Mini-Marshmallow Crossbow Pistol

[twforeman]

My latest project is making a crossbow pistol that shoots mini-marshmallows.

I started out by using plans found at Woodworking for Mere Mortals and standard woodworking tools to make a pair for my niece and nephew.

Then I decided I needed to revise the design and kick it up several notches. Since I drew the parts in LibreCAD, I decided to machine the parts on my ShapeOko. It would have difficult to make some of the parts without the ShapeOko.

Here is a teaser photo of the Mk II Model B2. This is actually the third prototype pistol I've made and there is a fourth in the works. I keep finding things to tweak in the design. Milling the parts on the ShapeOko is fast and allows for pretty rapid prototyping.

mm-mkii.jpg (130.56 KiB) Viewed 4217 times

Here is a detail of the trigger - this is an older prototype and there are a few changes, but it's essentially the same.

trigger.jpg (177.71 KiB) Viewed 4217 times

I plan on fully documenting the build process on my blog when I'm done and will update this post when that happens.

[WillAdams]

Very cool!

You know, you could get a length of hickory (a tool handle works well, or if one wants a lot there're always wheelbarrow handles) w/ straight grain and make a real prod instead of using the rubber bands....

[twforeman]

I'm sure I could.

When I start making pistols that fire real bolts I'll look into it.

[Ing Chao]

I'm looking forward to seeing the build log for these! My kids would love for me to build these for them.

[bobt]

My only challenge is do I eat my ammunition or shoot it.

Bob

[ThatDamnGuy]

That looks like a lot of fun to make. I will add this to the ever growing list of projects!

Thanks for sharing.

[twforeman]

Shot some video today while I was milling parts for a batch of crossbows.

[gmfoster]

That is really nice work.

[twforeman]

Thanks. I shot another video the other day and forgot to post it here.

[twforeman]

Okay, all done with the first batch.

Here are a couple glamour shots.

IMG_5375-sm.JPG (131.54 KiB) Viewed 3595 times

IMG_5371-SM.JPG (129.23 KiB) Viewed 3595 times

And the blog post with all the gory details: http://timf.anansi-web.com/wp/making-ma ... w-pistols/