Here are some stats, note that these apply to the original #2 treb. The treb built for this
guide is slight different, partly due to design and partly due to the materials that I had to
work with, e.g. the wheels:-
upper arm/lower arm length 4 9/16 inch (115mm) / 2 3/32 inch (53mm)
Disclaimer
The measurements below are not going to be absolute, and are presented here as a guide.
In a lot of cases, the actual dimensions of the piece are best determined by measuring and
cutting to fit as and when the piece is needed. Lollipop sticks vary quite a bit in
dimension and quality, so it's best to buy a bag of them from one supplier and build your
treb according the size of stick that you get. My lollipop stick trebs have been based
around 1 stick length being the upper end of the arm, with the rest of the treb built to
accommodate it. So, the golden rule is measure twice, and cut once.
Much of this treb is made using a hobby knife. Knives are dangerous, and should be
treated with respect. If you are going to build a small treb, fingers and knives will be in
close proximity for quite a number of hours. Please, please, please look after your
fingers. Always observe sensible precautions when using a knife.
Parts
Tools
a hobby knife,
an assortment of small drill bits (from 1.5mm to 3mm, or 1/16th to 1/8th inch),
a pin vice,
a rotary tool e.g. Dremel and a selection of cutting/sanding discs,
some clamps (clothes pegs will do in most cases),
a square,
a sharp pencil,
a steel rule,
a cutting surface (so as not to ruin your best coffee table),
sandpaper,
wood glue
Plans
The plans that I've done so far are available, either as a Visio Version 5 drawing, or as a
set of graphic images (portable network graphics format, supported by most browsers in
these modern times). Either save the Visio file to your computer to print directly from
Visio on your PC, or if you don't have Visio then download a Visio viewer or use the
links below for graphics versions of the plans. You can search for downloads of Visio
viewers at Google
Here are the plans in PNG format, print them to fit an A4 page and they should print
close to actual size.
The photos
Here are the step by step photos that I took of the treb's construction.
The frame
(treb02frame03.jpg 55kb)
(treb02frame05.jpg 32kb)
6. Square off 4 sticks (frame part
#8), and glue them to the inside
face of the inner legs (above the
pieces we added in the previous
step). Ensure that the 1/8th gap
between the inner legs remains
perpendicular and consistent.
(treb02frame06.jpg 24kb)
(treb02frame07.jpg 49kb)
(treb02frame09.jpg 40kb)
(treb02frame14.jpg 43kb)
15. Finally, screw two eye-hooks
to the rear end of the frame. This
is used as part of the trigger.
(treb02frame15.jpg 37kb)
The wheels
Making the wheels isn't straight-forward. The original treb used a slim pair of wooden
wheels for testing, and some machined brass wheels for actual use. The brass wheels
really affected the performance, so I decided to make some better wooden wheels for this
treb than I did for the original. If you can get some of the right size, then do so. If not,
read on...
As with a lot of my tiny treb builds, I was making do with bits and pieces of stuff that I
had lying around, which includes a box of bearings. I used some of these bearings in the
original treb, and decided to use them on the treb being built for this guide too. I didn't
have any more of the flanged bearings that I had used originally, so the wheels would
have to be slightly different. The wheels needed a load bearing part to roll on the wheel
track, and a flanged part to keep the arm in place as it moved. The flange was easy
enough, it's just a disc of plywood larger than the discs used for the load bearing part of
the wheel. But the load bearing part of the wheel needed some preparation...
(treb02wheel02.jpg 30kb)
(treb02wheel03.jpg 28kb)
4. Screw the other large disc over the whole, until it snugs
up against the plywood. Then screw the exposed screw set
in to the spigot on the rotary tool, and sand the plywood
away by spinning the whole thing around with the rotary
tool and sanding it with some coarse sand paper firmly
attached to something solid. Take care when doing this,
since the square plywood will resist your efforts in making
it round.
(treb02wheel05.jpg 17kb)
(treb02wheel06.jpg 22kb)
(treb02wheel07.jpg 33kb)
8. Press the bearing in to one of the rings (wheel part #1),
apply a little glue to the surface of the ring that meets the
flange disc (wheel part #2), and push the bearing down
over the axle dowel. Don't apply too much glue, otherwise
it might get past the shield on the bearing and glue the
inner and outer races together.
(treb02wheel08.jpg 34kb)
(treb02wheel09.jpg 37kb)
(treb02wheel10.jpg 32kb)
11. Enlarge the hole in wheel part #2 so that it is larger
than the diameter of the inner race on the bearing. We'll be
using a spacer on the axle of the arm to ensure that the
wheel sits at the proper distance from the arm, and the
inner race will be snug against the spacer. We don't want
the flange of the wheel to be impeding the inner race or the
spacer. Replace the bearings, use a little glue or a paper
shim to retain the bearings if they have a tendency to work
out of the wheel.
(treb02wheel11.jpg 34kb)
(treb02arm01.jpg 38kb)
(treb02arm02.jpg 38kb)
3. Sandwich the arm with 2 whole sticks (arm
part #4), overlapping the butt joints and aligning
the rounded ends.
(treb02arm03.jpg 34kb)
(treb02arm04.jpg 37kb)
(treb02arm08.jpg 36kb)
9. Here is a side view of the wheels on the track
while the arm is in the cocked position.
(treb02arm09.jpg 38kb)
The counter weight carrier for this treb was designed to hold small pieces of lead sheet,
since I had some available. This makes the carriers fairly small and neat. If you intend to
use something less heavy than lead you'll need to increase the capacity of the carriers, so
remember to make the dowel in the arm longer if you increase the width of the carriers.
(treb02cw01.jpg 34kb)
(treb02cw03.jpg 45kb)
(treb02cw04.jpg 38kb)
(treb02cw06.jpg 45kb)
There's more to come. I'll be completing the treb with a sling and a trigger mechanism.