Things You'll Need:
- Milk carton
- Rubber band
- Bottle cap
- Duct tape
- Flat stick
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Step 1
Cut the milk carton so that the base is intact and the sides slope down from about 6 inches to the base. The actual dimensions can be varied.
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Step 2
Make the throwing arm. Using duct tape, mount the bottle cap onto the front of the stick with the open end facing forward. A tongue depressor will work well for this project.
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Step 3
Cut two small holes in the front of the milk carton.
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Step 4
Wrap tape around the base of the throwing arm. Tape it to the center of the junction between the base and the front wall of the body of the mangonel so that it is free to swing. This step is tricky and can require a couple tries to get it right. The result isn't pretty, but it works well.
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Step 5
Cut the rubber band and pull it around the back of the throwing arm and through the holes. When it is tight, tie or tape each end to prevent them from pulling out of the holes.
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Step 6
Congratulations. You now have a working do-it-yourself mangonel. It will fire spit wads, match heads, pebbles or any other small munitions placed inside the cup. Simply load, pull back the arm and release.
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Step 7
To adjust the firing angle, build a pad out of tape on the front wall where the throwing arm stops to make it release more quickly. Usually, you have to tinker with this design a bit to get it to fire very far. Alternately, you can prop the whole mangonel up at an angle.
