Water balloon ballista

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

When I was younger (funny coming from a high school student ) I had a thing for medieval and roman siege weapons. Have you considered a mangonel (also called a onager). They employed woven cable to act as a spring. Very accurate. They were introduced by the Romans after the design of the balistia. A personal favorite of mine.

Currently, our design does use woven cable, but it's more of a crossbow:


I'm afraid of the cables streching, so I'm hoping to change it to make the lines holding the cup the part which actually provide the force, which should mostly circumvent that problem. Any recommendations on preventing the cables from streching?

Thanks to everyone so far.