Punkin Chunkin

The big squash tossing contest is now located in Colorado where the air is thin and hope for a 1 mile toss springs eternal. I've been advising some students at an alternative school, K-12 who have been working on a couple of trebuchets. Here's the crew, at least most of them

The bearded fellow on the right has been held back so many times that no one can remember when he started there*.  In the back you can see the beginnings of one machine and on the left, the beginnings of another. These kids have about 4 weeks to finish starting pretty much from scratch.

4 weeks later out at the fairgrounds:

Voila! her they are having finished for the day with a best toss of 428 ft. The other machine is lying on its nose awaiting some additional work. Actually quite a lot of additional work. The kids are learning about all the fiddley details of a large project like this and what happens if some of them fall in the cracks. For the most part, they are learning to successfully improvise on the spot.

Down the line a bit are the "old timers.

The nearest one was powered by air springs from semi-trailers, the far one was an exercise in complexity with a 2 piece arm.

Down on the end were the air cannons.

L-R Big 10 inch, Mikes Machine, Death Star, and Big Red 1. 4000 ft is pretty much the minimum you need to be taken seriously any more.

*Oops: He's the technology instructor.