2 years ago I wrote up an article on a tinker toy trebuchet I had built. Recently, I got mail from Peter Holley with a story of his own:
I was goofing around with my kids tinkertoys last night. And ended up with a trebuchet. I used a pull string instead of a weight. I also used tinkertoys themselves for the ammo.
at first it was just popping them to the ground. but after a minor adjustment I had one fly into the wall at an amazing velocity.
we took it to the hall. At one point my 5 year old son ended up on the
receiving end and got whacked dead center of the forehead (from 25 feet!)
with a wheel we used for the ammo. After we stopped laughing (it really was
an accident, but the way it happened was quite humorous) he had a lump on
his head.
They ought to put a warning on the container. This isn’t the first lethal
toy I’ve made with tinkertoys. (the other was a kinetic yo-yo, the pieces would often fly of in a random direction at a serious velocity)
It’s funny to see I’m not the first to do this.
Some notes on the picture.
The kit we have is the “Jumbo Builder Set” only pieces from the kit were
used. The spool piece I used for the hub of the arm kept breaking so I substituted the connector piece.
The best ammo is the spool piece, that’s what bulls eyed my son in the
forehead. The connector piece works, but doesn’t have much mass.
The ammo slides on the yellow stick.
Thanks Pete!
