How to make a bow from PVC pipe on your own

Fans of outdoor activities enjoy a rich leisure time and new experience, such as homemade archery target shooting or hunting. How to make a bow from a PVC pipe if there is little experience? Those who are interested in this issue should familiarize themselves with the technology in which there is nothing complicated. However, if the first pancake is lumpy, then there are possible flaws, and it is important to rely on the tips of specialists who willingly share similar experiences.

From unnecessary sections of PVC pipes of different diameters, you can build a bow and arrows

What is important to know about making homemade onions from a plastic pipe?

Not everyone will take on their own to make onions from PVC pipes with their own hands. It is even more difficult to do it according to all the rules, from good wood of 7-year aging, so plastic will help you! If there is something to warm up the PVC pipe marking SCH40 or similar format, with a sufficient wall thickness - 3mm. Everything else does not cause difficulties, although the bowstring is difficult to replace with decent modern material.

Why exactly a plastic pipe? It has sufficient strength and flexibility to make tension for the shot. If the hands are trained, and the bow is made with high quality, then hitting the target is almost like a crossbow or a real sports bow. The children's onion is made on the same principle with their own hands, but for this a half-inch pipe is used. They are sold in three-meter segments, which is enough for 2 onions. It is easy to heat a PVC water pipe with a building hairdryer to 160-180 ° C to form a product of the required shape. The main parameters of the plastic pipe:

• ¾ inch diameter
• outer diameter 26.7mm;
• the length of the whole pipe is 3.048 m, 1.5 m is enough for a bow;
• maximum pressure up to 33 atmospheres;
• outer diameter 26.7mm.

You can cut the pipe to the desired length with an ordinary hacksaw

Constructive details of a homemade plastic bow:

• base or hilt;
• window for arrows in the center;
• shoulders (preferably reinforced by an inner insert);
• notches for the bowstring and the bowstring itself (synthetic analogue).

Advice! Stock up on work gloves and a dense, non-combustible fabric to make it easier to shape a hot product yourself.

Do not forget that you need real or homemade arrows that used to be worn on a belt or on a belt over your shoulder in a special device - a quiver.

Brief step-by-step instruction

Before embarking on the manufacture of a sports or hunting bow from PVC pipes with your own hands, it is worth understanding the main stages of the process.

1. Measure the required length of the plastic water pipe.
2. Mark the center and the proposed places for bending the ends and for the notches for fixing the bowstring on both shoulders, which will have to be bent.
3. Proceed to warm up one shoulder and flatten.
4. Press the heated and flattened fragment to cool, giving the desired shape.
5. Warm up similarly and form a second shoulder.
6. The handle section warms up to bend to the characteristic shape of the bow.
7. Cutting notches on each side.
8. Formation of a window for an arrow.
9. String tension.
10. Test bow in practice shooting.

To form a bend, the pipe needs to be heated, for this you can use a building hair dryer

Attention! The simplicity of the technology should not be misleading that everyone gets the bow from the PVC pipe for the first time. Errors that the wizards take into account when trying again are not ruled out. There are several similar technologies, and each has its own rational kernel.

Common mistakes:

• the heating process of the PVC pipe is incorrectly organized, after which it is difficult to flatten and bend the shoulders;
• without a building hair dryer, it is impossible to achieve the required temperature throughout the heating area, the plastic cools down to form a shoulder;
• a vain attempt to flatten a pipe without heating and securing with a clamp;
• overheating leads to fragility of the material, a sign - PVC turns yellow;
• a plastic pipe overexposed under a hot hairdryer loses its elasticity, after which it is impossible to fully form a bow, the process will have to start again;
• if the onion was completed, but it was overheated during the manufacturing process, it may crack during the test.

It happens that everything was done according to the rules, and a do-it-yourself bow does not hold its shape and bends in the opposite direction. Such onions are simply thrown away and made new.

Another problem is the “un-shot” bow, from which it is difficult to hit the target. They are used only for training muscle strength, if there are several people who want to shoot for 1 bow. Plastic onions will cost inexpensively, and if you approach this process creatively, you will get a beautiful product.

To flatten the ends of the onions, you need to pinch them with clamps between the wooden blocks; any other method will lead to pipe deformation

Recommendations of specialists in the manufacture of onions from PVC pipe

Before starting work, you should study the advice of those who already have experience with such products.

1. The onion handle is individually shaped under the palm of your hand, so there is no exact data on the bending radius - they vary. Sometimes you have to change 3-4 products to find your own.
2. The same goes for the length of the bow and the elasticity of the plastic pipe. Some people like the model harder, with a small amplitude of bow bending when shooting. Others prefer strongly bending onions.
3. It is advisable to sand well the notches for attaching the bowstring so that the attached base does not fray. In ancient times, this place was wrapped with leather laces, a bowstring from veins from specially made intestines of animals and wound to the base. Wide stripes of leather wrap and handle - for aesthetics and comfort.
4. Recesses for a bowstring on the flat and bent ends of the onions are most easily formed by a metal cutting tool. Everyone makes a shelf or a window under an arrow to their taste, they do without it.
5. The tension on the finished onion for adults varies from 10 to 19 kg - this is the upper limit stipulated by law (for products without a license - up to 20 kg).
6. It is difficult to find a quality bowstring, especially on the periphery, therefore polypropylene twine, fishing cord and other strong rope materials are used.
7. Making an aesthetic bend with your own hands is problematic for beginners. You can wrap the heated ends of the shoulder with foil and bend around a round wooden block. Secure with a vise and leave to cool. The foil is used in the workplace and for fire safety in order to lay a hot product.

To fasten the bowstring at the edges of the workpiece, cut out grooves or make holes

It is not so difficult to make a bow from a PVC pipe with your own hands, the main thing is to follow the rules for working with PVC products.

Other Plastic Pipe Picnic Crafts

Masters are willing to share DIY photos of plastic crafts in social networks. Products are not only aesthetic, but also practical.

For outdoor activities at a picnic suitable folding home-made furniture made of PVC pipes and fittings, which is easy to disassemble and fit into the trunk of the car. To relax in the shade in nature, you can also build and use:

• homemade stands for fishing rods or spinning rods;
• collapsible tents and tents.
• a small folding table.

Plastic pipe scraps are an extensive theme for creativity. You can make collapsible structures, based on fittings and couplings, and solid, which are fastened with screws, glue and bolts. White crafts make beautiful crafts, but they can be given more personality by painting and wrapping, including decor on a home-made bow from PVC pipes.