At last, the time has come to fully complete the trebuchet. With the attachment of the arm and the sling ready to go, it was finally finished.
For our sling, we used two strongly twisted rope and a pouch to hold the softball. We cut two small holes into the pouch, one on the right and the other on the left side. Next, we tied a knot of rope through the hole to connect both the pouch and sling. We did it again for the other hole but this time it was attached to a hook which was nailed into the arm. Then we made a small square hook to slip it through the cut at the top of the arm. This allows the pouch to stay in place until enough energy is produced to release the hook. With that done, our sling was complete!
We tested the sling out using manpower instead of weights as we were getting tired. Three, two, one, launch! Swoosh! The sling came in a complete arc and released the ball at the very top of its trajectory. The ball went flying over my roof (which was about 10 feet high) until it hit the tree behind it. My friends and I jumped and yelled with enthusiasm. Finally, we have finished. After four days of man labor and conflict, our machine was completer Our trebuchet was finished.
Later on this week, we will be filming our test launches from our trebuchet. Stay tuned and there’ll be a video post of our trebuchet in action. Fingers crossed that this machine launches the softball 100 feet. X
