Powerful Mini Crossbow

I have always wanted to make a crossbow without rubber bands and I finally succeeded in doing it! This is a cool project to make and play with at home. It is not that hard to make since it is a simple design.

What you need...

1. 1 x 2.5 x 12 cm piece of wood

2. piece of 14 cm long PVC pipe

3. blue or black electrical tape

4. strong string (it shouldn't 'stretch') - I used a piece of curtain pull cord.

5. 2x pin nails

6. all bonding glue

7. black enamel paint

8. grey enamel paint

9. primer under coat

10. drill

11. cotton string

12. scroll saw (or you can also use a hacksaw or jigsaw)

13. file

14. sand paper

15. paper and pencil

16. paper glue (eg glue stick)

17. Dremel

18. clothes pegs

19. scissor

20. bamboo skewers

21. ruler

22. craft knife

23. PVA glue

Phew!!! There seem a lot of supplies but most are common items in the home. Now for the fun part!

Firstly take a piece of paper and draw the shape of your crossbow (you can easily make your own template and remember your stock is 12cm long). The template photo zoomed in a lot so you cannot see the ends of the template. Now cut the template out and glue it to your piece of 1cm thick wood and cut it out with your scroll saw. Once you have done that remove the paper and sand it smooth.

Draw a line down the top edge center of your crossbow (as per first photo) and make a groove (WARNING! don't make the groove too deep,between 1-2mm) with a dremel, file or knife. Take a small piece of wood 4x1cm, round it as shown in the photo and make a groove in the centre, 1-2mm. Glue it to the front of your crossbow with PVA.

Sand and file the middle piece of the cross bow till it looks roughly like the first picture. Drill a hole above and slightly to the back of the hump on the bottom of the crossbow, as shown in second photo. Get one of your pin nails and cut it to 1.5cm long and put it through the hole. Once you have done that get your second pin nail and place it in the groove (as per 4th photo) and tie it on around the first pin with your cotton string (as per 5th photo).

Get the piece of PVC pipe and cut 2 strips 14cm long and 1cm wide and glue them together with your all bond glue. Use some clothes pegs to hold them together while it dries. Once it has dried make a groove either side (as per 5th photo) then get your piece of non-stretchy string and tie a loop at the each end (it should be 9cm from knot to knot).

Glue the PVC bow with some all-bond glue to the end of the rounded end of the stock (as per 1st photo). Leave to dry before attaching the bow string. Once it has dried double secure it with some electrical tape (as per 3rd photo) and then put on the string.

Now for the painting. I used a primer undercoat on the stock then painted the bow black and the stock grey. Both paints were enamel so it took a long time to dry but they will last.

This part is pretty simple. Sandwich the far end of an 8cm skewer with electrical tape and cut it to shape (as per 4th photo) now sharpen the other end and roll another small piece of tape around this end to add weight (as per 6th photo) and you have finished!

Now you can shoot it! Mine went over 20m. You're welcome, if you want to find different ways to make it more powerful or invent a better trigger system. See the video below of it shooting.