HOME-MADE CROSSBOW FOR CHILDREN

When we were visiting good old friends, the children were playing with a wooden cross-bow. I asked Arnold, (my colleague and friend from Nano~Nano productions) to take some pictures, specially from the release mechanism.The same night he mailed them to me. On a lazy weekend, I started the project with a 1:1 drawing and the trigger details.

The drawing

Details of the trigger

The main construction is a sandwich of MDF-Multiplex-MDF. The MDF is 6mm. The trigger was a scrap piece of 4mm Plexiglas. Because the trigger should be able to move easily, I was looking for wood for the inner part, which was slightly thicker. The bottom of an old drawing in my garage had the right dimensions (5 mm).

The drawing, wood and bow

Trigger off

Trigger on

Trigger drawing and the real-thing

For the bow I used two tubes normally used to enclose 240V electrical wires, with 2 differnet diameters. The bow is connected with tyre-raps. The prevent the bow rotating, I have glued (look closely) a small piece of the tube and to be sure that it was firm I also used a small screw. The bow can only rotate in one direction so the small piece of tube is enougn. In this way the robe will always be close to the barrel (dutch = loop) I know that this explanation is difficult to understand. Mail me if you still have questions.

The 2 tubes and robe connection

Small piece glued and screwed.