So Susan it shall be.  However as some clever chap pointed out, shouldn't it be 'Tzusun' and I say yes!  An unusual spelling perhaps, but a great nod to the heritage of the machine.  I could say 'If you know, you know' but the reality is there was a very successful Chinese general called Sun Tzu who wrote a book called the Art of War that is still studied by military academies today, 2500 years later.  Pretty cool, so now he also has a rehashed machine honouring him (sort of) and I am sure he would be thrilled.  I would also love to trial this against some local style armour of the time but do not know enough to make a piece.  Is anyone out there who could make a 30cm panel of something appropriate but fully authentic that I could test it against? That aside, don't forget to visit our shop for amazing (mostly) medieval weaponry, both highly accurate budget reproductions and fully custom work.  https://todsworkshop.com

Love to hear Tod comment on how easy and effortless it is to operate WHILE TOMASZ DOES THE WINDING!

0:42 That had better be spelled Tzusan.

"...however, there is always the allure of more power,"

Truer words have not been said 🙂

Looks ready for Bolts vs Armour

WE MUST have this in arrow vs armor!!

Not often videos pop up on your youtube feed where you instantly know you will enjoy it 100%. The siege crossbow never disappoints 🙂

I loved watching Mythbusters when that was on and these videos give me the same feeling sometimes. I love them

Oh yes, I was just wondering when we'd get another upload. This Ox Bow project has been quite exciting to follow around!

Now I really wanna see a Taofledermaus style video, shooting these bolts at different targets like ballistic gel, lead plate, kevlar, water logged magazines, etc.

The perspective from the camera mounted on the "barbarian" is probably exactly what a person struck by that weapon must have seen in their final moments. Very interesting, but also rather sobering. Great video.

The comment about the feeling of personal involvement at 11:20 reminds me of the washers in Roman ballista / catapultae that were used to hold and tension the springs. Those washers turn up quite often as votive offerings. Meaning that the soldiers who operated these machines (different mechanical principle, but similar end results as Susan) dedicated them to one god or another. Interpreting such things are difficult, but it surely says something about how those men felt about their machines.

the sideways kick may be from a miniscule variation in where the draw hooks are positioned on the string, leading to a tiny imbalance side to side.  Might be worth deliberately trying to bias it one way or the other at draw time to see if that holds.

@10:50 in - Tomash's point (I hope I've spelled his name correctly; if not please forgive this mistaken Yankee) is a well documented phenomena affecting artillery units in smoke-powder wars (before the artillery's range got so high that they'd never see the enemy anyway unless SHTF).

The line infantry had this curious phenomena wherein their performance in battle diverged from their performance on the firing range; at the extreme end of their firing range, they performed as expected. And up close - close enough that you're really wondering whether you can load another ball after this one and fire it, too, or whether you fire off the round up the pole and then fix your bayonet to give 'em steel - they performed as expected.
IE, when they were so far away as to be silhouettes, infantry performed as trained. And when they were so close that you were faced with imminently closing to grips with them using bayonet and sword, the infantry performed as trained. But between those extremes, infantry performed worse than expected; whether it was the most crack regiment or the most green, they all performed less than you'd expect from looking at their performance in training.
This was eventually sorted out to be a sort of subconscious 'live and let live.' At the extreme range, a person just looks like a target silhouette, which they have no problem shooting; and at the extreme close range, when you're about to have the thrilling opportunity to shoot a man and then immediately stab his mate one step beside him, you're in a primal 'him or me' fight for your life. But between those extremes, infantry could recognize that person was a person, but was also so far away that he seemed harmless (he was not, as the bullets whizzing 'round would tell you, but this is subconsciousness we're talking about.) Most folk didn't want to be responsible for the death of a person.

I bring this all up to point out that the artillery did not have this curious drawback. They're not killing a person! They're just operating the machine. And they're only part of the crew that's operating it. The gunner didn't load the shot that's going to mow those guys down, he just touches fuse to powder. The guy adjusting the aim has no part in the actual killing. The loader's not the guy who decided where to shoot, he's just shoving stuff down the tube. The guy holding the horses - you get the idea. That 'corporate responsibility' relieved all of them individually from having to take upon them the responsibility of killing a man.
I think you've found the same thing with Susan - or even with the old Trebuchet.

10:47 there’s something so satisfying yet terrifying about the sound of that bolt flying by the camera. As a bowyer, I love the sound of an arrow whizzing through the air but it’s a deathly beautiful noise.

Arrows vs armour siege weapon edition when?

might I suggest painting a little indicator on the string to easier track it's movement mid shot. It'd be a quick way to figure out if the string gets skewed to either side somehow.

Susan is one heck of a machine! Looks nicely tuned now

10:00 That mannequin responded like a real soldier out there.

Jesus those impacts are brutal. Crazy device