My colleague and I went to Toysrus today at lunch time and each of us bought a box of Tinkertoy. Our goal was to build a trebuchet over the weekend and hold a competition Monday to test out our creation.
I got home from work in the evening.... skipped dinner and started building my trebuchet. After half an hour of hard work--
voilà!--a trebuchet built exclusively using Tinkertoy.
The Tinkertoy I bought came with flexible tubes and they turned out to be very useful. They serve as the pivot point for the lever and also help secure the top of the trebechet.
The counterweight wasn't heavy enough, so when when I tried it with a paper ball. The ball didn't fly too far... oh maybe 2 or 3 feet. But hey... not bad huh?
I can't wait till Monday and see how my trebuchet would perform against my colleague's. I know... we are soooo childish. But it's all good fun.
My colleague and I went to Toysrus today at lunch time and each of us bought a box of Tinkertoy. Our goal was to build a trebuchet over the weekend and hold a competition Monday to test out our creation.
I got home from work in the evening.... skipped dinner and started building my trebuchet. After half an hour of hard work--voilà!--a trebuchet built exclusively using Tinkertoy.
The Tinkertoy I bought came with flexible tubes and they turned out to be very useful. They serve as the pivot point for the lever and also help secure the top of the trebechet.
The counterweight wasn't heavy enough, so when when I tried it with a paper ball. The ball didn't fly too far... oh maybe 2 or 3 feet. But hey... not bad huh?
I can't wait till Monday and see how my trebuchet would perform against my colleague's. I know... we are soooo childish. But it's all good fun.
4 comments:
Wow.. 30 minutes... that was quick!
I can just picture in my mind how paper balls are gonna fly across a room... You guys are going to have so much fun playing with the toy.
Good luck on your competition on monday!
I wish the paper balls could fly across the room as you decribed. So far I can only get the call to go about 3 feet. Plus the roll, I think I can barely get 6. Ha ha.
How did the competition go?
oh... my colleague's design was really good. The projectile he used was one of wooden pieces from tinkertoy. I designed mine to use with a paper ball. So not really a competitive there because our projectiles were different. (I will post some pictures tomorrow.)
So we decided on a new objective. We are going to build a "mean machine". The function of the mean machine is to destroy your opponent with potiential energy only, meaning no externally assistance such as pushing or swing with force. We have a week to build the machine with tinkertoy. Next Monday will be the face-off. I will keep you posted.
Post a Comment