How to Make a Skill-stick Thing That Flings Stuff(catapult)

by Chowman in Outside > Siege Engines

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How to Make a Skill-stick Thing That Flings Stuff(catapult)

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Hello, welcome to Chowman's second instructable! Before we begin, I know that the pictures are blurry, I used a Nintendo DSi to take the pictures because no other camera I could find took SD cards. Anyway, this is an easy catapult to make, and it shoots far at the maximum pull-back. I couldn't find a plastic spoon to use for the "shooting spoon", so I made one. I am not responsible for any harm you do to others or yourself. I am also not responsible for burns caused by hot glue. Now let's get started! :D

Materials and Tools

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Here is all you need:

Materials
1 x Big Popsicle Stick
1 x Rubber Band
20-25 x Total Skill Sticks
1 x Plastic Spoon(optional, I didn't have one)

Tools
Glue Gun

Break the Skill Sticks

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Break the skill sticks into the pieces shown. But don't break all of the skill sticks! Make sure you have some spares, just in case you accidentally mess up and have some excess wood sticking out. So you should have 12 unbroken and 12 pieces. The total is 24 parts(excluding the large popsicle stick and the rubber band).

The Base

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Take two whole skill sticks. Hold them one on top of the other. Take another two and do the same thing as you did with the first two. Connect them by the wide notch in each pair. Do the same to another two pairs of skill sticks, and then connect them to the first "angle" you made. The result should be picture 2. 

Now take another whole skill stick. Place it in the narrow notch closest to the middle, on either side(picture 3). Take another whole skill stick and place it in the outer narrow notch, on the same side(picture 4). Now take both of the skill stick pieces that are second from the smallest in size. Place them where picture 5 says to place them. Make the rounded end face outward. Take another whole skill stick. Place it on top of the outer skill stick, same side as the other ones in this paragraph.

The Erect Part(no Pun Intended)

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Take four of the big skill stick pieces(NOT the remaining whole skill stick) and hold them like two pairs(just like the whole ones in step 3). Now take the last whole skill stick and place it in the

The "Shooting Spoon"(skip This If You Want to Use a Plastic Spoon)

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Take all four of the smallest pieces and make a square with them. Glue the pieces together. Now glue the square onto the big popsicle stick. the end result will look similar to picture 2.

Assembly

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BE SURE TO READ THE IMAGE NOTES BEFORE GLUING!!! Take the erect piece(still no pun intended) and place it on the base as shown in picture 1. Glue it down since it won't stay on otherwise. Now take the two remaining big skill stick pieces(I can't stress this enough: THEY ARE NOT WHOLE SKILL STICKS!). Glue them on as shown in pictures 2 and 3. Now take the rubber band. Place it on the catapult as shown in picture 4. Twist the rubber band. Insert the "shooting spoon" into the middle of the twisted rubber band and glue down both sides as shown in picture 5. 

Profit!

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Have fun shooting stuff! I'd recommend small wads of paper for ammo, as well as small pebbles. Obviously you pull back and release to shoot. Pull back far enough or else it won't shoot! Anyway, have fun with this and rate/comment! :)