Blog
Posted by Matt
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news
We've started to work some more on the plans over break at the beginning of the month, but other more pressing projects got in the way, and they still aren't finished. And classes have now started, and time is even more limited. We are still trying to get them out, but it will be a bit yet. Contact us if you really need them, we'll see what we can do to help you out on short notice. The plans for our Punkin Chunkin treb have naturally taken priority. They were almost done, then a redesign was done, and we are starting over on them.
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| Mar 20, 2008
Posted by Matt
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site updates
Okay, it's been close to 2 months since the last real site update, and no, those Jeckyl and Hyde Trebuchet plans are still not done. They are very close, however, and time permitting, they will be released pretty soon. There are only a few more assembly tips and some formatting to do, so all that is needed is some time. That has been rather lacking in the last two months. They've been crazy, and by the end of the day, there is no energy left to work on them. Hence the lack of a release. Some site maintenance is also sorely needed, but those plans will be released first. Vacation is coming up in less than a week, so they theoretically could be uploaded then. Quite possible. Stuff from this year's World Championship of Punkin Chunkin will also get released, lots of pictures to be uploaded there. Hang in there guys!
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| Feb 26, 2008
Posted by Matt
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Tags:
site updates
Happy New Year everyone! Just a slight tweak to the template used for the website, made the page sizes a touch smaller and they should load much faster. They also display more similarly between Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer 6.
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| Dec 31, 2007
Posted by Matt
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Tags:
news
Matt went down to Delaware for the World Championships of Punkin Chunkin this year. Our future plans for entering in this big event have been accelerated. utilized. Plans are now being worked on for the machine we will enter. We have no realistic shot at winning probably even third place, due to limited resources, space, and transportation considerations (unless someone wants to help us out there :D). To win next year in the trebuchet division will need a 2000-plus foot shot, as in all likelihood anywhere from 1-3 trebuchets will break this mark. The top contenders at the moment are:
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| Dec 29, 2007
Posted by Matt
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Tags:
news, site updates
There has been interest in the free trebuchet plans that have been promised, and no, they are not here yet. However, the plans for Jeckyl and Hyde, previously stated to be only partially released due to the number of problems we have had with the machine, are actually being redone so that they can be posted here in full. This is in light of what we have discovered as to why the trebuchet is not firing reliably as a King Arthur. Basically, it is due to how we have put the secondary cable guides onto the short arm. A simple fix, really, and the frame itself has been working tremendously well since the frame extensions were added this spring. So, keep tuned for the plans, they should be available soon. They will not be step-by-step ones, however, although they will be fairly straight-forward to follow.
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| Oct 04, 2007
Posted by Matt
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Tags:
news, launches
More than two months after the fact, we have now finally posted updates on Jeckyl and Hyde's antics this summer. The bottom line is that of the four times we have taken it out to shoot (counting the first test shot in February), we have broken something every time, and something different every time. There are actually 2 launch logs now available along with video of both and pictures from the second, since we did launches on June 22 and July 13. Some work is left to be done, but we think we may have figured out all of the problems and can now work on getting some real data. Unfortunately, with Matt now out of town until Thanksgiving, we may be unable to do any launching until spring.
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| Sep 21, 2007
Posted by Matt
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Tags:
launches
Today we took out Jeckyl and Hyde once again for some launching as a King Arthur-style trebuchet. The arm had been completely rebuilt after last month's failure, though nothing had been done to smooth out the ribbed secondary release pin. However, it looked early on as if this was not a problem. Once again, we launched baseballs with 50 pounds of counterweight, since we are not willing to up the counterweight until we get a day of good launches were we do not break anything. Only then will we feel comfortable upping the counterweight.
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| Jul 13, 2007
Posted by Matt
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Tags:
launches
Today Jeckyl and Hyde was taken out for some launching in King Arthur configuration. Chris and Jason were not around, but some of Matt's family members helped out, since Jeckyl and Hyde requires two people to operate. Testing, once again, was with a 50 pound counterweight and a standard baseball as the projectile. It was a beautiful day for launching weather-wise, but Jeckyl and Hyde was a bit cranky anyway. The first shot was not much of a shot. In fact, the secondary trigger failed to trigger completely until just after the counterweight smashed into the arm. Damage, however, was minimal as only the pin we used to hold the tip of the arm in the secondary trigger bent, and was fairly easily bent back into a usable position. No other damage was found.
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| Jun 22, 2007
Posted by Matt
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Tags:
launches
Melon Felon was taken out today for a good workout. This was actually the first time that we ever fired with the full designed counterweight of 300 pounds, since the last time we had something heavy to launch was last Spring, when we had 6 Olympic weights, which take up more room than the standards. But we got 6 more standards back in March, bringing our total up to 12 plates, each weighing 25 pounds, for a total counterweight of 300 pounds. We also got a 4 pound medicine ball to launch with, as the Melon Felon was initially designed to launch watermelons weighing between 3 and 5 pounds.
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| Apr 22, 2007
Posted by Matt
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Tags:
launches
Jeckyl and Hyde has now fired for real. We got a total of 6 shots off, before time, light, and some design flaws came into play. It seems that Jeckyl and Hyde's base was not made wide enough to fire stably as a King Arthur-style trebuchet. And so, the machine rocked on every single shot. Not too big a deal at first, but it became one.
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| Mar 30, 2007
