Reviews of Wooden Trebuchet Kit

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List Price: $25.00
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I'm still fine tuning this model. In the out of the box and assembled configuration the ball does not launch. The arm swings around with an impressive whip-like speed, then the ball just falls out of the vinyl sling on to the table and rolls away. I'll keep playing with it to see if I can get it to work.

Incidentally the one I received did not come with instructions, but they are available on the manufacturer website. The wood also needed sanded and the holes re-bored to fit the dowels on the pivot arms, and bushings to make the dowels snug on the basket arms.

ADDENDUM After some tinkering, improved results have been obtained. Some photos of this item show a small slit in the sling near the throwing arm, that allow the eye-ring trigger loop to pass through the sling, allowing the sling to lay flat. After adding this slit, and insuring that it is wide enough to not impede the release of the sling strap when firing, the sling releases correctly, and the projectile launches instead of falling on the table.

When using fishing sinkers for the counterweight basket, a 2.5 cm ball bearing(aka a Pinball) will leave a 5mm dent in a plaster wall. Excellent.

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My 11 yr old son built this by himself with minimal assistance from me (I worked the clamps). Very sturdy construction. And a great price. Highly recommend.

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The combination of no instructions and parts that *almost* fit together will leave an 10 year old frustrated. So rule out a feel-good build for a young one. I cant help but think adding an 6 extra 3/4' length dowels and pre drilling the joints would have allowed the tower to be assembled and glued at once, instead of butting diagonal sticks together that defy clamping (I ended up drilling and screwing with wood screws so we only had one drying session).

Imagine trying to glue the ends to form the plywood ballast box just by butting them together as suggested by the instructions when the pieces aren't the correct size. And the holes for the dowels that need to be glued are drilled too large and result in crooked pivots for the ballast box and throwing arm.

Cool idea, but free yourself from the idea of a kit and assemble your own. If there is some secret inherent in this design, it is overshadowed by the poor fitment and less than elegant joints that defy glue alone.

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The kit goes together well and yes, it works and boy does it work. Although they provide a small rubber ball to hurl, i've launched just about anything and everything that will fit in the sling. I bought this for my office shelf thinking it would be an interesting conversational piece but my employees and I have found ourselves taking a break by deciding on new things to chuck across the room. It's been launching office supplies for well over 4 months and it's held up perfectly.

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Nice product here. My 9-yr old son and I built it in two sessions (to let the glue dry), and we really love it. Unlike the catapult we built, this is sturdy. The design is inherently durable because the throwing action does not exert high forces on the arm, unlike the catapult where the throwing arm tends to break against the wooden crossbar. I ultimately took this design and scaled it up by 3 times. Just have to get the right strength of cross member holding the throwing arm. Very hapy with this product from Amazon.