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• I downloaded this video to my phone. Thats pretty cool watching video on a phone.

  Posted by: mechanisma22 on February 2, 2007 at 8:32 PM

• Yay, someone is watching the phone feed... this makes all the time transcoding into 3gp and 3g2 worth it!

  Posted by: Bre on February 3, 2007 at 12:36 AM

• good video, but I believe some of the information is incorrect. A trebuchet is not defined by its sling. Its defined by its counterwieght design. A Catapault on the other hand is based around a spring design.

  Posted by: GuardianAero on February 3, 2007 at 10:04 AM

• A 'catapulta' is a big-assed dart throwing cross-bow affair powered by twin torsion skeins.

  Think 'Ballista'.

  Medieval siege weapons were not reliant on springs. The whole 'spoonapult' really-flexible-tree-trunk design popular in video games and Roadrunner cartoons is the product of poor research in Hollywood and has no basis in history.

  Posted by: kaden on February 4, 2007 at 9:14 AM

• trebuchet is fun to say :)

  If you're ever in the trebuchet building mood again -- I would suggest a FAT (floating arm trebuchet). You'll get a longer distance per pound of counterweight ;)

  ------
  As far as the definition of a trebuchet... The general consensus is that a trebuchet is a type of catapult. The only difference between an onager (little brother of a manganel) and a trebuchet is that an onager uses torsional potential energy and a trebuchet uses either gravity or a bunch of people (called a traction trebuchet) for energy.

  Posted by: trebuchet03 on February 4, 2007 at 11:14 PM

• FATS are up to 74% more efficient than a fixed weight treb...That Ron Toms guy is a damned clever fellow.

  It's a much more involved build though; check with Mark Fraunfelder and see if he still has the FAT build log I did for him last year.

  Onager (mule) was the common French term for a mangonel...other than the name, there's no difference.

  The coolest thing about torsion powered devices is that they scale down in size much more efficiently than gravity powered machines; energy providing mass decreases exponentially as a weightbox is downsized, but a scaled down torsion skein retains *impressive* wellie compared to its' full sized brother.

  The main issue I've encountered in fabricating literally hundreds of tabletop mangonels is ensuring that the structural strength of the device is able to cope with the potentially huge amounts of energy moved around during a firing cycle. If you're interested Bre, I can draw up a quik 'n dirty mangonel for you to try your hand at.

  Posted by: kaden on February 5, 2007 at 5:42 AM

• We made a trebuchet last year for our son's middleschool science class. It was lots of fun and we found it to be quite accurate. Our small version was perfect for tossing ping pong balls. We were able to land it in a yogurt container from 15 to 20 feet. My son put our instructions on his site along with a link to a video he made of target practice.

  http://roundobia.com/trebuchet/insturctions/index.php

  Posted by: wateronlydries on February 6, 2007 at 10:31 AM

• there is a trebuchet seen on this site
  Nathan.isasecret.com

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  Posted by: nathan1941 on April 14, 2007 at 5:58 PM

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