HurlingForums.com

Hey guys,

I used to be a member here back at the old CatMess when it was still thehurl.org. Sad to see that has gone and all that info lost. Unless it has been archived somewhere.

Anyway, I am getting back into the hobby with a couple local friends. I am a millwright by trade, one friend is a mechanic and prior millwright, and the other friend is a machinist. So, between us, I am sure we can make some magic happen. I believe we are going to call ourselves the "Backyard Engginerds".

For our first project, I want to stick with something small. Wanting to do something that the kiddos can hurl tennis balls across the back yard. Any suggestions on size? Thinking 2' LA with probably 5 or 10 pounds of counter weight on either a fixed or hanging counter weight. Debating on building this on top of a steel kids wagon for easy transport. Thoughts??

Hey Melvang, good to see an old face around here! Things are pretty quiet here, but let's see if we can breathe some life in.

How big is your yard? The usual Tennis Ball Trebuchet design to default to is (the late) Ripcord's design, which I've been hosting on teamurbansiege.com for a number of years now. But that will throw upwards of 100', maybe too big for the yard? If that's too far, then something in the size range of what you mention ought to do the trick.

If you go for a FCW design, put wheels on the frame, it works better, and looks cool. The kids will probably love that it rolls back and forth

Thanks for the reply Matt. Not really wanting to go that big for my first one as I am planning on the kids running this one once I get it tuned. They are 8 and 4. My son (8) is pretty responsible. Would have had him shooting already but he doesn't m me the noise due to tubes in his ears.

There will be plenty of time to scale up. My second project is going to be a FAW, then I want to combine the scissor linkage from First in Fright with the vertical drop FAW of NASAW but in a smaller size for golf balls.

Melvang wrote:My second project is going to be a FAW, then I want to combine the scissor linkage from First in Fright with the vertical drop FAW of NASAW but in a smaller size for golf balls.

Well that sounds like it could be really interesting to see!