Trebuchet: 14 year old's 1 welding project

[RivennHewn]

My son's science project.

He scaled from a picture, did the layout, cutting, grinding, and welding.

It also took a lot of fine tuning.

I watched, so he didn't lose a finger or eye.

Throws a tennis ball just over 50'.

 

[moogoob]

Sweet! I think i was still playing legos at 14....

 

[Catalyze]

Most cool! Tell him he gets two pieces of pie for the great effort.
Craig

 

[Jzytaruk]

while your at it, teach him about safety.. I'd rather be uncomfortable then take a trip to the hospital and wait in the lineups...

radiated light from welding can/will leave a nasty sunburn..
sparks from a chopoff saw can hurt aswell.. maybe even use a face shield overtop the glasses...

Looks like fun tho

 

[redman43]

NICE!

I keep telling my wife (around the time of year when Punkin' Chunkin' is on tv, go figure) that I want to build a trebuchet. In the back of my mind I've always been afraid of how far it will launch the projectile though.

 

[ADaughen]

Only 50'?? Needs more weight both in the launcher and ball. Maybe a longer arm, too.

BSA leadership camp, we made catapults that launched water balloons ~100'. 7' launching arm. I don't recall what we used for the spring mechanism (bungies I think).

 

[RivennHewn]

The 'Science' was collecting data on weight/distance variables.

For a weekend project and 1st time welding, I was dang proud of him.

Also, it had to fit in the wife's car.

 

[Jeepskate]

I built a couple of F.A.T's (Floating Arm Trebuchet) with my son & his friends when they were in Cub Scouts. There's a program floating around on the 'net that can help you design 'em. Cool project for your kid to learn welding on.

My last one. Gave it away, now I live on 5 acres & wish I had it back:

 

[bartels_metal_works]

Sweet! I think i was still playing legos at 14....

...I'm 29 and still playing with Legos!