3 replies to this topic

[Gengar003]

I had the good fortune to acquire a Crossbow yesterday. Broken, so it was cheap. I hoped that whatever was wrong with it, I'd be able to fix, somehow.

The problem? The plunger shaft broke at the catch.


My first thought was "epoxy," so I slapped some on. Then I played with the spring. I realized that the epoxy wouldn't hold. It didn't.

So I figured I'd go all-out. Having read the one crossbow modification posted in the actual modifications section of NH, and done the appropriate searches, I went and bought a flat aluminum bar:


I cut the bar down the middle and produced two fairly long, yet thin pieces. I dremeled them to fit inside the crossbow plunger, and drilled holes in them.


I then got some bolts (Had to dremel them down until they didn't stick out beyond the plunger; this was fun, because it was nighttime, the dremel produced a foot-long spray of sparks, and my dremel spins toward the wielder when used by a right-handed person, which I am. Glad I didn't catch on fire.), drilled 3/32" holes through the plunger shaft, and bolted a piece of aluminum to either side.




It works. The thing is rock-solid. So next time someone asks how to fix a breaking plunger...

[bpso86]

Cool, but how thick is that aluminum? It still looks like it could break again near the catch because it's so thin, but I guess if it's thick enough then it works.

I do believe someone else (rawray or ragnorock I believe) fixed theirs this way too.

[CaptainSlug]

bpso86, on May 7 2007, 07:50 PM, said:

Cool, but how thick is that aluminum?

Shouldn't matter too much unless he used ducting sheets (anything thinner than 1/32").
Looks like 1/8" to me and it's a common thickness that you can buy from Home Depot or Lowe's

[Gengar003]

I believe it's 1/16" aluminum - it's whatever the thinnest sheet available was in the Lowe's "Steelworks" rod/bar display.

You might think it'd break at first, and indeed, it will bend quite easily... but just TRY tearing a piece of metal apart by pulling on the ENDS.

That, and the two pieces make it 1/8" total of metal.