Tips when building a trebuchet
I have gotten lots and lots of emails from people asking for general tips when building a trebuchet, so here is a list of the points I always make:
- Keep the arm steady
As the arm rotates around it should rotate as smoothly as possible. If there is even the slightest bit of side to side wobble, it reduces the range significantly. Place washers at either side of the arm hinge until the arm cannot mode side to side in the pin. Of course you don't want to hold it so tightly that it won't spin around easily, but it should definately not wobble
- Keep to hinge as frictionless as possible
You should try to let the hinge spin around very smoothly, a little grease or oil should help a lot.
- A sling really helps
A sling can increase the range a lot, however it won't if the pin angle isn't quite right. You need to experiment with the angle, setting it to something and then test firing the trebuchet. Repeat this process until you think you have a good range.
Apart from those suggestions, you really have to just fiddle with various things - try different counterweight weights, possibly try different arm lengths, make the entire construction as solid as you can....