Chu Ko Nu (Zhu ge nu) chinese repeating crossbow making process from china

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Left hand holding section


Dragon head with four teeth



Cocked state 


Crossbow body and the section for holding the bamboo bow.


Two cloud shaped plates prevent the horizontal displacement of magazine 


bolts materials


The iron head of bolts




The end of bolts are  cross shape curved. It will help the string hit the center line of bolt.



A top plate can pull out and push into the magazine, help prevent the jumping of bolts.





Drill a hole for insert the trigger (Top is wider than below.)


Insert the trigger pin.


Cut out a shallow path for bolts



The boundary slot for holding string is curved out to a "U" shape.


Using round chisel to cut the barrel


Check and test the hitting 


Cut out room for stacking bolts


Hold the two pieces together


Insert a short stick into the mouth of dragon prevent the sliping out the bolt while carrying.



Design the operation lever. (need  adjustments )



Using cheap bamboo as bow


Polishing the bamboo bow



Two piece bamboo plates tie together.




Curve out the dragon head.




Using a littel magnet under the  iron head of bolt avoid sliping.



Making string





Assemble and painting.

As can be seen above, the red arrow head line means the force of string F1 and hand operate force F2, L2 is about 10 times of L1. That means if the bow is 200 pound when full cocked,the operate force may one tenth of bow (20 pound). This result is very intersting since the proportion of cock lever is changed during operating.  






Little Chu ko nu model

Very nice tutorial!  And beautifully done Dragon Bow!

Very nice indeed! One of these days...
Gnome

Very good posting . Very clear. Would you have any idea as to how many man hours it takes to make it?In real action ,you can see how very deadly it could be.Thanks for your effort in this.

Love the magnet idea! I use two little brushes at the muzzle but this is much better.

Very nice work, I also love the idea of magnets to keep the bolt plated and the end of bolts in cross shape curved. 

I maked a Chu Ko Nu dragon 5 years ago but on a smaller scale 1/4. Mine was ebony and boxwood carved with a multi-bamboo bow.
It always works perfectly.