Anyhow, with my trebuchet (a floating arm), the arm will drop if deployed regardless of whether or not I have a counterweight and (or) projectile loaded due to the configuration of the device. I have taken a small sinker for fishing and cut it in half for application to the arm in order to place it on the bottom of the arm so it won't really create a launch motion, but as I think about that, I realize that it will still deploy when released due to the trebuchet design. The rules state that the trebuchet arm must NOT make a launch motion when released from any position before the point where the projectile is launched, so would that only apply to a complete motion? Or rather, would that apply to an incomplete motion as well?
On another note, in order to attach my current counterweight, I have only used another (larger) sinker in the current state, but I am in the process of creating a method for the counterweight to be attached in an interchangeable manner. I see that for the attachment, you have to have a (no more than) 6.5 mm thick material that has a hole (at least) 9 mm in diameter. In short, does this mean that the hole of the (attachment location of the) arm must be only 6.5 mm in the distance from the hole to the edge of the material, or the material itself must be no more than 6.5 mm thick? If the latter in the case, then I can not use a dowel in order to attach the counterweight which was what I initially had planned on doing. (Noting that the dowel would have to have a 9 mm hole, that likely is eliminated anyhow) In this case, I would have to use a metal sheet/plate or a similar material, yes?
Thanks for even reading this!
--Texas!
