6 replies to this topic

[thedap]

after playing with my bandit crossbow, I has an idea for a longbow of sorts.



the red line is a bungee cord riding in a slot cut in the gray pvc pipe.

you hook it with a finger above and below the pipe and draw it back to where it is in the picture.

the yellow rectangle is a box magazine with nerfs in it.

the yellow ring is a rubberband holding a small bit of pipe and an end cap.

when you pull the red drawstring back, you force the rear pipe to back up, allowing a dart to fall into the barrel.
when fired, the rear pipe follows the bungee and keeps the other darts out of the way until you are ready to draw the bungee again.

depending on how bad it works, you may need to rest your palm o the rear cap and let it all move forward a little, before firing, to make sure the other darts dont get jammed up.


please offer any ideas you may have or any doubts too. I think I will try to build it monday!

[rork]

So basically, you're trying to build a homemade bow n arrow...it's interesting, but I think you'd be better off with a looong plunger/tube behind the grip/bow arms, with your barrel/clip/whatever in front; you could always have some sort of linkage to cycle the breach. ~Rork

[Carbon]

Take a look at davidbowie's KISS series. They're all basically a bow style firing mechanism.

[thedap]

wow! those KISS guns are amazing!

sounds just about exactly like what I had in mind.

it makes me feel more confident in what I think I will make.

the one thing Ive found in using cords and bungees like this, is a power curve when you increase the length of the bow compared to the draw. using a two inch wide bow span to a 6 or 10 inch draw is much less effective than a 10 inch bow to a 6 inch draw or so. I think what happens on a short bow the bungee stops accelerating about half way through the shot while the bungee on a longer bow keep accelerating to the end.

we used to make huge crossbows using innertubes for rubber bands. even then having a bigger bow compared to the draw would greatly increase range.

we used to shoot cattail sticks (root tip and all) with a nut threaded onto the tip for weight. we would shoot them 300+ feet in indirect fire. we shot back and forth (using a sheet of plywood as a shield) whoever hit the plywood first was the winner.

we even made adjustable tripods like on a mortar to aid aiming.
we did that when it was too hot out for BB gun fights!

we never claimed to be overly bright kids!!!

[TheNerfLoki]

I like the idea.But you should make something more like the Kiss guns. As a side note your original design would not be a longbow. It resembles a recurve bow or a crossbow too much.

[bigred1rifleman]

My father and his friends make real bows and they would probably be glad to help me with a prototype of this. Another possibility is making a detachable rig for the bow that allows it to fire stefans. We currently just rap the end of the arrows in foam

[Merzlin]

Just a tip, next time you want to post/contribute look at the date on top of posts to make sure they're not in necro-range. This thread was back in SEPTEMBER, so that's quite away's. Next time, just check the date, and you'll be safe.