Rat-Trap Springs

by PierreC Thu Aug 08, 2013 11:49 pm

PierreC: Fresh Blood
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I'm new to crossbows; Posts : 35
Join date : 2013-07-26

Post n°1

Rat-Trap Springs

by PierreC Thu Aug 08, 2013 11:49 pm

My local surplus place had a nice deal on some pretty sturdy rat traps. I picked up two to scavenge the springs out of them... They call out to me to make some sort of torsion bow. The traps have two springs in each, wound in opposite directions.

I'm thinking of making a sturdy frame to house all four springs, allowing me to adjust the pre-load, and the initial angle that the springs start moving at.

I'll try to hack up a quick drawing.

by actionbow Fri Aug 09, 2013 7:56 am

actionbow

actionbow: Workshop Savvy
Did you see my tool collection?; Posts : 146
Join date : 2012-09-18
Age : 51
Location : Portland, Oregon

Post n°2

Re: Rat-Trap Springs

by actionbow Fri Aug 09, 2013 7:56 am

Make it an inswinger and you will defeat the relatively slow recovery time of steel with a better f/d curve.

by PierreC Fri Aug 09, 2013 11:54 pm

PierreC

PierreC: Fresh Blood
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I'm new to crossbows; Posts : 35
Join date : 2013-07-26

Post n°3

Re: Rat-Trap Springs

by PierreC Fri Aug 09, 2013 11:54 pm

Part of why I want to put the springs into a module is so I can bolt up a generic lock and sear module, and mount the parts onto a chunk of unistrut or telspar. Then I can re-configure from in-swinger to out-swinger, or put together a different prod or spring stack and compare the results.

I'm going to have to build a ballistic pendulum...