How to Build a Ballista


Are you well aware of the ancient war techniques and want to execute any one of them like a ballista, and then follow this article closely, where there are full guidance to prepare such a ballista. A ballista is one of the crossbows used by different countries to throw large stones and things on the opponents or the enemies. Building such a crossbow is not an easy task, but hard work with proper techniques, it can be built successfully. It was invented by the Greeks and the Romans used them to perfection later. An ordinary ballista would be similar to a mounted bow.

The materials required for building the ballista are thin wooden blocks like the beam, hook, wedge, rope, drum(wooden drum), cart etc,.  Begin the building with the base. Let the base be a wooden table, cart or bench. If there are requirement of movement of the base, then make use of the wheels to move it. Place two by four on each end of the base and tie them safely, then place a two by four horizontally on them, which are placed below. Tighten all the two by four safely.

Make a bow shape by bending the wooden beam. Make sure that the bow must be very long equal to the things in the base that have been already placed. To bend the beam without breaking it, soak it in water for several days or make use of the steam. This bending process is indeed an important one and would take many days to get completed. The bow’s ends must be fixed inside any one upright in the base. It should be fixed in a half way of the base’s uprights and it must be at angle of 45 degrees. The facing side should be facing or leaning towards the upward direction.

Build a chute kind of shape with the help of three two-fours, they must be very long. Place a two by four behind the base, reaching the ground. All the three two by fours should be of same length. Lay the other two on the base, with one standing up, making a central beam. The chute should be replaced against the edge. You can provide it with support from behind the base with the help of the wooden wedge. Fit a wooden spool inside the chute, this should not be very far from the resting area (i.e. the ground).  Now place handles in both sides of the ballista. Tie strong ropes to the bow’s base. Tie a rope to winch and the hook. You can launch the weapon by letting off the winch. Now a strong ballista is ready, heavy stones or particles can be thrown off with the help of the ballista.

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About the Author: Cody Riffel is a regular contributor to MegaHowTo. She likes to write on variety of topics, whatever interests her. She also likes to share what she learns over the Internet and her day-to-day life.

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