Shooting machine

[Marc St Louis]

I know there are some here that have made them and use them to chronograph their bows.  I'm thinking of making one and would like to see some pics of the ones that members have made

[Badger]

  The one i have now is junk, my last one was much better but I didn't have enough room for it. A few things that I think are good to keep in mind when you build one. If you get one of those compound bow releases get the one with a thumb activated trigger, it is much easier to set up an adjustable automatic triggering spot. The thumb release triggers by pushing while the others trigger by pulling. So you can just pull the string until it hits the block and fires. Another thing is I like a pulley on the back end with a stirrup that I can step into and use my foot to draw the bow. This works best if you partially draw the bow by hand to preload it so you don't have to step up so high to get your foot in the stirrup. For holding the bow I prefer one of those little short cargo straps. When I do my next one I am going to split the strap down the center so I can force a simple wedge through it into the machine base to block the bow into the strap.

[DC]

I pretty much copied Del's so you can compare it with the pictures on his blog.
It breaks down into two pieces for storage.

[DC]

The saddle that the bow sits in needs work. Sometimes the bow slips sideways, I haven't figured out why.
The screw that's sticking up is the release and you can adjust the release position quite well by screwing it up or down.

[bradsmith2010]

I always wanted some,, I dont think I could build something like that,, a self bow is about my limit,,

[Marc St Louis]

Thanks Don.  I think I can work with that

[Del the cat]

Yo DC ... I thought that looked familiar 
Some pics of mice here.
https://bowyersdiary.blogspot.com/2018/01/mk2-shooting-machine.html
Del

[Badger]

  Del, do you have any detail on how you built your trigger, I really like that.
Never mind, I think I see the detail in the photos above.

[Aaron H]

Very cool, thanks for posting pictures Don and Del.

[DC]

Del, does your saddle grip the bow tightly? Packed in foam maybe?

[avcase]

I use a modified rotary latch for the trigger and release system. It is very robust, inexpensive, and easily handles thousands of shots with 250#+ bows. It is also easily adapted to mounting to a sliding fixture with automatic triggering. I’ll get some photos together.

Alan

[Del the cat]

Del, does your saddle grip the bow tightly? Packed in foam maybe?

I wrap the bow with rubber sheet and then tighten it up with a wing nut, so it's not rock solid.
Del

[DC]

Thanks, I'll try that.

[DC]

Another question, do you have any grippy stuff on the "fingers"? Because I'm pulling from one side the serving slides on the fingers and the "Top" of the bow rocks "back". Quotes are because my bow lays on it's side and I'm translating into verticalise.

[DC]

For anyone considering copying any of this you might want to beef up the bow mount. In this picture I pull the bow from the right and it split the 2x4 and this was only a 40# bow. I'm thinking laminated 3/4 plywood.