First build complete.

Its taken me a while to Finnish my first crossbow, but im very pleased with the out come. It 400lb at 9.2 in draw. decided to brave spanning it by hand and managed a few times where after that i built a spanning rope with pulleys, and that works great, its very powerful and really belts the simple bolts i had made to test it and plenty strong enough for hunting.The string on it is not the right one ,im waiting for some B50 to arrive but was good enough to test its just stretched way past brace height, i knocked out a simple broad head to test and if it works well ill make a few more. the broad head is 220 grain and is 65mm long 30 wide and made from 2mm high carbon steel.
I must say thanks to everyone who jumped in with ideas and crits, and thanks to Rizzar for all the help with the prod.

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I'll be the first to say it looks awesome! Really, you can span it by hand? How did you measure draw weight? Not doubting you, just looking for more clarifacation. Workmanship looks superb.



Todd

Thank you Todd, I can only just span it buy hand and it has caused major problems with my shoulder so much so that I can't move it, was a stupid thing to do, I did check the prod on a scale at it really came out at 404 lb at that draw but wasn't going to split hairs. Thank you again. I must just get some goiod bolts now and see how they fly.

Can't wait to see it at full draw with a real string on it. How did you cut and shape the prod and how much did it cost in total for all the material (steel for prod) and tempering?



Todd

This crossbow is beautiful! May I suggest you put this picture in our photo gallery. Not only is the bow beautifully made, the photography is great too!

Very nice bow! I would not use B50. It stretches too much! I used Dynema/fastflite on my 600 lb. bow. Works much better than the B 50. Show us your spanning device please. Also the curve on the trigger looks nice but for a hunting bow it's kind of hanging down maybe a bit too much and could catch on branches or clothing. I would also try and put some kind of safety on it. cheers fiddler49

Just a few things to say:
Awesome! I like it very much!

Beautiful weapon. Video maybe ?

Hi guys OK Todd the prod was cut from a new peace of leaf spring steel, 8mm thick x 60 x 900 long , i used an angle grinder to cut it out and clean it up after which i used a dremal to smooth the corners. the steel only cost me R90 and the didn't charge to harden it.

Olrono i will put a pic in the gallery but want to take some better shots with my slr, the photo you see are with an old point and shoot and not nice and sharp, thank you for the compliment

Fiddler i would love to use fast flight but its to expensive here in SA a roll goes for about R600 where the B50 is only R100. As soon as i get the chance il put full draw photos up and some pics of the spanning device, iv already broken 2 pulleys so need to find a strong set.

Mr Robin i am keen to do a video nothing like seeing a bolt fly from a targets point of view, soon as i get the chance IL see what i can do.

Thanks everyone for the kind words, but i do ask a little bit of help, i have noticed that the string is hitting the bolt clip when it is released, any ideas as to what would cause this , could it be the angle of the prod in the tiller, i have found getting the string to sit flat on the table at the nut end is quite hard, any ideas would be great.
Thanks

I think you have to do a much shorter string and then do less angle for your prod, band should be around 11/12 cm minimum.

this is truely a most beautiful bow, congratulations on yout first build! may there be many more!

That is one fantastic looking bow, especially for your first build, What kind of wood did you use for the tiller ?

I'm not even finished mine and i'm already jelous, yours looks so much nicer, keep up the good work, and we would all love to see more photos of it especially at full draw.

As tired as I am, I just couldn't walk away without saying how well done your build is, african archer.

As for the Gallery...it's not done yet, the tech are still working on the issues (problem is over on their server and out of my hands)...but we still got the forum (duh ) and if you edit the title a bit...like "African Archer's 1st Build"...it will always be easy to find through search.

Thanks for sharing this build.

By the way...that broadhead there looks massive...might split a log. If you go hunting and get something def share some pictures!!!

Ivo

Dear A-A, before you un lash your binding on your bow stave adjusting it, try making another bolt- clip just a 'tad' longer utilizing the same holes. (so you don't mess up your beautiful tiller) We know it is not riding up over your bolts, I did this 'fix' once on my wammo powermaster and then it was perfect.

Unfortunately with a closer look to the pictures I bet the angle is much too big.

The string looks much too straight, especially if the string is even longer than the working one.

What angle did you use/calculate/measure before putting things together??

I normally use 3d cad Google sketchup to do these measurements, all you need is your prod center width, the position the string line has related to the prod (90° to belly lifted by .. mm from bottom or center) , the total draw lenght, the distance between upper prod corner and tiller top and the string diameter.

The string should be touching the tiller top when on full draw perfectly, the more the string moves forward, the more pressure should get onto the string, this is a disadvantage in power but it ensures to have little/no misfire caused via string-hop.

To decrease the power loss via this friction prod ends were sometimes lifted (from center to a high or even above line).
This minimises the angle and the power loss. When the distance between prod-top and tiller-top is reduced angle benefits, too.
The lower the possible (!!!do not simply lower the angle!!!)) angle is the better for usable power.

Greetings Rizzar

p.s.: I wrote a short guide how I determine prod angle in german language via google sketchup. if there is interest i could try to translate and post it here somewhere.

This is absolutely beautiful! I love the wood that you used, the colors really add to the overall look of the piece! That is an amazingly high power prod as well, I couldn't even imagine the struggle that was to string by hand!