The Popsicle Stick Trebu-pult

(A gravity powered catapult without a sling)

Here is a terrific little project made and submitted by Kenneth Z. My thanks to him for doing this project and for putting together the tutorial. He did everything including the pictures and the procedure.

Every wanted to make a trebuchet, but could never get the sling and the pin on the right angle? Well, the Trebu-pult solves that problem. A gravity powered, non wearing out catapult that doesn't use one of those confusing slings.

You will need:

• 12 full popsicle sticks
• 8 half popsicle sticks
• 1 popsicle stick with one rounded end cut off
• 1 small piece of a popsicle stick (about 1/6)
• 1 half popsicle stick with the rounded ends cut off
• A nail, (preferably one with about the diameter of a popsicle stick's height)
• A heavy counterweight (I used 8 AA batteries wrapped in a piece of paper, but anything will do)
• Hot glue gun
• A piece of paper
• Tape (optional, for securing the counerweight and cone)

The Base:

Glue six popsicle sticks together, "log cabin" style.

The Uprights:

Glue two popsicle sticks together. Make two of these.

Glue one onto the base, adding two half sticks for brracers on the upright.

Repeat for the other upright. You should now have a structure that looks like this

Make two triangles out of half sticks.

Attach those onto the top of the uprights.

The Arm: Take one full stick, and glue the following sticks on: The 1/6 stick, the half stick with no rounded end, and the full stick with only one rounded end. Be sure to leave a little gap between the 1/6 stick and the half stick, enough for your nail to stick through.

Add another full stick onto the side of the arm. Be sure not to put any glue into the gap!

If you did it correctly, you should be able to stick the nail right through the gap without too much trouble.

Putting it all together:

Glue the nail onto the two triangles. Make sure that the arm can swing freely.

Attach the counterweight to the bottom of the arm.

Make your piece of paper into a flat cone shape, and tape/glue that onto the top of the arm.

Now, to fire it off...

Set the finished Trebu-pult onto a flat surface. Pull the arm all the way down, load the ammo, and release to fire!

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Table of Contents for the Trebuchet Making tutorial

1. Trebuchet Home Page
2. Materials/Tools
3. Assemble the sides
4. Assemble the base
5. Make and attach the swing arm and counterweight
6. The stringpouch and the runway
7. Finish and fire it!
8. Trebuchet video (quicktime MOV)
9. Books/Buy
10. Free Trebuchet Plan
11. Trebuchet blueprints
12. Trebuchet and Siege Engine Documentaries/DVDs
13. Books/Medieval store
14. The History of the Trebuchet

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