08-12-2004, 06:44 AM
Crispus,<br>
There is a potentially dangerous background in your statement.<br>
'The better it works, the better it is' can only be used for modern engineering.<br>
The motto for archaeological reconstruction must be: 'The closer to the ancient artifact, the better'<br>
Most Ancient Technology is, for contemporary standards, really crappy and can be easily 'improved', even if only using materials available to the ancients!<br>
I started my 'cheiroballistra' experiment accepting Marsden's, Baatz's and Alan's thick springs (magister dixit...) and I still have a pair of unused kambestria to attest that. At a point, I stopped and realized that I (they, we,...) was changing (rather wantonly) important data from my only source, with the only view of getting more power. I decided then that I'd start again from the beginning and follow the data at the text as close as possible, construct the machine and see then what it was capable of doing. If little or much, that was the final result of the experiment but never a starting point to it.<br>
If the unknown designer had written instructions for a toy or a training weapon, then I risked to have that as an output but that was a risk I was ready to engage, rather than to have a machine 'based on the Cheiroballistra' or 'inspired by the Cheiroballistra'<br>
<br>
It is a fact that my machine will never be so powerful as Alan's is. Alan's machine's springs trebble the volume of mine's ones. Nevertheless, I was reaching ranges of around 90 meters using very light missiles, inswinging arms and horsehair rope springs. I had to stop when one of the reinforcing iron bars in one of the arms bent. Alan is right, you need carbon steel bars and I've ordered a pair. The next step will be to see if the oaken cones can follow the pace of the steel or if I have to use metal cones, like Alan has done. When (if) the ballista is again operative, I'll try heavier missiles too (BTW, if you see Alan, tell him that he MUST read Simon James' book chapter on the Dura bolt shafts, it is just delightful to see so many shafts, belonging to several different calibers! )<br>
<br>
About sinew, I have only enough length of sinew string as to make a new bowstring for my cheiroballistra, maybe next winter. What I've learned from the materials is that vegetal fiber rope stretchs when the springs are twisted and it takes too long for it to recover (if it does ever!) Horsehair rope stretches too, but it is more elastic and it recovers completely after a time (a few days).Sinew string is really elastic (not like rubber) and it seems to recover rather quickly, in a matter of seconds, but I have just made some preliminary tests with it...<br>
<br>
Alan's and Len's machine is an efficient, well constructed ballista, but...<br>
Is it the very 'Cheiroballistra'? Can it even be termed a manuballista? I'd really like to have the answers, but I'm not a god, not even a lesser one!<br>
<br>
Aitor <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=aitoririarte>Aitor Iriarte</A> at: 8/13/04 9:36 am<br></i>
There is a potentially dangerous background in your statement.<br>
'The better it works, the better it is' can only be used for modern engineering.<br>
The motto for archaeological reconstruction must be: 'The closer to the ancient artifact, the better'<br>
Most Ancient Technology is, for contemporary standards, really crappy and can be easily 'improved', even if only using materials available to the ancients!<br>
I started my 'cheiroballistra' experiment accepting Marsden's, Baatz's and Alan's thick springs (magister dixit...) and I still have a pair of unused kambestria to attest that. At a point, I stopped and realized that I (they, we,...) was changing (rather wantonly) important data from my only source, with the only view of getting more power. I decided then that I'd start again from the beginning and follow the data at the text as close as possible, construct the machine and see then what it was capable of doing. If little or much, that was the final result of the experiment but never a starting point to it.<br>
If the unknown designer had written instructions for a toy or a training weapon, then I risked to have that as an output but that was a risk I was ready to engage, rather than to have a machine 'based on the Cheiroballistra' or 'inspired by the Cheiroballistra'<br>
<br>
It is a fact that my machine will never be so powerful as Alan's is. Alan's machine's springs trebble the volume of mine's ones. Nevertheless, I was reaching ranges of around 90 meters using very light missiles, inswinging arms and horsehair rope springs. I had to stop when one of the reinforcing iron bars in one of the arms bent. Alan is right, you need carbon steel bars and I've ordered a pair. The next step will be to see if the oaken cones can follow the pace of the steel or if I have to use metal cones, like Alan has done. When (if) the ballista is again operative, I'll try heavier missiles too (BTW, if you see Alan, tell him that he MUST read Simon James' book chapter on the Dura bolt shafts, it is just delightful to see so many shafts, belonging to several different calibers! )<br>
<br>
About sinew, I have only enough length of sinew string as to make a new bowstring for my cheiroballistra, maybe next winter. What I've learned from the materials is that vegetal fiber rope stretchs when the springs are twisted and it takes too long for it to recover (if it does ever!) Horsehair rope stretches too, but it is more elastic and it recovers completely after a time (a few days).Sinew string is really elastic (not like rubber) and it seems to recover rather quickly, in a matter of seconds, but I have just made some preliminary tests with it...<br>
<br>
Alan's and Len's machine is an efficient, well constructed ballista, but...<br>
Is it the very 'Cheiroballistra'? Can it even be termed a manuballista? I'd really like to have the answers, but I'm not a god, not even a lesser one!<br>
<br>
Aitor <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=aitoririarte>Aitor Iriarte</A> at: 8/13/04 9:36 am<br></i>
It\'s all an accident, an accident of hands. Mine, others, all without mind, from one extreme to another, but neither works nor will ever.
Rolf Steiner
Rolf Steiner
