Completing the arm:

Today in DF Isabella and I still need to make final touches on our arm then we are basically done! We glued the arm altogether but we figured it needed more support incase the 4kg was to heavy. We added more to the bottom and waited for it to glue. Next lesson we need to drill holes to hold the weight then we have finished!

SO MUCH PROGRESS!

I was away on Friday and Monday's lesson as I was in Melbourne, but lucky enough Isabella my partner was there! I was so happy walking into class to find so much progress done by Isabella! She has made the Sling and everything to hold it! Here is the progress:

The Opposite Side

Today in DF we made the opposite side for the trebuchet! Personally, I think this was much easier than the first one because we basically just copied the other side! We got it done very quickly and are ahead of most people in our class. We didn't have any troubles making this, but the only problem is it doesn't look exactly the same, however, that isn't going to be a trouble when it starts to use it because its only that it doesn't look the same. It is very effective with its strength.

Making the Side!

Today in DT Isabella and I decided it was time to make one of the sides for the trebuchet! It was a very successful lesson. We had no problems and our design is very pretty looking, however, we didn't want that to be the main case for making this, because the task is to make the trebuchet work! So we did heaps of triangles to support the wood and nailed them in. Most other groups used PVA glue to sick the wood and triangles together before nailing, however, Isabella and I used a hot glue gun before nailing as a test to see if it provides better support! I think the hardest part will be getting the other side of this trebuchet to match the length and width to this side as we didn't really measure exactly we just made sure we went by the requirements on 550cm in length! I will take a progress picture tomorrow to show you just how far we have gone and how proud I am of us girls!

Making the Base

Today in Design and Technology my partner and I, Isabella, made the base! this was a very effective lesson for us as we both worked very quickly and so so good together! to make the base for the trebuchet, we had to get a board and 2 wood sticks. first you had to draw to lines parallel to each other about 9/10 mm away from the vertical edge. After this, we had to put around 5-6 nails half way through on each side. We then got the 2 sticks and put glue on them to help them stick. Then we put the nails all the way through, to put the board and sticks together. The only problem i had today was i bent one of the nails and it came out the side of the stick. It was fixed quickly when Mr Ward came and helped me to get it out. I am very happy with the end of todays result.

What is a trebuchet?

A trebuchet^] (French trébuchet) is a siege engine used in the Middle Ages. It is sometimes called acounterweight trebuchet or counterpoise trebuchet, to distinguish it from an earlier weapon called the traction trebuchet, which employed pulling men working the mechanism.

The counterweight trebuchet appeared in both Christian and Muslim lands around the Mediterranean in the 12th century. It could fling projectiles weighing up to 350 pounds (160 kg) at or into enemy fortifications. Its use continued into the 15th century, well after the introduction of gunpowder.

The trebuchet's technical constructions were lost at the beginning of the 16th century. In 1984, the French engineer Renaud Beffeyte made the first modern reconstruction of a trebuchet, based on documents from 1324.

Research on Trebuchet

Today we had to research about our trebuchets. I think that i Am going to look at these designs to help me put it on 2D graph paper.