DIY Crossbow

[rotciv]

this pic shows the arrow embedded in the catalogue.

14.jpg (167.87 KiB) Viewed 8896 times

I have always been fascinated by medieval Armour. I know absolutely nothing about archery there fore this crossbow is not built with any scientific knowledge about the draw strength, accuracy, weight of arrows etc. It is just something that i loved doing. I hope you like my handiwork.The car leaf spring was given to me by a friend and i don't have any idea from which type of car it originated. At the centre it was 6mm thick. The wood used for the stock is Beech.After sanding it was finished off with wax. I tried the crossbow in an open place to see how far it could shoot and after shooting in rather windy conditions, the distance measured was 98 metres.

[Rorschach]

That's awesome, great bit of work. Amazing the power and distance you can achieve from a simple bit of steel.

[Razor]

That is totally awesome!!

[Gadget]

A budding William Tell..

[kellys_eye]

Brilliant Roctiv

The work put into machining that spring was epic.

Bookmarked for future reference! (although there are plans for similar devices online if anyone is interested).

[Dave54]

It's a great job!
Deceptive how powerful they actually are.
What's the pull like to load it?

[Argyll]

Cool. Do you know the draw weight?

[Grendel]

Nice bit of work , I should perhaps get on with the one I started years ago and has sat in the shed since . If I may I'd say to try putting the bow on the other way . Looking at the sixth picture it's unstrung and the arms are pointing towards the butt. Turning it around so it looks like a Y when unstrung will give it far more poundage , far more power. You may even need mechanical assistance to span it then.

[rotciv]

That's awesome, great bit of work. Amazing the power and distance you can achieve from a simple bit of steel.

Thanks, glad you like it.
To tell you the truth, i had to taper the original leaf spring two times until it was malleable enough so that i could pull the string for a distance of six and a half inches. when i shot it the first time i was truly amazed with the power it unleashes the arrow.

[rotciv]

That is totally awesome!!

Glad you like my modest work.

[rotciv]

Brilliant Roctiv

The work put into machining that spring was epic.

Bookmarked for future reference! (although there are plans for similar devices online if anyone is interested).

It took a bit of work with the angle grinder as i had to cut it twice because the first time it was still to stiff so i had to narrow it to enable me to draw it backwards the distance to the trigger. The rest of the finishing was carried out with flap discs, files and a lot of elbow grease.

[rotciv]

A budding William Tell..

As a matter of fact, i was looking for an assistant willing to hold an apple on his head for target practice. If you would like to volunteer, I'll be much obliged

[rotciv]

It's a great job!
Deceptive how powerful they actually are.
What's the pull like to load it?

Yes they are quiet powerful, in fact in olden times they managed to pierce the body Armour. As i am inexperienced and have no instruments to test the pull, I suspended the spring from the middle and attached two 25 kgs bags of cement. They pulled the spring about five inches downward. Since when i pull the string 6.5 inches to engage with the trigger i estimate the pull to be around 60kgs to 65 kgs. But as i said , its only guesswork.

[rotciv]

Cool. Do you know the draw weight?

as i said in the post above, i estimate the draw weight to be about 60 / 65 kgs, but i may be wrong.

[rotciv]

Nice bit of work , I should perhaps get on with the one I started years ago and has sat in the shed since . If I may I'd say to try putting the bow on the other way . Looking at the sixth picture it's unstrung and the arms are pointing towards the butt. Turning it around so it looks like a Y when unstrung will give it far more poundage , far more power. You may even need mechanical assistance to span it then.

Yes it would be nice if you complete the one you started maybe i could get better ideas to improve my work. I agree that if you invert the string it would give you more power, but mechanical assistance would be required. To be honest i was afraid to push the spring to its limit as i read that it could break and injure you and being totally inexperience, i was a bit cautious in that regard. One mistake i made was that the groove holding the arrow was too shallow and next time I'll try to devise a better trigger system as the present one is rather stiff to pull and it has no safety catch.