Magnet catapult

Hobbyists can now re-enact battles of the ancient world!

Author: Rob Gallagher, United States

Online since: 07/04/2009, Number of visits: 316872

Opposite poles attract each other, like poles repel - and it is this repulsion that can be harnessed, for example with this magnetic catapult.

After watching a period film about the siege of the Masada fortress by the Roman army, I too wanted to build a catapult.

For this purpose, I used the strong repulsion of two large disc magnets. 3 possibly options are linked below.

Damaged juggling balls

I built this shooting device from red oak. On the left, near the magnets, I placed brass fittings and on the right I put steel nuts and bolts near the joint.

For "ammunition" I used juggling balls.

The magnetic catapult shoots the juggling balls to a distance of about 3 metres! As you can see in the picture, the balls burst due to the strong impact.

I had a lot of fun with this little project.

Addition 2018

YouTube user RLScience also built a mighty magnetic catapult – even with two arms. For that, he used the repulsion of 3 Goliath magnets. In his video, he explains the assembly in detail (in German only).

Articles used

S-30-10-N
Disc magnet Ø 30 mm, height 10 mm, holds approx. 20 kg, neodymium, N45, nickel-plated

	1 pc.	13,33 EUR ea.*
from	3 pcs.	11,91 EUR ea.*
from	10 pcs.	10,64 EUR ea.*
from	20 pcs.	10,02 EUR ea.*
from	40 pcs.	9,48 EUR ea.*
Ask for a rebate from 160 pcs.

Available: 8 501 pcs.

S-30-15-N
Disc magnet Ø 30 mm, height 15 mm, holds approx. 24 kg, neodymium, N42, nickel-plated

	1 pc.	13,85 EUR ea.*
from	3 pcs.	12,38 EUR ea.*
from	10 pcs.	11,07 EUR ea.*
from	20 pcs.	10,43 EUR ea.*
from	40 pcs.	9,87 EUR ea.*
Ask for a rebate from 180 pcs.

Available: 28 113 pcs.

S-35-20-N
Disc magnet Ø 35 mm, height 20 mm, holds approx. 38 kg, neodymium, N45, nickel-plated

	1 pc.	26,78 EUR ea.*
from	3 pcs.	24,10 EUR ea.*
from	10 pcs.	21,70 EUR ea.*
from	20 pcs.	20,54 EUR ea.*
from	40 pcs.	19,51 EUR ea.*
Ask for a rebate from 140 pcs.

Available: 820 pcs.

Goliath
Block magnet 70 x 70 x 30 mm, holds approx. 150 kg, neodymium, N40, nickel-plated

	1 pc.	153,49 EUR ea.*
from	3 pcs.	144,93 EUR ea.*
from	10 pcs.	137,29 EUR ea.*
from	20 pcs.	133,57 EUR ea.*
from	40 pcs.	130,27 EUR ea.*

Available: 168 pcs.

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keywords

Wood (102)
large magnets (44)
large magnets (44)
Hobby room (35)
Experiment (76)
Repelling (15)
Entertaining (73)

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