Preparing for the April Renaissance Fair, Crossbow and a Cloak

Last night between boardgames, I was talking to @rustin.atkeisson and he convinced me to make a crossbow for the next Renaissance Fair in April.

So don’t have a great set plan yet, but I need to make it shoot the cottols that we used in the ballista. But with a quick google, I have found some plans I can go off of, to help aim the projectile attached a tube on top like the ballista to help aim the projectile. I have attached a very crewed mockup plan. But I might make it on Onshape. If anyone wants to help me on making the crossbow, that would be appreciated.
Side_and_Surface_View_of_the_Wooden_Stock_of_the_Crossbow

The second thing I want to make is parts of a costume. I think I could make a Ruana Cloak, and a hood that’s not attached very simply. So I guess I need to take a sewing class.
Ruana

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Awesome

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cool

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you have my steel. (yes, that’s an lotr ref)

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I’m a LOTR fan too; and Star Trek.

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What are the dimensions of that steal? :laughing:

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The halbred was fairly large…

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Stealing is wrong, no matter how big!

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Rough draft of the stock of the crossbow as a sketch. I’m thinking I could print out the sketch on paper once finished designing, and then cut it out of wood.


(I also edited the title of this thread to match what I’m posting in here. :grinning:)

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The shopbot could probably mass produce these guys… how cool would it to have a firing line of these behind the balista during the seige competition.

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I make Renfest cloaks all the time. I have a favorite pattern that I use that has a lot of swing - if we buckle down we could knock it out in like, two hours from cut to finish!

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Some help would be appreciated, I don’t know what fabrics to get to make it out of.

I use cotton, linen, twill, or velvet. It depends on what you want it to look like.

Well, my clothing will be brown and dark green. I know that I want the cloak to be a lighter green, I’m trying to make a costume that says I’m a forest ranger, so I like to stick to the shadows in the forest.


(I don’t think my phone captures the dark green in this photo.)

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I would think cotton or linen then, as some of those others would have shine and you don’t want that. You still have time to order online for April, but if you come close to the wire you can check Joann for Kona quilting cotton - the people there should be able to help you find a coupon if it’s not already on sale.

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Today I went out and found a block of white oak for my crossbow, and I got some free 3" PVC pipe for the barrel. Also, the Yard Store is an awesome place to wander around. Then later I got some more pipe from an old boss that had a perfect size 2-1/2" conduit pipe laying around that he said I could use.

I updated my cad file to fit the conduit pipe and made a test ring file to fit over the pipe to figure out how to secure the pipe to the stock. I think I can attempt to cut out the stock now.


Then I need to finish the trigger mechanism and then 3D print out the nut to test fit it.
side_view_of_the_trigger_in_position_in_the_stock

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I squared up my white oak today with some pointers on how to do it from @doug.wilson, thank you!

I think the next step is to cut the board to width and then make the trigger mechanism hole by drilling a channel for it.

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After taking some other makers’ suggestions on what I should change, I moved the arm notch forward some and moved the firing nut back to give me more play with drawing distances to fire from.


I was suggested that I should use the Shopbot to cut the channel out for the barrel. I do not know how to use the Shopbot yet, so some help on using that machine would be awesome.

Then I want to cut out the hole for the firing nut, and arm notch.

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I need to cut my barrel in half, my idea is to make a jig that can fit the conduit pipe, and screw the pipe to the jig from the outside so it can’t move. Table saw the pipe if I can, no idea if the conduit pipe would set off the saw stop.


The jig does not have to be the dimensions I made the outside pieces in the sketch. My pipe is about 25in long.

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Yesterday I cut my conduit pipe in half successfully with a different plan. Laser cut some maisonette to hold the pipe, and slot some boards on the side to hold it all together. It worked so great!


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