Jake and I worked on the trebuchet some more today and were actually able to dry fire it.  Here are a couple of pictures after we got it put together.

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We then did some adjustments to make sure the arm was swinging how we wanted.  Every looked good.  So we loaded it with some weight.  We used a couple of cinder blocks.  In hind sight I think we should have used something lighter since the blocks were about 50 lbs each.  So with 100 lbs or more we lifted it up as high as we could which was only about eye level.  That should have been our clue.  We counted to 3 and let it drop.  It dropped much much faster than we expected.  The arm rollers unfortunately went off the front platform and onto the ground with such force it split the arm in half lengthwise.  It was a little scary how fast it moved.  We thought the weight would keep the arm from going too far forward.

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The next step is to rebuild the front with longer 2×4s and replace the broken arm with a 2×6.  I think there was enough force to throw a bowling ball a long ways.  Live and learn.

As many of you know, Decagon has a probe on the Phoenix lander that is currently on Mars running experiments. We made the front page of the mission website today.

Phoenix Mars Mission

Full article

That “Spikey Probe” is the one we designed.

Decagon's TECP Probe

I’ve been a little frustrated lately because I’ve been running hard and watching what I’ve been eating but haven’t seen much weight come off on the scale. I’ve had a lot of compliments on how I look and that’s been pretty motivating. Anyway today I got on the scale and it was at 186.5. 2lbs down from the last time. That felt pretty good. That means I only have 11.5 till I’m at my goal.