Leonardo Da Vinci Catapult

LEASE READ ENTIRE DESCRIPTION BEFORE PRINTING!

Hello, welcome to the leonardo da vinci catapult that I designed. I did add two extra tension arms to increase the strength of the catapult. In order to make this yourself, you will need PETG and also some string.

Link to parts needed:

Bearings: https://a.co/d/4Mq5sLK 

String: https://a.co/d/9Q3gmXp 

HOW TO ASSEMBLE:

First. insert the 4 tension arms into the slots at the base. Note that you want the whole of the tension arm to be visible, NOT in the base. Also note that this is a pretty tight friction fite so you will need to push hard. 

This hole did not come out as clean as I would have liked, so I ended up having to use a 1/8 inch drill bit to clean it up.

Once cleaned up, make sure that this green piece fits in the hole.

Next, you put the green pin in the blue arm and all that into the black base. I did not glue this, in that if it ever broke I want to be able to easily replace it.

Next, insert ther 2 bearings into the base. I will link below the bearings that I used.

Now, glue the 4 pins into their respective hole. I used hot glue here and I would recommend you do the same.

This is what it should look like after it is glued.

Now you can but the green gear shaft into position and slide the skinny black shaft through the whole thing, securring it all in place. Make sure the gear is towards the side with the blue locking arm, as seen in the picture.

Now you can slide on these black collars that will prevent the shaft from sliding out. This is a very tight friction fit and I did not need any glue here. If yours is loose, then you can use a little glue.

Here is a look at the other side. 

Now glue the catapult basket to the arm. (I used hot glue)

Now glue the arm with basket to the green shaft. Make sure the basket is UP and in the same orientation as seen in the picture.

Now glue the black stopping block to the main base. This piece is what will stop the catapult arm from hitting the ground when fired. Use the catapult arm as a guide and it'll show you where it needs to be glued on (I used hot glue).

Now use a clamp or something to temporarily hole the arm straight up. Not tight some strong attacking the elastic arms to the central shaft as seen in the picture. You can play around with tension here, which will impact how strong your catapult is.

Here is a final picture of the catapult locked and loaded, ready to fire. To fire you just release the arm that is holding the gear in place. (watch the gif video).