Creating an assembly system
There are, of course, countless ways to design and create a catapult – not only in regards to the type of catapult but also in how the parts of the catapult will fit together. To create a successful design of your own, you must consider the resources that will be used to assemble the catapult in your design. For example, we should consider the limitations of 3D printing, such as tolerances or overhangs, and design our pieces to cater to these limitations accordingly. We should also consider whether we want to use glue to assemble the parts, or design them in such a way that no adhesive would be needed.
In the following steps, we will create an assembly system that is not only structurally strong enough so that the catapult performs, but one that is also designed for easy manufacturing using lower-quality 3D printing techniques, as well as without needing glue later on.
Creating the assembly holes
The first step in making the assembly system...