I came across this from a link a colleague had found.
Impressive as can be.

quote from article:

quote:

Have you ever sat down and thought “I wonder if a trebuchet could launch a projectile at supersonic speeds?” Neither have we. That’s what separates [David Eade] from the rest of us. He didn’t just ask the question, he answered it! And he documented the entire build in a YouTube video which you can see below the break.

Link to article:
https://hackaday.com/2021/12/0...upersonic-trebuchet/

Skip to about 9:14 in the video to see it in action.

That was cool, thanks for posting!

It'll be ready for prime time when he builds a big boy for Mach 1 punkin chunkin.'

Let's toss stuff into orbit...


("... times 3 to the 17th power, carry the 9, add two bananas...")

I hope he really understands the engineering on that frame. He's downrange of the projectile, and inches from a highly loaded structure. His comments seemed to indicate he understood the risk. hehe Yikes if that thing imploded with him by it.

I hope that guy becomes one of our weapon engineers. Much respect.

Very cool.

Very impressive!

Hearing that sonic boom was cool.

That was fascinating! What a build! That sound it makes when it launches is pretty darn cool. With a bit more fabrication work it shouldn’t be too hard to attach an electric crank similar to those things on boat trailers to speed up the rate of fire. I wonder if you built one out of steel and used garage door springs or something like that if you could up the payload considerably? That was a neat project and a fantastic video.

If only the Hong Kong protestors had access to a few dozen supersonic trebuchets.


My girlfriend in high school had a class project where they had to build a trebuchet and then the class all got to launch them. She hated it but I thought it was one of the best projects ever. It was certainly the most memorable.

quote:

If only the Hong Kong protestors had access to a few dozen supersonic trebuchets.

Weld together a light frame, add bicycle tires, and you could appear, disappear and reappear all over the city.

Amazing ... ! Loved the math, build and demonstration.

Reminded me of the movie, "Good Will Hunting".