used to secure the box.
-After those problems we decided to go with the fixed counterweight design. We quickly discovered it wasn't as efficient and wouldn't throw as far.
-We went back to the box counterweight design, and added a cross bar and the short end of the arm. It still needs some adjustment, but the Trebuchet is throwing farther than ever now.
Pouch Design.
-We couldn't get the pouch to open and release. We would load up the Trebuchet and fire it, only to have the tennis ball whip around and still be in the pouch.
-We changed pouch materials, from an old shirt, to old jeans. The denim didn't collapse and held it's shape much better.
-We found a better design that when tied to the sling, the pouch had an actual "pouch" shape.
Sling Design.
-With the pouch working better we had some shots that would fire straight up in the air, and some shots that would fire straight along the ground. We wanted a 45 degree shot as we had read that you would get the most distance with that angle. Some suggest that you change the angle of the release pin on the end of the arm, but I think this is not a good fix. What if the pin is heavy duty on a large trebuchet and not easy to change the angle? The better solution is the length of the sling. With a sling too long or too short the speed of the sling and the release time will change.
Release Pin.
-We are still working out what will do for the release pin. We have just been using a stick to cross the arm and pulling it out to fire. It would be much better to have an actual release pin. I'm considering one very simple design I'll share here soon.
Counterweight design.
-The counterweight needs to slip and float on the end of the arm. The box we built for the counterweight had a good design, but the way we hung it was poorly designed. It was hanging by chain, and rope, and had a lot of problems. With all the weight hitting the full speed of a swing it didn't take long to pull away the rope or chain we had used to secure the box.
-After those problems we decided to go with the fixed counterweight design. We quickly discovered it wasn't as efficient and wouldn't throw as far.
-We went back to the box counterweight design, and added a cross bar and the short end of the arm. It still needs some adjustment, but the Trebuchet is throwing farther than ever now.
Pouch Design.
-We couldn't get the pouch to open and release. We would load up the Trebuchet and fire it, only to have the tennis ball whip around and still be in the pouch.
-We changed pouch materials, from an old shirt, to old jeans. The denim didn't collapse and held it's shape much better.
-We found a better design that when tied to the sling, the pouch had an actual "pouch" shape.
Sling Design.
-With the pouch working better we had some shots that would fire straight up in the air, and some shots that would fire straight along the ground. We wanted a 45 degree shot as we had read that you would get the most distance with that angle. Some suggest that you change the angle of the release pin on the end of the arm, but I think this is not a good fix. What if the pin is heavy duty on a large trebuchet and not easy to change the angle? The better solution is the length of the sling. With a sling too long or too short the speed of the sling and the release time will change.
Release Pin.
-We are still working out what will do for the release pin. We have just been using a stick to cross the arm and pulling it out to fire. It would be much better to have an actual release pin. I'm considering one very simple design I'll share here soon.
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