Wrist-mounted weaponry brought to you by the letter Y
Posted 03.05.2012 at 11:08 am
18 Comments
Taking Aim
Patrick Priebe’s crossbow can hit objects from more than 30 feet away.
Daniel Buscher
Last October, after hurting his knee playing hockey, Patrick Priebe was holed up in his apartment near Cologne, Germany, with nothing to do. He was sitting at his computer, staring at his keyboard, when the “Y” key caught his eye. Priebe didn’t see a letter. To him, it looked like a crossbow. Immediately he knew what his next project would be.
For years, the German lab technician had built laser weapons, including a working Iron Man–style palm-fired blue-diode laser. After all those futuristic gadgets, he wanted to make a completely mechanical contraption. Priebe doesn’t draw up designs for his projects; he just starts tinkering. In his home shop, he cut some bars from an aluminum sheet and fastened together a Y-shaped frame that fit perfectly over the back of his hand.
Next he gathered more aluminum, copper, and brass sheeting. He ordered steel wire usually used in model planes, carbon-fiber tubing for the arrow shafts, and a few cylinders of low-friction Teflon plastic. He cut out two pieces of flexible spring-steel to act as the bow and stretched the steel wire between them for the string. Using a lathe, he shaped pieces of brass for the arrowheads, glued them to the carbon-fiber tubes, cut a groove down the center of one of the Teflon bars, and placed it in the center of the crossbow.
Building a hand-mounted crossbow: Time 2 weeks
Cost $150 Daniel Buscher/Tango Lima GMBH
To fire, he pulls back the wire, hooks it around a brass block, and places an arrow in the groove. When he flicks the thumb trigger, the brass block drops, the wire pops forward, and the arrow flies.
Priebe can use the crossbow to pierce soda cans, smash lightbulbs, and tag apples. And although his creation isn’t the smallest crossbow in the DIY world, none match its mix of power and accuracy, quick reload and ability to fire one-handed. Still, he has no plans to use it, not even for home security. For that, he says, “I have a pretty sturdy hockey stick that would do the trick.”
Go on to the next page for three more DIY projectile launchers.
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That is one great design.
Could you possibly post plans for this? It looks awesome, I would love to make one myself.
LASER ARROW!!! The best weapon of Code Lyoko finally created for real.
(A tutorial would be nice. I'm sure people get that a lot here.)
So what killed him?
It was an arrow.
Did you get the ballistics on that arrow?
It is an arrow sir, no ballistics.
Arg! Foiled again!
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To this inventor, very cool!
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See life in all its beautiful colors, and
from different perspectives too!
The author would post a tutorial, but he got an arrow to the knee...
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In space, no one can hear a tree fall in the forest.
I used to talk to this guy. He's a bit arrogant. Lol.
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the guy that made this sounds kinda like me he doesn't draw a design first he justs starts building
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i wonder what i could make without drawing designs first
I had an idea for this when I was ten... But I was ten, so I couldn't exactly build one...
-Spouting a fountain of nonsense since 1995-
It needs a higher draw strength, but cool for a first go at it. If you can bend the bow with your fingers though, all it really will be good for is punching through balloons and soda cans.
I wonder how well this would work as a last ditch weapon during a zombie Apocalypse?
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I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allan Poe
I only have one quarrel with this article: crossbows fire bolts, not arrows.
My only quibble about this article is that there is no link to the , "working Iron Man–style palm-fired blue-diode laser" Don't get me wrong, crossbows are wicked and all, but my grandson's aren't getting one...yet. Ironman tech though...that'd be awesome this halloween.
"Greetings from The Humungus..! The Lord Humungus! The Warrior of the Wasteland..! The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla!"
Neat toy. How long will it take for someone to weaponize it?
I really think this guy loathes and hates his girl friend’s cat! lol
..........................................
See life in all its beautiful colors, and
from different perspectives too!
Wow,this guy is pretty violent. Buy I gotta say,that is one awesome invention right there. How many things could I shoot with that? I can name a few......
Wait, so this guy built an Iron Man style hand laser and you're showing us THIS?
wtf