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The Backyard Ogre Catapult This is the Backyard Ogre Catapult The base of this catapult is two feet long and the throw arm is about three feet long. It is made from 2x3's but you can make it from 2x4's also. It took me about two hours to make it. This page is all about this catapult and how you can make one yourself. Safety Note: This is a powerful catapult that uses a bungee cord as its power source. You must use safety precautions when building and using it! And you must absolutely wear safety glasses when firing it off. This is in case the bungee cord breaks. And never fire any type of solid object with it. I use balls of aluminum foil and it works just as well with a tennis ball.
Have other people Made the Ogre Catapult? Or do you want to make one just a little bit smaller? Here is a user submitted version of the Ogre.
Like the Ogre Catapult but want to make one a little smaller? This is called
See this catapult in action and learn more about it
How to Build the OGRE Catapult
A Note about Safety Before Starting! Please use all safety equipment when building and using this catapult! It is very powerful. Wear Safety Glasses and follow all safety rules if you are using tools and power tools. This project should not be done by minors without the supervision of an adult. Please be safe and never fire the catapult at a person or at someones personal property. Never fire any hard projectiles from the catapult.
Above is a picture showing all the parts needed to build the OGRE Catapult. I will describe them and tell you a little bit about them. Lets start at the left. You can see that there are some cut notches and some holes drilled in the wood. I will explain what these are and how to do them. From Left to Right the wood: (All wood is 2x3) The longest one is not quite 2x3 because I used a scrap of wood that I had but you can use a 2x3.
The extra stuff along the bottom:
Okay, once you have these pieces of wood cut to length lets modify a few of them. This is the hardest part and once you have this done the rest of the catapult goes together very quickly and easily. We are going to cut two of the pieces of wood so we can form them into a joint like that shown below. It's not that hard. All you need is a handsaw, a chisel and some safety glasses and gloves. Making this joint is important because it will make your catapult much stronger.
The annihilator! This is an eight foot long catapult built by a visitor to my website. He sent me pictures, a video and some tips on how he made this monstrous catapult! You can read learn more about it, see the pictures and watch the video of it launching here: Dr.Catapults Annihilator
BOOKS Want to build a bigger, better, more powerful or fancier catapult? There are some great books available to you. These books, available at Amazon.com will help take your catapult building to new heights! Pun intended!
Catapult Design, Construction And Competition With the Projectile Throwing Engines of the Ancients
Buy from Amazon.com: The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman Onagers, English Trebuchets, and More Ancient Artillery
Buy From Amazon.com Backyard Ballistics: Build Potato Cannons, Paper Match Rockets, Cincinnati Fire Kites, Tennis Ball Mortars, and More Dynamite Devices Whoosh Boom Splat: The Garage Warrior's Guide to Building Projectile Shooters These are the homemade machines that you've dreamed of building, from the high-voltage Night Lighter 36 spud gun to the Jam Jar Jet, the Marshmallow Shooter, and the Yagua Blowgun. Including detailed diagrams and supply lists, Gurstelle's simple, step-by-step instructions help workshop warriors at any skill level achieve impressively powerful results.
Gonzo Gizmos: Projects & Devices to Channel Your Inner Geek
Kits and More Siege Engine Projects Another Interesting Project: How to Build a Trebuchet
New Product for Summer Fun The key to winning any good water battle is a strategy. Improve your odds by drenching your opponent with the Water Balloon Catapult. Launch your water balloons the old fashioned way with this catapult that hooks to your feet. Just lay down and let 'em rip! Or, position yourself between two other people and get each of them to hold one of the orange handles, standing approximately 1.5 meters apart. Place a water balloon in the sling launcher and use the red handle on the sling launcher to pull the sling back - until the elastic tubes are tight and ready for firing! Additional water balloons available separately for unlimited fun! Not recommended for children under 8 years old. Purchase extra water balloons now - 100 for $1.99! (search product ID B00068IYLI.) For ultimate team fun, purchase two sets!
Amazon.com also has catapult kits you can build
Catapult Kit
The Ultimate Science Project Experimenter's Catapult Kit! It's fully adjustable, multi-configurable and repeatable. It's a perfect model for learning the scientific method! All in all, there are more than 400 different configurations and tuning options possible with this kit. Suitable for hundreds of experiments and learning opportunities. The completed frame is 14.5 inches long, 7 inches wide and 11 inches tall. The arm measures 20.25 inches long with multiple axle and power attachment points. This machine can hurl projectiles up to 40 feet, depending on configuration, tuning, and lots of other variables! What you can learn: This kit provides a real world, hands on example of many aspects of basic physics. It exposes the student to concepts of mechanical advantage, levers, gravity and energy, to name a few. It can demonstrate the storage and conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy through levers, and it is equipped with optional wheels, to demonstrate conservation of momentum. All in all, the concepts of efficiency, power and work can be demonstrated and applied. This kit is useful for teaching engineering, science, design of experiments, problem solving and cause-effect relationships. It was designed to get students to think about physics in a real world, tangible context. Theories can be made and tested; this process, and analyzing why the observed results occur can ultimately lead to other, more advanced concepts in physics, mechanics and mathematics. Analyzing the data can make use of statistical methods from basic averages to much more advanced topics if desired. With 18 pages of instructions including assembly of every basic configuration, suggested experiments, tuning guidelines, independent and dependent variables to record and measure, data tables, historical information about trebuchets and catapults, and more, it should be easy to get started with this Ultimate Science Project Kit!
Looking for a great Catapult Game?
Build your fortress and position your weapons to protect your kingdom. Battleground is the game that puts you in the heart of the battle between knights and orcs. The War Chest unleashes the epic battle right into your home. Includes castles, crossbows, cannons, figures, building bricks and more -- 80 pieces in all ; Read the great reviews about this game.
What good is a catapult if you don't have a castle to attack!
I have another project you might like. It is the Paper Castle and it has everything you could want in a castle making project including all the art work you can download. You just follow the instructions and make it yourself with some glue and cereal boxes. Build a Paper and Cardboard Castle It also has a learning sheet that helps to learn about castles when you are building it.
Storm The Castle Catapult Game - Build a Popsicle stick catapult and hurl paper balls at the castle. How to make the Game and the catapult are here |
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