How To Build A Trebuchet

Here are plans and pictures on how to build this medieval trebuchet. It is a siege engine that wreaked havoc in the middle ages and you can make this small 12 inch table top version with materials from around the house. Building this catapult-like weapon is easy and you can do it in a couple of hours. Without any tweaking or modifications this trebuchet launches a clay ball thirty feet. It is adjustable in several ways and you can build it to launch projectiles even further.

Here is a quicktime movie of this Trebuchet firing off

 Trebuchet Movie

The Little Dragon Trebuchet - This Trebuchet Build Plan will take you about two hours to complete. Here is a parts list for easy printing

What You Need

The Recommended Tools for this project

Hammer Saw Screwdriver Pliers (needlenose) Wood Glue File Scissors Drill and Bits Sandpaper Cutters for metal

Most of these tools are just recommended and you can vary the tools depending on what types of materials you use for this project. Here are some tips: Needle nose pliers are best for manipulating small parts but if you don't have any then any other type of pliers will be fine. The metal file shown in the center of the picture is recommended any time you work with metal - you should always file down cut metal so there are no sharp edges. The sandpaper shown is attached to a block; this makes sanding small parts easy and you should always sand every piece of wood you cut so there are no splinters.

Miscellaneous items needed to Make the Trebuchet

Heavy object (three different ones are shown on the far left) only 1 needed Small screws Small Nails 2 eyehooks wire or bread ties Electrical tape (or masking) 3 feet of string piece of cloth - 6 inches. Paints (optional) 1 sheet of cardpaper -similar to cereal box (shown under the paints)

About the miscellaneous materials: The counterweight is very important and you should find something as heavy as possible. I used a chinese healing ball for my trebuchet but you can use items found around the house like batteries taped together, penny rolls taped together, a lump of heavy clay or even a rock. Special Note: You will also need a metal bar for the cross piece. I will talk more about this a bit later.

Wood Needed for the Project

1 16 inch piece 2 12 inch pieces 2 10 inch pieces 3 5 inch pieces 1 square piece of flat wood about 5-6 inches

About the wood: The wood I used is about one inch by one half inch thick. You can be very flexible with this and use almost anything similar. You can cut strips of wood if you need to. The sheet of wood shown is important for strength and it is about one quarter inch thick but thinner would be ok.

Okay! This is everything you need to make this table top Medieval Siege Weapon. Let's start with the building instructions.

I lot of people are building this Trebuchet and I get a lot of email about it. One of the common questions is about my counterweight. Seeing as I use a solid metal Chinese Healing Ball it makes quite a difference and not everybody has these. So to get an idea of how much one of these balls weighs I made up a little scale and weighed the ball with pennies. It comes out to 147 pennies. This gives you a good idea of what to shoot for with your counter weight. If you use three rolls of pennies your weight is about the same as mine.

It was a kooky contraption I built but a nice little project: see the scale I made to weigh my counterweight

Lets continue on and start building this Trebuchet

BOOKS

Want to build a bigger, better, more powerful or fancier siege engine? There are some great books available to you. These books, available at Amazon.com, will help take your trebuchet or catapult building to new heights! Pun intended!

The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman Onagers, English Trebuchets, and More Ancient Artillery - Nice book that shows you how to build ten different catapult projects, moderate wood working and pvc piping kind of stuff. Good book with complete instructions and materials lists.

Buy from Amazon.com: The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman Onagers, English Trebuchets, and More Ancient Artillery

Backyard Ballistics: Build Potato Cannons, Paper Match Rockets, Cincinnati Fire Kites, Tennis Ball Mortars, and More Dynamite Devices Want to get a little more creative? This book is off the hook!

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.

Siege Engine Kits and Projects

Looking for a complete kit to build a trebuchet?

Edmund Scientific has a great trebuchet kit that you can put together and use. The Build your own trebuchet kit

(A Quick Note about Edmund Scientifics): Valentine's Day special - only $.14 shipping at Edmund Scientifics, with coupon code "love14". Expires 03/31

This is a Storm The Castle Project

Table of Contents for this tutorial

1. Materials/Tools
2. Assemble the sides
3. Assemble the base
4. Make and attach the swing arm and counterweight
5. The stringpouch and the runway
6. Finish and fire it!
7. Trebuchet video (quicktime MOV)
8. Books/Buy
9. Free Trebuchet Plan