A very popular weapon now is the crossbow. Despite its complexity, a crossbow can be made at home. In past ancient times it was used as a formidable weapon. Nowadays the crossbow is used in shooting range sports at short and medium distances. Nowadays you can buy everything, including a crossbow. But it’s much more interesting to do it yourself. For those who are skilled in craftsmanship and know how to use machines and tools, this will not be difficult.
Previously we described how to do it, if you are interested, take a look.
For a crossbow we need a wooden blank and iron.
These dimensions are the basis for our work on making a crossbow at home.
What needs to be said in the very first lines of this article: in Russia, the CIS countries and most countries of the world, hunting with a crossbow is illegal, and the crossbows themselves (if their tension exceeds 40 kg) are equated to edged weapons. There is a fine for wearing and using them. Why, then, am I giving recommendations on how to make an objectively dangerous thing that can cause problems for readers? Because the ability to hunt using a wide variety of weapons, including homemade and even illegal ones, may one day be useful to each of us. Few people think about this while store shelves are filled with food products - but we live in too unstable times to say with complete confidence that this will always be the case.
In one of the previous articles, I wrote about hunting: with the help of this seemingly frivolous weapon, it is easy to hunt small fur-bearing animals, birds and reptiles. You can shoot medium-sized game from a crossbow. Of course, we are not talking about toys from legal gun stores: you may have seen these on sale - elegant, light and low-powered. A weak crossbow is intended for sport shooting - you should understand how great the difference is between it and a real combat device. That is why the latter are prohibited. An arrow fired from a powerful combat crossbow pierces a person right through, even if he is wearing a Kevlar body armor.
But until the BP strikes, you and I are peaceful hunters, and we do not think about using lethal weapons against people. Why am I writing now about homemade crossbow for hunting? Why not buy ready-made or order from an experienced craftsman? Because legally they won’t sell you anything worthwhile. And it’s better not to buy illegal weapons at all if you don’t want to get into trouble with the law. Yes, having something killer in your bins and knowing how to use it is useful, but not a single living soul should know that you have it. It’s better not to introduce even your friends and family to this, not to mention complete strangers like sellers and couriers.
How to make a crossbow at home?
So, how to make a crossbow with your own hands? First of all, decide what kind of power you need from the weapon - its design and materials directly depend on this. For hunting ducks and hares, the simplest device with a wooden bow is suitable. Larger animals already need a metal one. There are also so-called composite arches, which are a combination of several materials (traditionally - wood, antler, veins, but now various types of plastic are more often used). Their technical characteristics are excellent, but it is almost impossible for a non-professional to produce such a part “on the knee” with high quality. In order to avoid injury among readers, I will not even give here a description of the assembly of a composite arc.
My opinion: it is advisable to use a metal arc. The power reserve will not be superfluous - besides, wooden parts fail faster, which also poses a risk of injury to the shooter. Since your goal is to make a fairly powerful crossbow, look for springs from Soviet passenger cars among friends or on the secondary market for auto parts. Humanity has not yet come up with anything better for use as an arc. But if you still didn’t manage to get this rarity, take any elastic metal strip 2-3 cm wide and 3-4 mm thick.
The stock is most often made of wood (spruce, aspen), less often of metal. The more powerful the crossbow is planned, the more durable and massive this part should be. The designs of the stock may differ, but there must be a groove for the arrow on it, as well as a butt and fastenings for the trigger mechanism, arc and other functional elements.
A non-elastic rope made of synthetic fibers, a steel cable or a guitar string is used as a bowstring. You may be surprised, but it is the first of the three options that demonstrates the best tensile strength. Durable, cheap and accessible - what else is needed?.. But here's what: beeswax impregnation will extend the life of a synthetic bowstring, protecting it from moisture and friction.
The crossbow mechanism, rollers and fastenings are the most interesting. It is difficult to make them “on your knees” if you do not have the skills to work with metal. Below I provide drawings of a homemade simple crossbow (1) and a powerful combat one (2). All parts that you cannot make yourself, order from the workshop, providing drawings of the parts you are interested in.
Drawing of a simple crossbow (1) *click to enlarge*
Drawings of a combat crossbow(2) *click to enlarge* 
How to make arrows for a crossbow?
Bolts - arrows for a crossbow, are easy to make with your own hands. For these purposes, wood is most often used, less often plastic and metal. Why is wood better? A wooden bolt has an optimal weight: a light plastic arrow quickly loses speed, and a piece of steel wire is heavy and will not fly far. The shaft should be planed along the grain for better flexibility, and then dried well. At the end we leave a cut into which the tip will be inserted.
The tip itself must be cut out of a steel sheet (thickness no less than 0.7 mm) with metal scissors and refined with a sharpening stone - smooth and sharpen the edge. We insert the tips into the cut, lubricating it with epoxy. You can also tie it with thread for strength, and apply a layer of epoxy on top.
There are also many options for making bolt feathers, but the best, in my opinion, is bird feathers. Ideally, goose, but even from the tail of a pigeon, which is much easier for a city dweller to find - they lie underfoot. We split the feather in two, cut each half in half and glue it to the arrow. For strength, we wrap it with threads.
Here's what we ended up with:
It is important that all the bolts are the same in weight and length - this will make it easier to shoot your homemade crossbow. But you definitely need to shoot him: the hunt can wait, first you need to master the new weapon well, get a feel for it. Even if you have experience shooting a crossbow, this one will be a little different, more “yours” - like any thing made with your own hands.
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The crossbow was invented by the Romans many centuries ago. Later they stopped using it in battles, but seven hundred years later the Europeans brought the weapon back into use, having modernized it well. You can try yourself in the role of a warrior now. If you can’t buy an expensive weapon, then we will make you happy. You can make a simple crossbow with your own hands at home.
A handmade homemade crossbow is made of wood, paper or metal. It all depends on what you have on hand at home and what you will use it for.
There are recommendations on how to easily assemble a block, spring, toy and repeating crossbow yourself, using step-by-step instructions and simple diagrams. Therefore, everyone has the opportunity to use the hidden weapon of an assassin or arrange a battle with colleagues using a small wrist office crossbow made of cardboard.
The main advantage of a block or simple crossbow compared to a bow is that there is no need for training or special skills. There is no need to use force to aim here. Due to the levers, the device helps to cope with the bowstring.
In past centuries, many officials and rulers considered the possession of these weapons a dangerous undertaking, as they were afraid of a riot. Therefore, the Weapons Control Order was soon issued, when crossbows were banned throughout Europe. But after the outbreak of hostilities with the Turks, the decision was canceled. Richard the Lionheart made it the main element in the equipment of his warriors.
Making a crossbow yourself is not so easy, but it is possible if you have basic design skills, drawings and a few power tools. You are required to comply with safety precautions, since you are, after all, creating a weapon. Therefore, it should not be directed at people, nor should it be given to small children.
Nowadays you will no longer need medieval spare parts in the form of animal bundles or special fibers; improvised materials will do. But this is enough to shoot at cans or bottles.
A wooden shooting crossbow made of PVC or plywood block type is the most famous option.
Manufacturing instructions:
Making a paper crossbow from cardboard that also shoots is as easy as shelling pears. Paper weapons shoot arrows from pencils, pens, matches, Lego skewers or rulers. In general, anything that is light in weight and looks similar to real arrows. For production you will need:
Step-by-step instruction:
A small children's crossbow will be an unusual gift for a child. The power is small, since the bowstring will be a simple elastic band. This will require a minimum of materials. It is done like this:
To create a real military weapon for hunting or fishing, more serious parts and diagrams will be required. What are the shoulders made of? Take a metal bow, make the stock out of wood, and make the bowstring out of elastic synthetic fibers.
The mechanism and fastenings made of bolts are the most difficult thing; only those who know how to work with metal can do it. But you can order the necessary spare parts in the workshop according to the drawings, and then assemble everything at home. But bolts and a nod are easily made from wood or plastic, arrows with tips are made from wood or iron rods.
Not everyone can assemble a hunting or underwater crossbow. Therefore, it is better to entrust the work to a master to be sure of the result.
Now it has become fashionable to hunt with a bow and crossbow. Although this is prohibited in our country, you can still shoot at targets by practicing this difficult task. You can make a crossbow with your own hands at home for training. After all, good models from well-known companies are very expensive. Or it can be made “for yourself”. It is worth remembering that if the weapon has a tension of more than 20 kg, then it is considered a cold weapon. Therefore, when creating a crossbow, it is worth considering this important nuance.
There are classic models, they look like ancient ones, and their design is simple. There are also modern crossbows, they are called "block" crossbows. Such weapons have a more complex design due to blocks and other innovations that enhance their power. It will be much more difficult to make such a crossbow at home, but the description of this process and the drawings, which will be detailed in the article, will help you with this.
The crossbow has many components:
trigger mechanism;
some modern models have blocks at the ends of the bow.
The main material from which a crossbow is made is wood. The stock and bow are made from it. The trigger mechanism in powerful samples is machined from iron. And those in which the tension force is less than 20 kg can be made of hard wood, it will withstand it quite well. Spring metal and various composites are also used for bows.
First, let's look at how easy it is to make a crossbow with your own hands, and let's start with its simple shape. This is a standard design for ancient weapons, and it can be used not only for shooting, but also as a spectacular piece of furniture when hung on the wall.
To create a crossbow you need to choose:
All of these rocks are dense enough to withstand the enormous stress that will be placed on the bow and crossbow stock.
In order for a weapon to fire long and powerfully, its material must be properly dried for a year. Having cut the required trunk or branch, both cuts must be painted over. To do this, you can use any glue, paint or varnish. If you close the cuts in this way, moisture will not be able to quickly leave the workpiece, so the wood will dry more slowly and evenly. This way, internal cracks do not form in the material, and a crossbow made with your own hands at home will serve for a very long time.
After this, the log is placed in a dry place where the sun's rays will not fall on it. It should remain like this for a year. After time, the bark is removed from the workpiece, so it dries for another week. The log is then sawn in half. It sits like that for another week, only after that you can start creating a crossbow.
Sandpaper of different grits.
Carpenter's cutter.
Chisel.
On the workpiece, choose the side in which the annual rings of the tree are thinner. This is the north side, the fibers on it are denser than in other parts. This is what we will use when creating a crossbow with our own hands at home. From this part you need to make a bow.
Mark the middle, put about two centimeters on both sides of it, marking the part that will be clamped in the crossbow stock. This will be the thickest part of the onion. They begin to cut the material from it, gradually moving towards the edges. They chip the workpiece gradually on both sides, checking until it begins to bend at least a little.
After this, you need to take a strong rope and make loops at its ends. This will be a test string. It is necessary to check the bow tension. It is very important that his shoulders bend evenly. By putting on an improvised bowstring and drawing the bow, you can see where to remove the material. They are marked and carefully cut with a knife. This must be continued until the product begins to bend evenly on both sides.
Very often there are knots on the material: some are visible immediately, others can open during the processing of the material. What makes them dangerous is that they can cause chips. Therefore, you need to treat such places with a well-sharpened knife. If you don't have confidence or experience, it's better to tinker a little longer and sand them down with sandpaper. You can also use a file for this purpose.
When the bow is ready, put it aside and begin making the stock. To begin with, they choose where there will be a groove through which the arrow will fly out, and make this place perfectly level. It will depend on him how accurately the crossbow will shoot. To understand everything, it is better to look at the drawing of the crossbow. How to make its stock is shown in detail here. After this, the gutter is cut to the required length. Usually it is about 30 cm. Then a recess is made for the bow and trigger mechanism. They are convenient to cut with a chisel and a carpenter's knife.
As mentioned above, it can be made of dense wood or, if the crossbow is powerful, of metal. The most is the so-called “nut”. It consists of a cylinder, where on one side there is a hook for the bowstring, and on the other there is a stop for the trigger. In high-power crossbows, the trigger is more refined for an easier trigger pull when loaded.
We looked at it in detail, the Master class with drawings, we hope, will help you understand all the intricacies.
This is a common medieval model. Now we’ll find out how to make the same weapon, only a modern model.
Such a device is much more difficult to make; it will require many more tools than a regular one. So, we create a crossbow with our own hands at home from fiberglass. This material is ideal for making bows because it is tough and yet lightweight. It can be cut from a single piece of fiberglass 1 cm thick or you can make it yourself. If you’re not too lazy to tinker, it’s better to make it yourself.
You need to take fiberglass or Kevlar and cut it into strips. You need from 30 to 40 of them. In general, it is better to try everything experimentally. These strips are glued with epoxy resin so that everything becomes monolithic when it hardens. You also need to think about how to put this entire “sandwich” under the press. It is best to use boards, place the shoulders between them, and clamp everything with clamps.
There should be less thickener than usual, ranging from 8 to 10%. Everything hardens within 24 hours, but if the room is cold, the time may increase. When everything has hardened, the shoulders are finalized by cutting off the protruding edges with a knife and sanding with sandpaper.
Now we will look in detail at how to make a crossbow with your own hands at home and what additional elements of its design need to be made.
To do this, you need to take a board at least 4 cm thick. Mark where the butt, handle, trigger mechanism and mounts for the arms of the bow will be. In general, everything is according to the drawings. After this, you need to drill all the necessary holes and cut them out.
They can be made from aluminum. It would be better if they were on bearings. The middle parts of roller skate wheels are perfect. They are strong enough to withstand heavy loads and are the perfect size. The axles for them need to be 5 mm thick. You can take them from rollers or make them yourself.
The fasteners are made of sheet steel or similar durable material. You can also make the ends of the bow arms thicker before pouring epoxy resin to install the blocks, in which case fastenings will not be needed.
After this, you need to install a trigger mechanism with a trigger and an arrow holder on the crossbow you made yourself at home. In general, all parts are connected with bolts; washers are always used. They will allow you to twist everything more tightly without damaging the material.
In compound crossbows, the bowstring is longer and is tensioned differently. It seems to cross, and when drawn, this system allows the arrow to give twice as much energy to flight as in the case of a conventional crossbow with the same bow.
In powerful block models, the bowstring is the only one capable of withstanding the enormous sharp pressure of a shot. In crossbows whose power is no more than 40-50 kg, it can be woven from nylon threads.
Using the described method, you can make a bowstring for both a recurve and a classic crossbow. It’s just that their length will be different due to the design features of both models.
They take a board the length of the planned bowstring, drive in two pegs, on which they are wound in a circle. When the thickness of this long oval becomes 5 mm, it is wound, making a gap of 2-3 mm between the turns. Near the pegs you need to braid without gaps, because there will be loops for hooking.
Regarding the bowstring, one can also say that if you make it too thick, the strength of the crossbow is reduced. However, thin ones can tear. So in this case you need to choose an intermediate thickness. It is better to study similar sports models with the same tension and make a bowstring of their thickness. When this is done, the two halves are joined and wrapped together. Again, special care is needed near the hinges. Then they wrap the middle where the string will catch and push the arrow. This place is also done carefully, because it will be subject to a tremendous frictional force. All cut edges of the threads must be coated with glue. This will make them denser and more monolithic.
This article presents drawings and a description of how to make a real crossbow at home. It's not that difficult, especially if you're making wooden weapons. If the product is manufactured for hunting in order to achieve enormous power, then you should choose a block model. Its design is a little more complicated; you may need a machine to make some parts.
A must read!
Making homemade weapons, in particular crossbows and bows, less often knives, are practiced, as a rule, by teenagers and young people up to twenty, twenty-three years old. Older people prefer buy branded factory-made weapons. However, there are exceptions.
For example, an older person may be keen self-made weapons at the hobby and collecting level. But most often his passion is to become closer to professional work, since it is not a one-time impulse. According to statistics, this site is visited mainly by young people from fourteen to twenty-eight years old (according to Yandex metrics). They are mainly interested in methods and methods for making any homemade weapons.
However, with an unprofessional attitude towards the subject of interest and a lack of technical skills, creating homemade products can lead to unwanted traumatic situations that can harm the health and even, in some cases, the lives of young experimenters. Therefore, if you are interested in the idea, by all means purchase one of types of permitted weapons, then it is better to buy it in a store, or contact a qualified specialist. Of course, in this case certain costs will be required, but they are not as critical as it seems at first glance. That is, your health is much more valuable than a certain amount of money spent on purchasing, for example, a crossbow.
Naturally, not all young people have available funds for the purchase of weapons, and not everyone has the right to use it, even if it belongs to the category of sports, due to their age. Therefore, in specialized stores it can only be sold to a person who has reached the age of majority and has the appropriate document permitting the purchase and use of weapons for personal purposes.
Otherwise it will be the case with online weapons stores, for which it does not matter to whom the weapons are sent, and all surveys during registration are formal. But as mentioned above, teenagers under eighteen years of age rarely have their own income and therefore in most cases sporting weapon acquired with the knowledge of the parents and with their direct participation.
More details for fans of ready-made stock drawings
Please note that the crossbow is made from a bow. That is, whatever bow there is, the crossbow will be adjusted to its parameters, because each bow has its own unique parameters - tension force, length of draw stroke, length of arms finally. Further, the lock also meets the specified requirements, it has its own geometry and it may not always be suitable for the desired type of stock. So there is no point in such drawings and they can only be considered as an illustration for understanding the general principle of the arrangement of parts.
Some features of the manufacture of crossbow stocks deserve closer attention, allowing you to save material and nerves. When making a stock for a compound bow, please note that the groove in it for the intersecting sections of the bowstring must be extended towards the lock, since when tensioned, the ends of the bow with the blocks are bent back. Sometimes an incorrect cut forces a radical change in the location of the nodes, which entails a change in the design of the product as a whole, sometimes not for the better. Don't forget to leave at least a millimeter in reserve. By milling you can only set the initial shape, for example, of a key groove, and finalize it with the help of a small chisel and files with needle files.
A quick note about stock finishing
The question is often asked about where to get drawings of a stock; a stock can be made even from a chair leg, but the crossbow itself ultimately should not be just a constructor made of ridiculous parts, but should be a product made in the same style. For example, crossbows in the medieval style with a powerful bow, forged fittings, a rigid lock and a rough wooden stock look holistic and balanced; or a light and elegant sports crossbow with optics, a thin and sharp bow, and an anatomical stock; not to mention futuristic crossbows with polished metal surfaces, a laser designator, a cast titanium stock and an ultra-complex lock. In other words, the final finish depends on your taste, but do not forget that it will be judged by your crossbow.
More about guides
High-quality guides are the most important element affecting shooting accuracy, as they establish the initial orientation of the bolt (arrow). They can be made from any material, preferably with a low coefficient of friction. Although the guides carry virtually no load, they must have sufficient strength to maintain straightness. Therefore, it is a good idea to make them as a separate part, attached to the stock at points at its ends. This makes it possible to easily change it if necessary, for example, in case of damage or switching to another type of bolts; moreover, such fasteners allow you to “untie” the guides from the deformable stock. The longitudinal guide groove for the bolt usually has a depth of one third of the diameter of the shaft so that the plane of the bowstring coincides with the axis of the bolt. It is convenient when a narrow groove for the lower tail passes through the guide, then random needles when shooting in the forest, for example, will not interfere with the movement of the bolt.
As already mentioned, it is convenient to make the guides separately from the stock. The material can be metal, plastic or wood. The required thin longitudinal groove can be made with a thin jigsaw blade or by making a guide of two halves, which is also very convenient and has its advantages. A particularly important factor in manufacturing is maintaining absolute straightness and parallelism. Naturally, you will have to apply sandpaper or a hairy polishing wheel. The dimensions are not at all critical and are determined only by the length of the stock section from the block to the lock, corresponding to the running (landing) part of the bolt, as well as the diameter of the bolt shaft and the type of its fletching. The bolt should fit freely, but without play, into the guide groove; the feathering should not touch anything. The guides are installed in such a way that the axis of the inserted bolt coincides in the front part with the position of the string fastening (! nuance) on the bow, and in the rear part it passes through the filling cutout of the lock. The nuance is that the front part of the guide should be slightly higher than the specified plane, which ensures some sliding of the bowstring pushing the bolt. Naturally, everything should be within reasonable limits, and the wooden surface of the guide must be protected from abrasion by the bowstring with additional metal pads.
Lock
A lock made from a clothespin and a tin plate hardly deserves any attention. The crossbow lock is a very important part. There is an opinion that the simpler the lock, the more reliable it is, but I would interpret it somewhat differently - the better the quality of the lock, the more reliable it is. The manufacture of the lock must be treated with special attention, because convenience and reliability, as well as the clarity of operation, and therefore the accuracy of shooting, depend on its operation. A little about the functions of the lock. A good lock should ensure guaranteed retention of the bowstring on an equipped crossbow, as well as a clear release at the required moment of aiming. It is in accordance with the first point that additional blockers and fuses are introduced into the design of locks, and with the second, intermediate unloading levers and repeaters are introduced. The choice of lock design again depends on your locksmith capabilities and needs, and here you can exercise your creative inclinations to your heart’s content in upgrading existing models and developing your own. Personally, I liked the design of professional locks presented on one of the sites. The bicycle has been invented, but has it been invented yet?
To make it easier to embed the lock, it is necessary to try to give it the simplest possible shape when designing it. That is, locks with various cavities are unlikely to be neatly packed into the stock, while flat, rectangular locks in this regard do not cause any special problems when cutting into the stock. It is important to take into account that the locks must be securely fastened, without backlash, and have a maximum area of contact with the stock to relieve the load. What is often not taken into account is the simple fact that the lock bears the entire tension load. That is, if you are making a crossbow with a bow weighing 300 kg (probably for an elephant), then the parts of the castle will naturally receive all 300 kg of them + shock load and so on, but the stock should be able to handle it in its thinnest place (usually where it is weakened by the key groove), still survive 300 kg + torsion and other non-parallel loads. Again, in some drawings, the locks have attachment points too close to the edges or small diameter holes for thin bolts or screws. If this value turns out to be acceptable for metal, then for wood it is necessary to provide some reserve. So, summing up all the factors, we can conclude that the lock must have minimum dimensions, in particular width, have a maximum surface of contact with the groove, that is, fit its front surface tightly in the groove, and only be fixed to the stock with bolts. In addition, the stock itself must have sufficient strength in its weakest part when calculating the bow's tension load. So for monsters, it’s better to make a stock from a metal profile, and put linings made of beautiful durable wood on the body kit. I cannot give any special recommendations regarding the choice of wood due to my incompetence on this issue, although I personally prefer beech.
For those who do not live in the regions where this wonderful tree grows, I advise you to pay close attention to the old pianos of your acquaintances and friends. In them, beech is found in the form of massive power beams for hanging cast iron frames. At the risk of arousing the wrath of aesthetes, a piano these days is easier to find than a piece of good wood. Let's write off this barbarity as a by-product of art. For metal lovers. Excellent aluminum and alloy profiles can be found in office furniture. Rigid rectangular profiles are now commonly used in some machine tools. There is a wonderful thin-walled pipe made of blackened metal in.... a large inclined tablet like that of designers or draftsmen. I don’t know what the warriors have to do with it, but such a pipe can be used in powerful pneumatic and light firearms systems, as well as for fireworks mortars. You can also cast stocks from aluminum and alloys, followed by milling grooves and other things, but this is more a matter of technology and taste.
Let me remind you that the tension force of the bow acts on the lock! This means that the lock must withstand heavy loads without loss of functionality, so tin as a material is immediately excluded. The proposed millimeter steel, after processing is already 0.8 mm, can only be used on crossbows of small power, otherwise the lock will simply be deformed. The details of the castle are also worth taking a closer look at. The main hitch is under full load, so use stronger steel and a thicker axle. Depending on the design and lever, a lesser force acts on the release that releases the hook. Other parts can be made based on their purpose and the load on them, without forgetting the margin of safety and wear resistance. Gunsmith designers have a technology for constructing the mechanisms of real weapon locks “on pins and needles”, this is when the contours of the intended parts of the lock are cut out of cardboard, pinned at the points of their axes to the plywood. At the same time, it is possible to immediately see the interaction of parts with each other, correct them, and then translate everything into metal. In principle, all that remains is to choose a suitable lock; further modernization can be achieved by using high-quality steel, some modification of the trigger and equipping the lock with additional devices, adjustments, etc.
Structurally, locks with a so-called “nut” or a similar hook design are more suitable for crossbow sniping. The hook rotates freely on an axis close to the center of mass, resulting in a very soft, jerk-free descent. Such locks will appeal to lovers of high-precision shooting and the fairer sex (there are such in this business!), but the Hollywood-style clanging and clicking aggressive locks will be more useful in systems of a threatening militaristic or medieval style of execution. In one of the “pro” locks, the design of which I took as the basis for mine, there is a safety lock and a lock that prevents the bowstring from being lowered without a threaded bolt, which is quite thoughtful for preserving the bowstring. By adding a slot in the upper part of the hook, it was possible to ensure shockless interaction of the bowstring on the butt, the rear end of the bolt, in common parlance, the “butt”.
Block
Designed for attaching a bow or its limbs directly to the stock. The block works under very intense conditions and experiences shock loads, so it must have a significant margin of safety. Made from aluminum casting or metal, calculated depending on the bow used. The block for separate bow limbs is subject to more forces with different vectors. When designing pads, it is necessary to wisely use various bevels and triangles, which allows for significant savings in weight with the same rigidity of the part. The block can be removable to reduce the size of the crossbow when carrying. There is a certain peculiarity in the method of attaching the bow limbs to the block, which is that it is preferable to use threaded clamps rather than rivets, but it is better not to weaken the bow limbs with holes at all. (!) Pay special attention to the fastening of the bow limbs, take into account the rule of leverage, which, together with the tension force of the bow, adds up to an immodest amount. It is most convenient to make a block from thick sheet steel, bending the workpiece like origami.
The bow is the main part of any crossbow
Structurally, it is easier to use a monobow made of durable and elastic steel, but some plastics are also suitable. The simplest thing is to use ready-made bows for sports shooting. Can be made from any elastic spring steel, such as springs. We used a powerful spring from some relict hell trap. A compound bow, consisting of a package of strips, has enormous friction losses between the strips. Even if you lubricate the stripes with something like “ER” to reduce friction, using such a bow is not advisable. If you want to make a removable bow with latches, then I advise you to secure the bow tightly to the stock, but the block itself can be made tightly fastened to the stock. In general, when analyzing the physics of a bow, it can be noted that a bow with developed shoulders, which have some narrowing towards the ends, is better. Such a bow, bending evenly, accumulates a lot of energy. However, larger bows require a longer stock due to the increased draw stroke, which is unacceptable. Ancient crossbows, judging by the sources, fired at 200 steps. So they “beat”, knocking the riders off their horses, but for a longer firing range you already need perfect sights, and even now no one shoots from machine guns at a longer range, there is no point. We'll talk more about firing range in the paragraph about bolts.
If possible, you can forge a bow from a suitable metal, and it is better to immediately provide places for fastening the string on the block. Again, it is better to make a block pattern if the bow has a lot of power.
The block brackets, the blocks themselves, work on the tension force of the bow + the compression force of the bowstring + shock loads. Blocks can be machined from a material suitable for strength, but it is necessary to relieve the bow's arms as much as possible. In most cases, the choice of aluminum as a block material is very successful. For those who have difficulty making blocks, I recommend looking into old reel-to-reel tape recorders. In some models there are wonderful blanks for aluminum alloy blocks; you just need to cut off the excess. To lighten the blocks, holes are drilled in them or windows are cut out. You can also look into old receivers, where the venier is based on a cable system. The warriors have a lot of old radio equipment with such units. There are small blocks on ancient dental burstanki. On professional crossbows, the blocks are oval-shaped. This is due to the fact that the block rotates only at a small angle. I think that the fact of some gain when using a block scheme versus a conventional, recursive one is obvious, but a further increase in the number of blocks gives less and less results. So there is no point in assembling a garland of 6,8,10 blocks. Even a child can draw a four-block crossbow. I note that a compound bow works more softly than a recurve bow, which improves shooting accuracy, and besides, the force to break the string is less, apparently due to the loading of the string with blocks.
Springs are sometimes used as a propellant on some exotic models, but they have a large weight, volume, short stroke and enormous energy, which in turn entails a more complex design and requires high-quality steel for locks. A compressed car shock absorber spring can easily tear off a person's arm or leg. A shot from such a spring into a bag of compacted cement pierced it, and the spring itself flew off behind a row of neighboring garages. A very dangerous and inconvenient thing.
Bolt - crossbow arrow
The bolt is the damaging element of this type of weapon. It has a greater (emphasis on the first syllable) stopping effect than a bullet(!). Kevlar body armor also loses its effectiveness against such hello from the Middle Ages. So it would be appropriate to once again remind you of compliance with safety rules when shooting from a crossbow, despite the fact that the article is devoted to a slightly different topic. A bolt wound can often be fatal! The death of a victim can even be caused by just the sight of a bolt protruding from the body!
So, bolts. They are made from any durable material that is lightweight and has sufficient elasticity. It can be made from suitable pieces of straight-layered wood, and the layers of wood should be arranged longitudinally, which gives the arrow flexibility. It’s difficult to do without some mechanization in the form of at least an electric drill. The bolt must have a perfect shape, the center of gravity is usually located between the first and second third of the bolt, and already assembled (!), however, it is possible to vary this parameter at your discretion. You can change the mass of the bolt by selecting different materials for the shaft, sizes and materials of tips and toes. To protect against moisture, wooden bolt shafts are impregnated with protective compounds and are usually stored in a horizontal position. Great bolts can be made from sections of broken fiberglass telescopic fishing rods. They have great strength with low weight and are not afraid of dampness. Please note that all bolts should be as close as possible in weight and size, otherwise a surprise will await you with each new shot, especially when shooting at maximum range. In general, the crossbow itself allows you to shoot quite heavy arrows, even with welding electrodes, so it is quite difficult to clearly determine the optimal bolt. When selecting experimentally the mass of bolts for your crossbow, do not forget about the golden mean: a light bolt loses speed faster, and a heavy bolt does not fly far. Instructions for making bolts yourself -.
About the firing range
A crossbow is a crossbow. A bolt, like an arrow, is launched with a relatively low initial speed, has a fairly high air resistance and a small mass, so that physically it cannot fly very far, one must be realistic. There are firearms for such things. By the way, looking back to ancient times, the crossbow was valued precisely because it was used exclusively for the destruction of heavy cavalry at medium distances, having a short and heavy arrow in its arsenal. I consider articles that mention shooting almost a kilometer away to be purely humorous.
Bolt ends are made based on the task at hand for this type. Hunting bolts are generally equipped with creepy-looking four- or three-bladed harpoon-like tips. Almost any hard material can be used for sports shooting. When shooting at hard targets, bolts often break. It is better to make the tips with a recess for mounting on the bolt shaft. Tips attached to the cut of the shaft usually split it when it hits a solid obstacle. Rubber tips don't make sense. The diameter of the tip may exceed the diameter of the bolt if the shaft is longer than the guide.
Bowstring
A good bowstring with proper care will last a long time. It is made of steel (cables, strings), polymer wood or woven from silk. I don’t know about the latter, there are now a huge amount of synthetic materials. Kevlar for making a bowstring should be used as a material with high tensile strength. For powerful crossbows, you can use a thin steel cable for the bowstring. Found everywhere in motorcycles and automobiles. I note that a braided bowstring can more easily withstand breaking loads due to the fact that part of the energy is spent on friction between the woven threads. Protect the bowstring from abrasion on the stock with special metal or plastic pads.
Sights
Actually, it's a matter of your taste. The use of certain sights depends on the range and nature of the crossbow's shooting. Optical sights for weapons at a hundred meters or less are generally somehow ridiculous, although a crossbow with optics looks quite predatory. They have a large mass and prohibitive cost, require a standard mounting bar, and are convenient for shooting at a static target. Installing collimator sights in this case is more justified, and it also becomes possible to shoot offhand. Even simpler and better for crossbows are simple diopter sights, and the simplest open sight is not difficult to make at all. I’ll keep silent about optics for now, but you can stop at making open or diopter sights. The fact is that there is some difference between the axis of flight of the bolt and the axis of the crossbow, not to mention the hinged flight path of the arrow, so for sights it is necessary to provide for the possibility of fine adjustment using the appropriate screws. To do this, the mounting of sighting devices is done with oval holes that allow some displacement, or adjusting screws with fine threads are installed in the body of the mounts, which shift the sight itself when rotated. It is best to zero in sights indoors or in calm weather. In this case, the crossbow itself is fixed on a massive fixed base, for example, with clamps. Next, test shots are made with one standard arrow. The difference between the aiming point and the actual point of impact of the bolt at a given distance is adjusted using the adjusting screws of the sight. Then the shooting distance changes and the process repeats. This way you can calibrate any sight for any shooting distance. Corrections for wind are entered in the same way (frontal against the wind, at an angle towards, at an angle downwind, at a side, downwind).
Tensioner devices, such as various “goat legs”, can easily be made from a suitable metal, changing the dimensions of the data to fit the geometry of your own crossbow, however, such devices are rather necessary for cocking very powerful crossbows with recurve bows or are simply a convenient excess, since compound bows are even of considerable power can be cocked by hand, albeit with gloves.
This completes the theoretical part of the instructions on how to make a crossbow, see the photo and explanations below:
To make a crossbow we need a wooden stick and a piece of iron
The stick is made approximately according to these dimensions
One spring plate 650Х100Х8 was taken. Using a grinder, we slowly separate out what we need. The dimensions of the arch in the middle are 35 mm, and at the edges - 18 mm.
Using sandpaper, we narrow the shoulders, evenly from the center to the ends until we reach 5 mm. in thickness. We stretch a steel wire (cable) onto the arch in this form. We clamp it in a vice. We will insert a round timber strictly in the center so that it does not interfere with the arch when bending. We tighten and at the same time check the force and tension distance. We will dance from these parameters in the future.
As in “The Golden Calf”: we take a weight and saw. And this is what happened. The most important part in a crossbow. Hook or crampon.
But to make a normal lock, we need a sear and a trigger. A hole is made in the upper part of the pin so that the bolt of the strip spring falls into this hole and fixes the pin from moving.
Let's start making the lock body
We carefully try everything on and drill holes for the pins.
Let's start making the trigger guard. We take a wooden stick and try it on.
Hollowing out a place for a lock
Inserting the lock
To attach the rear sight we make a dovetail. And solder it. I did it with PSR, but it can also be done with POS. It all depends on how we will burnish (what temperature it will be).
In the arch we drill two holes at the edges for attaching clamps. Many people ask whether it is possible to drill a spring. I answer - freely. Pobeditov drill corrected on a diamond wheel.
Grinding the rollers
Grinding the rollers
We adjust the clamps to the required size. Let's start making the arch mounting clamp.
Making a stirrup
This is how I seal the ends of the string. Do not hit, but press with a lathe chuck.
In production and finished form
Finished look
Let's begin a very serious operation - bluing. I specifically show the unsuccessful bluing.
Here's some successful bluing
Take a stick and make a channel for the guide
Glue the plank
Now let's take the butt, but be careful with the tools
We remove unnecessary things. The stick I took is a wild cherry. Birch, walnut, etc. are suitable.
Varnishing. But here who gives preference to which varnish.
Excess. But, in my opinion, it is pleasing to the eye.
It is important that the gap between the bowstring and the stock is 2 mm. The calculation is simple - the middle of the bolt diameter.
Bottom view
And I put shrink film on the arch. And it gives the appearance and protects it from fragments in the event of an arch breakage.
Finished look
After 40-50 shots the bowstring burst.
I decided to add 2 more videos.
To facilitate the design, the rollers were replaced with caprolon ones. With a distance of 30 cm from the string to the hook and a force of 85 kg. with the addition of rollers, the force on the arch decreases and the speed of the arrow increases.
Source cazac.ucoz.com
Another selection - professional drawings of a homemade block crossbow (download for free)
To view in full size, click on the picture.
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