PVC PIPES for bows

fractured riser

New member
These pipes don't do a sudden shatter, no catastrophic failures..they can fold but are then recoverable by reheating...funny stuff it goes back to its original round pipe shape, so heat it , reshape it , cool it , and you start again...(snipped)

...Promoted by archery stores is unlikely...lol .. they want to sell bows at 100's of $ not about 5$ each..


If stores are willing to promote kids archery sets, sundry novice bow/crossbow items as well as 'hunting' catapults etc then they'll basically sell anything that uses string or elastic to propel a missile if it's likely to bring some bacon home. Curiously, however, I don't see them offering plastic pipe 'bows' anywhere though, do you?


Use your head pal...if they were as safe as you're suggesting then archery shops wouldn't be slow in getting them on their shelves, make no mistake about that. As a consequence of this minor detail, I find them conspicuous by their absence, don't you?

At the end of the day and like I previously stated, you pays your money and you takes your chances....and if it comes down to concerns about the $ involved in archery, then its possibly the wrong sport to engage with in the first place.
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
Use your head pal...if they were as safe as you're suggesting then archery shops wouldn't be slow in getting them on their shelves, make no mistake about that. As a consequence of this minor detail, I find them conspicuous by their absence, don't you?...
Dunno if it's just me, but I find that expression "use your head pal" patronising, insulting and antagonistic.
Self evidently he is not your 'pal'.
You absence of logic or engineering understanding is breathtaking.
Much as I find plastic bows fairly abhorrent, I will stand up for anyone who actually makes anything rather than sitting in their armchair spouting received wisdom or spontaneous stupidity.
What archery shops stock has no relevance to anything.
I can't fathom how anyone who has the faintest appreciation of plasics would think pvc tube will fail catastrophically in these conditions*. Especially as Dave has been at pains to point out the failure modes. Every wooden bow, self, or laminated is far more likely to fail catastrophically with resulting dangerous splinters.
Further, one should consider the low draw weights in question.
For pities sake, we are become so ignorant of engineering and so risk averse we will all soon be afraid to break wind or use a screwdriver.
I despair.
Del
* Maybe transporting liquid Nitrogen at high pressure would be a safety issue....
 

fractured riser

New member
Dunno if it's just me, but I find that expression "use your head pal" patronising, insulting and antagonistic.
Self evidently he is not your 'pal'.
You absence of logic or engineering understanding is breathtaking.
Much as I find plastic bows fairly abhorrent, I will stand up for anyone who actually makes anything rather than sitting in their armchair spouting received wisdom or spontaneous stupidity.
What archery shops stock has no relevance to anything.
I can't fathom how anyone who has the faintest appreciation of plasics would think pvc tube will fail catastrophically in these conditions*. Especially as Dave has been at pains to point out the failure modes. Every wooden bow, self, or laminated is far more likely to fail catastrophically with resulting dangerous splinters.
Further, one should consider the low draw weights in question.
For pities sake, we are become so ignorant of engineering and so risk averse we will all soon be afraid to break wind or use a screwdriver.
I despair.
Del
* Maybe transporting liquid Nitrogen at high pressure would be a safety issue....
I wouldn't advise breaking wind whilst using a screwdriver pal...especially whilst transporting liquid nitrogen.
 

Egstonvonbrick

New member
>>patronising, insulting and antagonistic.

Agreed.

Don't think anything on AIUK has made me feel cross before, but you certainly did, so well done for that!

And correlating the amount of money you can spend on your kit to your ability to enjoy archery is one of the most facile things i've read for many a year!

Risk... i live in gratitude that people are willing to take it.
Else we'd still be swimming in the primordial soup - and there'd be no archery to ponce your cash on back there!

Ev
 

fractured riser

New member
>>patronising, insulting and antagonistic.

Agreed.

Don't think anything on AIUK has made me feel cross before, but you certainly did, so well done for that!



Risk... i live in gratitude that people are willing to take it.
Else we'd still be swimming in the primordial soup - and there'd be no archery to ponce your cash on back there!

Ev

The difference between the bollox I've posted and the bollox you've written by way of reply is that I haven't tried to convince anyone that I'm something of an intellectual blade. I have expressed my personal views on the issue of pipe bows and by dint of employing the word 'pal' seemingly caused you to draw yourself up to the full height of your self perceived importance and lambast me on numerous counts as a result.
I genuinely wouldn't have minded crossing 'swords' with you should you have proven yourself to indeed be something of an intellectual blade, but alas you transpire to be no such thing, quite frankly.

Either lose the attitude and attempt to engage me on a somewhat more level playing field sir, or basically 'feck off' and find a more impressionable soul who is more likely to fall for your bluster.

Over to you...
 

Dave

Administrator
Staff member
Fonz Awardee
Ironman
American Shoot
NOCO
Don't insult my intelligence with some half-assed comment and limp wristed ruling...explain exactly why my challenging of some feckless Muppet's comments hasn't ment with your approval?
I think you should take your pissing contest elsewhere. Goodbye.
 

Dave

Administrator
Staff member
Fonz Awardee
Ironman
American Shoot
NOCO
Click Settings up top right
Side Bar on Left look for "My Settings" header
Follow list down to: "My Account"
Click "Edit Ignore List"
Add username in the blank box.
 

davereap

New member
Archery shops and plastic pipe bows... sorry but shops like to make money, Ive not found one that sells items cheaply.
They are in business to make money, which is fair enough
example string wax... tiny tubes of only a few grams cost a few?... make your own.. cost equivalent about two tubes for half a kilo of the stuff... the formulas are out there its an easy job..
example bow scales.. some I thought were cheap at my archery shop ?15... were on ebay for just ?3... identical brand new
example a dry fire safety gadget.. a good idea, the shop was making them..again about ?15 at the shop ... about ?1 to make your own...
So why would they sell plastic bows you can make for ?2 plus a bit of your time.. when they obviously prefer a more professionally finished product they can sell for loads of money..

So the fact that they don't sell them means absolutely nothing... try making one.. then do a proper evaluation of the result.. the best person to try this and who can make a good evaluation will be the archer who can make his own wooden bows
But please be realistic..

However this is not just about cost... I like to make stuff... I could have tried wooden bows but these caught my eye, so to speak.. because they are such an easy build.... Even an unskilled person can make one by following the videos online
If they are poor then they go in the bin and Ive only really wasted a bit of time.. So far they show good promise.. They are certainly as good as one of the older solid type of fibre glass bows.. And Ive still got one of those...lol

Ive only recently got back into the archery game, and I enjoy it, my new bow is a compound bow.. Cost...lots of dosh..lol....shooting field and 3d targets..
And Ive heard these compound bows called all sorts..
Its a shame but the Archery snobbery is still ever present... Bow snobbery and club snobbery, what you shoot and how you do it .....
Some things just don't change...

one last comment here.. plastic.... what do you think a lot of bows are made of , that is apart from the wood only long bows..and metal prods... yeh! you might have realised, its plastic....GRP, glass reinforced plastic .. fibreglass.. epoxy glass .. its all laminated plastics
 

davereap

New member
A good use for old skis.. even in the UK I've seen some going at a boot fair... the end product looks good.. His riser is a nicely laminated bit of work as well.

I am moving up to 1" pipe for my next builds.. the build using 3/4 is only giving me 25lbs draw and I want a bit more weight..
 

davereap

New member
the skis do look better than the bare plastic pipes... however there is a vast difference in cost...draw weight is similar.. the 3/4 pipe drawing at about 25lbs..what the pipes need is a bit of clever finishing and decoration at low cost.. ..
 

davereap

New member
At last Ive finished a bow...one of the 1"pipes
starting with a 58" length.. 6" for the handle ..the next 6" is curved well forward and the next 6" sees it curved back to a straighter line... The limb are tapered and flattened from the handle down to the tips..
After the first lot of shaping the tips are reheated and flattened at 90 to the limbs to make into siyahs

At the handle... I inserted some 3/4" pipe after first tapering one limb to reinforce the centre section.. The pipe was inserted then the second limb was tapered... then the handle was well heated so both pipes were soft.. the section was then pushed over to make it recessed on to one side for the arrow..
A previous attempt using 3/4 pipe left the bow able to flex a bit sideways which was not clever.. this method has worked well..
An arrow shelf was made using 3 layers of pipe off cuts shaped and super glued in place

I used some camo sticky tape to wrap the limbs... the handle got a paracord wrap.. then 38mm shrink wrap was used to cover the handle and ends...
the shrink wrap was supposed to be red but its more a dark pink ... oh well the wife likes it..lol

in the pics it is braced a bit too shallow so the string will need a bit of shortening...and it pulls at 30lbs for 27" roughly... about 25 at 23"

To raise the poundage the bow will need shortening.. at the draw weight Ive got the pipe is not getting much stress at all..
 

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davereap

New member
when making the bends on the above bow one limb had a tendency to want fold when getting the shape...
it seemed ok but after a few pulls on the bow it did in fact fold at the week spot previously identified....

note No catastrophic fail just a slow collapse on one limb...

So Ive reheated the bow through the tape.. letting it puff back out and Ive removed most of the bends from the limbs..
All there is now is a slight lean forward on both limbs.... similar to the hunger games bow design..

The bow was easily readjusted and now seems better.. and the tape wasn't bothered or discoloured by the heat...
all it needs is a shoot ...
 

Ghenghis khan't

New member
I also stumbled across these PVC backyardbowyer videos on utube. I found them amazing & fascinating.

But does anyone know who or when someone first came up with the idea?

There are also a few on how failiures happen in the pvc bows, which I havn't checked out yet.
 

bolerus

Member
Dave

Perhaps you can guide me a little.

I saw those same you tube vids and thought I woudl have a go ( my idea was to make one for my daughter to see if she is interested before buying her a rela recurve)

so I headed to wickes and bougght 2 pipes from their heating section, opne was 3/4 inch the other 1 1/4 ( they dont sell 1")

got home, got the heat gun out and off I went. an hour later the pipes still werent hot enough to manipulate, If i concentrate on one small area of a coupleof inches, that will go mallable but cools and hardens before i even get the next couple of inches ready.

I have no idea what class the pipe is, but i did notice afterwards that it said Hi temperature on, it was only ?1.33 for the 1 1/4 and 86p for the 3/4 ( 1.5m lengths)

SO, any idea what might be wrong, do you think it is simply the wrong stuff I tried to use? I did also cover some cardboard in silver foil to ( hopefully) reflect the heat which I thought would speed things up. but im not exagerating when I saw an hour.

My heat gun doesent mention what temperature it is, but is is 1400w
 

Ghenghis khan't

New member
PVC pipe for bows

The bog-standard PVC pipe is not what is used, there's nothibng wrong with your heat gun or method. You need to look again at Dave's origional post. "In the UK the schedule 40 is expensive, but we have our own version which is Class E for inch sizes or PN16 for metric sizes.."-If I remember correctly, he got 20 meters for c.?6.20. Make sure you get the right pipe & you should be ok.

I think a bow for your daughter would be great from this. Good luck.
 
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