08-20-2007, 10:02 AM
Salve!
I finaly had a long, good look at Aitor's webpage and the very clear drawings of the inswinger versus outswinger. I was not too sure about the mechanics of his inswinger design and was REALLY curious, but so far had not taken the time for a good read. What I noticed in his inswinger design is a greater powerstroke, the holy grail in (cross)bows.
The power stroke of a bow is defined as the length of a forward projectile propelling movement of a bowstring when the bow is shot. Increasing the length of the power stroke of a bow increases its speed potential.
Not only will it increase speed, it will allow a heavier projectile (with more inertia, such as a rock) to be fired with the same speed as from a weapon with a shorter powerstroke. For short, powerstroke adds punch
Now, I'm by no means an expert on ballista, but given the advantage of the greater powerstroke, I feel with Aitor this is research well worth persuing, perhaps experimenting with the lenght of the arms as well.
I finaly had a long, good look at Aitor's webpage and the very clear drawings of the inswinger versus outswinger. I was not too sure about the mechanics of his inswinger design and was REALLY curious, but so far had not taken the time for a good read. What I noticed in his inswinger design is a greater powerstroke, the holy grail in (cross)bows.
The power stroke of a bow is defined as the length of a forward projectile propelling movement of a bowstring when the bow is shot. Increasing the length of the power stroke of a bow increases its speed potential.
Not only will it increase speed, it will allow a heavier projectile (with more inertia, such as a rock) to be fired with the same speed as from a weapon with a shorter powerstroke. For short, powerstroke adds punch
Now, I'm by no means an expert on ballista, but given the advantage of the greater powerstroke, I feel with Aitor this is research well worth persuing, perhaps experimenting with the lenght of the arms as well.