Wrist Mounted Crossbow

Here is an interesting DIY project--a wrist mounted crossbow.

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. 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.

More photos and a video at the link.