Number Two

First topic message reminder :

Here are a few images of my latest project. It's really a test bed for some ideas I wanted to try out. Wasn't sure if it would all come together into a shooter or not.

Some of the features I was wrestling with were a mechanical safety, a bull-pup trigger configuration with at least a bit of mechanical advantage, and fabricating everything myself except the prod and string. Those will be for the next project!





The prod is 150# fiberglass, covered with nearly completetly in leather. It's held in the socket by wooden wedges. It draws a full 12" from rest to the lock nut. The wood is Ash, not what I would reccomend for a pistol grip since it's so splitty, but it was cheap! I mitigated the splitting factor by drilling a 1/2" hole all the way through the grip and gluing in an oak dowel. The finish is a combination of ebony stain, black enamel paint, and polyeurethane. I was going for a faux antique look, and like the almost "camo" pattern I came up with. The lock plates, prod plates and trigger/lock bits are blued steel, the grip guard and stirrup are painted aluminum. The nut is delrin and the nut socket is UHMW plastic. More on that to come.



Initial survey indicates Yes! It's a shooter. The projectiles are 16" overall, 3/8" carbon fiber tube with Richard Head points, plastic fletching, and small screws glued into the butts.
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I still have a lot of work to do on it, though, and this is where I'll do it: The arbalist stand I just finished. The best part is the only thing I had to buy was the jack for $20, the lumber and metal tool stand I picked up for free.

Thanks, Ivo. Yeah that nut block is UHMW resin, and that's the second version pictured- the retention slots didn't occur to me the first time! I might try Delrin next time, the UHMW is a little too flexible, but it's pretty tough and very slippery.

I think this one is as finished now as it's going to get. Other than tweaking and tuning, there are two main modifications: First, a new bolt clip, much longer so that the tip is far in front of the scope mount because the short version bound up under there. I also made it extend out the back and fold over the stock to act as a clip to hold the cocking rope in place. The other bit is the cheek rest. I was planning to make it from wood and glue it in place, but I was using a stack of leather disks as a model to get the size just right and decided just to use that instead. It's quite comfy and I can take it off if I want to remove the scope and just use the weaver rail for a sight. The only other change I thought to make was to swap out the white delrin nut for black, now that I have it, but I can't bring myself to spend time on a purely cosmetic upgrade when the nut in there works perfectly.

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I learned a lot on this build, and though it shoots great and looks wicked, the build quality is not up to my standards and it's very fiddly to break down. There's another 150# fiberglass prod on the shelf, though, and I'm sure that version 2.0 will be something to brag about, if I ever get around to it!

Gnome,

Fantastic build ! Thanks for all the great photos. Looks very functional and up to standard to me! I 'd hate to be on the receiving end of the bolt. ,2 will no doubt be something to brag about. Obviously it's not bragging if you can do it and that'a quite obviuos that you can !

Chaz