Not so spendy and complicated ways to hurl ammunition!

[NPloysa]

Check these guys out. Pretty cool.



www.trebuchet.com



Lots of catapult and trebuchet kits.



I built one, about 5 foot tall, steel arm, 150 pound throwing weight. Could launch a Trex 4x4 post end, about 6 inches in length, probably about 3 or 4 pounds, about 300 feet.



Also, if anyone saw it, last year sometime TLC had a program about weapons. A British guy made one out of telephone poles and post and beam construction, around 40 feet tall I think, could hurl a small car 150 feet. Pretty sweet!

 

[NPloysa]

Have you made one yet Dan? I made a model one out of balsa also, about 9 inches high, counterweight was 2 C cell batteries, fired a 1/4 nut about 25 feet!



Sweet pics of the British guy's treb, thanks!

 

[michigandon]

I prefer...

#ad




These are local boys, so I gotta support them. And the name of thier rig just flat out ROCKS!



The Second Amendment

 

[cap-n-cray]

For my son's high school Physic class, he and I built a two rubber band catapult that launched marshmallows. Any design but only two rubber bands, farthest marshmallow wins. We used the trebuchet design using the two rubber bands twisted as the power with a sling. It would lunch a standard marshmallow over fifty feet. Because of a technical problem he finished second.



Cary

 

[Philip]

Not so spendy and complicated ways to hurl ammunition

This type of machine just broadens the type of ammo used.

 

[KBennett]

How about a POTATO GUN?



#ad

 

[Andy Perreault]

I saw on TLC or maybe it was the Discovery channel a show about the "Pumpkin' Chunkin'" contest that is held every year somewhere in the eastern U. S. (VA? or PA? somewhere in that area). The show featured all kinds of devices like you guys have pictured. The object is to see who can hurl a pumpkin the farthest.

Andy

 

[skobylenski]

Punkin' Chunkin' - Discovery Channel Don't recall where it is held, though, but VA seems to stick for some reason. That's where I first saw The Second Amendment. I wouldn't mind a Trebuchet

 

[Forrest]

Potato gun ... Oo. ... haven't built one yet, but got to. I've seen one in action. Totally cool. I was surprised how far it shot the potato.



Got to be a great camping aid.



KBennett ... do you have plans / parts list?

 

[Shovelhead]

Originally posted by skobylenski

Punkin' Chunkin' - Discovery Channel Don't recall where it is held, though, but VA seems to stick for some reason. That's where I first saw The Second Amendment. I wouldn't mind a Trebuchet

Check here for more info.



http://www.punkinchunkin.com/



all distances in feet.

1st Place *Second Amendment* *3895. 85 *4434. 28 *3448. 56

 

[MCummings]

Take note,, One mile is 5,280'



That's quiet a ways to be Chunkin' a Pumpkin'



Merrick

 

[skobylenski]

Spud gun plans - this is for a pneumatic cannon. I've built the P. A. C. 2, and it sends spuds, kiwis (messy, but cool), etc. at least 100 yards. It uses a solenoid valve from an automatic lawn sprinkler to hold the air and release it. The kid who has invented all of this stuff is certainly a nutcase, but a nutcase like me



XINVENTIONS

 

[KBennett]

Originally posted by Forrest

Potato gun ... Oo. ... haven't built one yet, but got to. I've seen one in action. Totally cool. I was surprised how far it shot the potato.



Got to be a great camping aid.



KBennett ... do you have plans / parts list?

I did not build the one in the photo and I got the picture from this site:Potato Guns



I have not personally built one but they are not difficult. Most of it is PVC pipe and then add fuel and an ignitor. The barrel is usually made of 2" PVC connected to a larger PVC chamber. The ignitor can be a flint or a gas grill ignitor button connected to a couple screws or a spark plug inserted in the side. I have seen propane and hair spray used as a fuel, just remember a little goes a long way. One guy that let me shoot his had the tip of the PVC barrel sharpened.



I have heard that they are illegal in some areas so be careful. They are a blast when camping though.

 

[Scot]

We built tennis ball cannons during my mis-spent youth. We taped those steel Coke cans together and used some sort of accelerant. I found that lacquer thinner worked great. (^;

 

[NPloysa]

I could never get tennis ball cannons to work. It would light but never enough to set the ball in motion...

 

[nickleinonen]

Originally posted by Scot

We built tennis ball cannons during my mis-spent youth. We taped those steel Coke cans together and used some sort of accelerant. I found that lacquer thinner worked great. (^;

i had one made of soup tins... methalhydrate made a good fuel

 

[Andy Perreault]

I read somewhere that it's possible to send a small object into outer space using nothing but steam. I wish I could remember where I read that article, but it wasn't something stupid, it was a bonafide scientific article. Supposedly, steam is powerful enough to do that! I would assume you'd have to heat water under a super high pressure in a super-duper strong container and then release it through some sort of long cannon barrel. I know that steam is pretty powerful, but wow, that's a pretty mind-boggling thought, sending something into space!

Andy

 

[TPCDrafting]

Yeah, sharpen the end of the barrel on the potato gun. It "shapes" the potatoe as you push it down the barrel. We went through about 300 lbs of spuds one year at lake powel. We've also built smaller versions to shoot radishes. Those babies hurt.

When I was younger a friend built a cross bow out of a truck sized leaf spring. I went over to see it shoot. He decided to shoot at his barn to see just how powerfull the projectile was. The arrow was an 8' section of 3/4" copper pipe. Standing back about 30-40 yards from the barn he flung that arrow, it went clean through the barn out the other side and through an unlucky cow. His mom was white hot PO'd at us, made him disassemble the bow and pay for the butchering of the cow. The steaks were good!

 

[Andy Perreault]

TPCDrafting, your story reminded me of this one: I took welding classes many years ago. The instructor was explaining the dangers of mis-handling gas cylinders (bottle or tank, whatever you want to call it) one day. He told us that he used to work at some place and some of the guys decided they wanted to see what happened if they broke the valve off a full gas cylinder (I don't know if it was argon, oxygen or whatever, but it doesn't matter). They rigged up some kind of guillotine and chopped the valve off a cylinder, and the thing shot across the shop and went through two cinder block walls and ended up in the office building nextdoor.

Andy

 

[benhall]

On the spud gun, don't you acetylene. We were in the middle of an Operational Readiness Inspections (ORI) when I was stationed in Germany, and one of our idiots (airman) decided to use this combination in the shop. Not only did this ignite, but it shattered the pvc and he ended up with 26 stitches to include the 10 on his lower lip that was split clean through to the inside.



Ben