Sneak preview: Forearm mounted crossbow

In about two weeks, German TV will come visiting. They want to include me in a show "People with crazy hobbies". Great coverage!

Of course they want something special that I haven't shown in an earlier video. So I pulled out my list of potential projects and settled for the concealable forearm mounted crossbow.

Of course I used rubber as the propellant, simply because a normal prod would be way to wide, never concealable. But of course the length of a forearm mounted weapon is short, I needed a draw increase so that the full power stroke is active. So rollers, again.

10 cm of rubber is stretched to the total span of 52 cm! Nice.

I wanted to make this mostly from wood. I even made a spring from plywood, so the bolt is held in place! Works like a charm. There is so little metal in the piece that I believe metal detectors would have a hard time finding it.

I wanted to be able to reload without dismounting the weapon, so I came up with a "fork". This little tool makes reloading quick and easy.

The trigger part is simply a length of paracord that runs underneath the string. If you pull on a knot by flipping your hand down, it shoots! Simple and effective.

I haven't started on the "beauty" task, and also I haven't maxed out the rubber. But it is really really fun to shoot with it, and it is fully concealable under my loose fitting coat.

You never dissapoint, Jeorg, that's a little slice of awesomeness. Love the fork, too, I'm thinking that might work well for a little pistol crossbow I'm working on. And of course you could shoot a critter, then eat it with the fork!

Once again Jeorge you have really raised the bar on cool projects. I like it.

Arm mounted weaponry...music to my ears!

Good stuff Joerg! We've seen a spring version, but with rubber it's double the energy storage since it's all put to work, while with a spring you only get a half. I like that.

I hate the fork though, but please don't take it personally...I have been thinking about arm mounted bows and have a few ideas on spanning them. I'll need a minute to draw them out, so I'll stop by a little later once I get some sleep, but now I'd just like to congratulate you on another shooter complete and to wish you good luck with the Crazy Hobby guys. Looking forward to seeing the clip if you can get it up online.

Ivo

I have worked some on the weapon. Enhanced the wooden arrow clasp. Did a small paint job as well. And I replaced the ugly straps with nice leather.

Always cool, always delightful, Joerg. This is for a Mad Max universe without piles of rusting scrap metal laying about in the Outback. A Mohawk haircut would be ideal, but not required.

Dane

I have already bought a Mohawk wig, for the video!

Twisted minds think alike! I and I bet others will want to see the show when it is eventually done.

Dane

JoergS wrote:I have already bought a Mohawk wig, for the video!

Splendid! You will need that. ...and the wheelies? Have you learned to do wheelies on your bike? On second thought, maybe it will be safer if you just fake the wheelies in photoshop.

Mac

Actually, I own a dirt bike (Yamaha WR 450 F), and also I can do wheelies...

A few years ago, I was running a bet against a friend of mine. He said once you are older than 18, you can't learn wheelies anymore. I said I can learn it if only I want it.

I found this company that runs weekend wheelie classes, and enrolled. They had a bunch of rat bikes (of all kinds) and an abandoned air field. You drive around in circles and try wheelie after wheelie after wheelie. The second day, I got it.

It is actually quite easy, all you need is confidence.

I used to tell my nephews and neices that the family motto was "you can do whatever you want, the hard part is wanting it enough." Of course I made that up, hoping it might become the family motto. The mohawk is a great idea for the video, but if I were you I'd forget about the "leather chaps without pants" look- now that's something nobody over 18 should attempt!

Pantless chaps? certainly not for me!

Go for the Humungus look, or even Good Guy Max, or if you really want to be nuts, dress as the Feral Child. You will need a razor sharp boomerang to pull that off. A biker leather jacket would probably be enough though. And dont forget to starve yourself for a while and smear oil and dirt all over your face.

JoergS wrote:Pantless chaps? certainly not for me!

hey pls give me the link when your vid will be on T.V. pls or post on your slingshotchannel and what is trigger mechanism i love to see it

this is why i have registered this is awesome! i will be attempting to build one of these very soon, thank you for the insperation!

Das ist TOLL! Sorry, I found this place because of the slingshot channel showing me some neat things about rubber used in crossbow construction/propulsion. Thanks, that might be inspiration for another project down the road!