Broadhead design for traditional bow hunting

in #diy7 years ago (edited)

Hello fellow Steemians!
This is a design I drew on Solidworks for a traditional broadhead used in bow hunting. After I made a fairly simple design, I started thinking of how I would make the actual part. Manufacturing on a small scale is often ineffective and costly, however that should never hold a DIYer back from trying.

Time is the most valuable asset and as I further researched costs, and production of this part I realized for as little hunting as I do with a bow this was not worth my time. It is easier and cheaper to buy them.

I made a few different versions of the design but this seemed to be my favorite. I have never hunted with a traditional bow (longbow or recurve) and last year was my first year hunting with a bow.

broadhead.jpg

I 3D printed a prototype just for fun and learned the joys of trying to print a thin, tall feature without support material. I used PLA and ABS on two different machines and both struggled as the print came to the sharp point.

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This was a prior design that I changed. The weight and proportion of a broadhead and arrow makes a huge difference on the performance of the arrow. This design was weighted farterther back on the broadhead, but it was too bulky for my taste. The bulk in the back was mainly a mistake because I was just learning Solidworks at the time.

Thanks for all of the support! Follow at https://steemit.com/@bobarker Comments welcome below. : ) Also feel free to leave suggestions for future stories.

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Let me know when you print this. I can make you a bow and arrow to test it with!

I have printed a few of them and the tips are always messed up because of the thin layer. Do you make recurve and longbows? I would love to see and hear about your process sometime.