More shop work this week. In addition to getting the riser mounted and painstakingly carving out the slot for the trigger mechanism, I gave bending the rails a trial run.
survival
Wood shop!
Finally, the moment I’ve been waiting for… getting into the shop and building!
Pretty rough so far, and just made out of pine, but I’m getting the proportions dialed in and using this prototype as a proof of concept for the whole design.
Still need to make cavities for the active and spare magazines and sculpt the corners. Tomorrow I’ll be mounting the riser, dropping in the trigger and hopefully getting the rails and carriage prepared.
The future is here!
Alright, here it is. This is the fairly firm direction I’m going with for the model. It may not be completely perfect (or completely fleshed out) but under the time constraints of the project I just have to pick something and pump out a working prototype.
I gathered some inspiration and enthusiasm after looking at futuristic concept art. A lot of the concepts are a bit bulky so I’m going to continue to keep this alpha model on a diet.
(This is a full-size draft, so click on it for the full image!)
Bolting down the concept
Taking the last sketch and fleshing it out, I ended up with these very quick sketch concepts. I’m liking number 2, with the stock options of 3, and the riser connection of 4. Next up are some more detailed, much cleaner sketch renderings.
Rendered Orthographic
Based on the traces seen in the previous post, I did a sketch rendering of how this thing might look with material. I also am leaning towards stacking the limbs on top of each other instead of spacing them apart. This will make the whole crossbow a bit more compact and easier to work in the cocking mechanism.
“Blue” prints!
I decided to work out the mechanism and final proportions by… drawing to scale! These are 1:1 drafts on yellow tracing paper to flesh out some ideas (based on the grid on that red construction paper)
Mock up round two
Updated and upgraded foam core. Features include an auxiliary magazine well, shifting the center of mass closer to the shoulder and eye-popping 3D!
Proportion Mock up
Just to try out proportions of the limbs and stock, I whipped up this little foam core mock up. Probably will do a few more before I’m satisfied, but at the very least, the riser needs to move back on the stock.
Quick and dirty concepts
I made these rough gestures to play with proportions and different limb positioning. As is probably evident I favor the reverse draw design, though it may prove difficult with the lever action I’m anticipating…
I have a little project
Okay. So here’s the deal.
For one of my graduate classes I am tasked with designing, developing and building a working prototype of a product of our choosing. This was supposed to be a soft goods product, like a bag or clothing, but I decided to build something a bit more…interesting, and my professors agreed.
I am therefore in the process of creating a crossbow. This will be quite a unique crossbow as it is designed with the post-apocalyptic/zombie plague survivor in mind.
Initial features:
Capable of firing bolts of different lengths
Magazine fed (capacity >6 bolts per mag)
Single action (One movement will cock the string and place the next bolt)
Capable of being reloaded with one arm, keeping the other on the crossbow
It may be a tall order, but it will be done.
Please feel free to follow my progress on comment along the way!
What else would a survivor want out of their primary silent ranged weapon?
therocketalk 