{"id":1122,"date":"2010-02-12T00:40:54","date_gmt":"2010-02-12T07:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikesenese.com\/DOIT\/?p=1122"},"modified":"2026-03-08T21:04:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T04:04:32","slug":"make-your-own-cardboard-medieval-trebuchet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mikesenese.com\/DOIT\/2010\/02\/make-your-own-cardboard-medieval-trebuchet\/","title":{"rendered":"Make Your Own Cardboard Medieval Trebuchet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Do you want to launch a softball 50-60 feet without having to get down and dirty cutting wood, metal, and using power tools? Here&#8217;s an easy way to build a fairly sizeable trebuchet out of cardboard and a few other basic materials.<\/p>\n<p>For this project, the components are glued together and assembled with bolts for the axles. A few small pieces of PVC are used to create axle bearings\u2013this could be improved by using <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/s\/qid=1265958639\/ref=sr_st?keywords=skate+bearing&amp;&amp;tag=mjsdoit-20rs=3375251&amp;page=1&amp;rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Askate+bearing%2Ci%3Asporting%2Cn%3A3375251%2Cn%3A%213375301&amp;sort=price\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">skateboard ball bearings<\/a> instead (side note: it&#8217;s crazy that you can now get a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Quadline-Skate-Bearings-608-ABEC\/dp\/B002U585M8\/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=mjsdoit-20&amp;s=sporting-goods&amp;qid=1265958644&amp;sr=1-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">single skate bearing for 99 cents<\/a>). Also, a commenter makes a great point that adding wheels will allow the trebuchet to rock as the counterweight falls, which allows the counterweight to follow a much more efficient linear path and increases the capabilities of the machine.<\/p>\n<p>Glued corrugated cardboard develops a decent amount of strength while remaining fairly lightweight. And as anyone that watched <a href=\"http:\/\/science.discovery.com\/tv\/punkin-chunkin\/punkin-chunkin.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Punkin Chunkin<\/a> knows, lower weight means faster speeds.\u00a0Keeping the throwing arm as light as possible is key for massive launches.<\/p>\n<p>Follow all the steps on the Instructable here: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.instructables.com\/id\/How-to-Make-a-Medieval-Trebuchet-Out-of-Cardboard\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cardboard Trebuchet<\/a>.\u00a0Also, I lied about the power tools part. You may need a drill to create the opening for your axle. No big deal.<\/p>\n<p>And if you want something a little more desktop sized (plus kill some time at work), check out the\u00a0Paper Trebuchet instructable too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you want to launch a softball 50-60 feet without having to get down and dirty cutting wood, metal, and using power tools? Here&#8217;s an easy way to build a fairly sizeable trebuchet out of cardboard and a few other basic materials. For this&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diy","category-gadget","category-punkin-chunkin-stuff"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Make Your Own Cardboard Medieval Trebuchet &#8212; DO IT: Projects, Plans, and How-tos<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Build a cardboard trebuchet that launches softballs 50-60 feet using basic materials and no power tools. 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