Trebuchet Throws Steel Shotput: Launch Day, Oct. 2024

Описание: This was a ruff day for the trebuchet. I had high hopes of throwing 1,000 feet with a new 16lb steel shotput I bought. But it turns out that I had leveled the machine from the base and not the axle, and the axle was riding high on the port side. This caused the machine to shift a lot side-to-side and this was made worse by under-tensioned shroud ropes. I had jury-rigged shrouds from spare line after the ones I was planning to use broke during tensioning, and I was a bit chicken to tighten the replacements fully. We decided to back off the weight because the machine was shifting a lot and the box was hitting the supports.

We successfully threw the steel shotput, it has a 5" diameter compared to the 8" bowling balls of the same weight. The first shotput launch was flat, the smaller ball did not roll out of the pouch as fast. Backing off the pin for the second shotput launch produced the farthest shot of the day. We had a good tailwind on that shot. I think the shotput goes a little bit farther but further testing is needed to see how far. It is also not a direct comparison game because the sizes of the projectiles produce different rollouts and launch angles even if the projectiles weigh the same.

All the sandbags had rotted apart, we barely had enough to counterweight the machine. I can't remember what we ended up being at, it was ~1,400 or ~1,500lbs, not the ~1,650 I thought it was.

Later in October I re-leveled the machine, rebagged the sandbags, and spliced new shroud ropes.