How to make a cool cardboard Crossbow

This is a free cardboard version of a $50 crossbow, made from junk, designed to fire drinking straws. I designed and made this model myself, with my kids and we had great fun with it. You'll need a rubber band, a couple of wire coat hangers, a wine bottle cork, a couple of old ball point pen barrels and some corrugated cardboard. Free templates for the wood pattern can be found at dadcando, where there are a few other projects that you might be interested in.

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Step 1: The shape of the crossbow

Download the template from Make a crossbow

sanagol says: Aug 27, 2011. 5:21 PM

iv made the crossbow without the template and it still works well and i also added some extras on it like a longer rail and a cover on the rail to stop it from falling

shadow123456 says: Aug 26, 2011. 5:58 PM

YOOOOOOOOOOO THIS IS FRESH ME ND FRIEND RE GONN MAKE ONE TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

macboy98 says: Jul 1, 2011. 9:44 AM

Hey KaptinScarlet, could u pls make us a wooden samurai sword

li789 says: Jun 27, 2009. 3:25 PM

dadcando is not free howd you get it then

KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to li789Jun 27, 2009. 11:36 PM

It used to be free, but I couldn't afford the server and general running costs so now I charge for individual project but it's only £0.95 each or £9.95 tyo belong for a year and get access to all the projects. The money I get in goes towards the costs of running it but they still don't cover them fully.

iLikeCoolStuf says: Jan 31, 2009. 11:18 AM

dadcando is no more free

KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to iLikeCoolStufJan 31, 2009. 3:31 PM

I have to pay for the server and all the other costs of running it somehow, it was that or stop doing it. It's not exactly expensive though.

babygirl5677 in reply to KaptinScarletFeb 9, 2009. 12:34 PM

I just signed up for dadcando. It's a great site! Today it wasn't there... what's going on? Will you be back soon?

KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to babygirl5677Feb 10, 2009. 5:00 AM

It's all back up and running now... phew that was a close one, a technical hitch between the domain name registrar and my server... boring, but all fixed now, sorry for the down time.

KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to babygirl5677Feb 9, 2009. 5:34 PM

Hi, thanks for emailing me here... I am so sorry I have no idea what is wrong. The email stopped working this morning and I sent in a support ticket and this evening the site goes off line. I have contacted the web server host and they are working on it at full speed. rest assured we will be back on line soon, hopefully in a few hours. sorry to mess you about, this is the first time this has happened to dadcando... boy I hope it's the last. Glad you like it BTW, great to have you as a member. thx Chris

i make shooting things says: May 12, 2007. 6:56 PM

Did you actually build this or did you just find it? pictures of your end product would be nice

lllalllo in reply to i make shooting thingsJan 4, 2009. 9:31 AM

It's mostly a repost, but a FREE repost from a PAID site... TAKE THAT, "THIEVES"!

KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to lllallloJan 6, 2009. 1:36 PM

Hey guys, It's mine. I drew it and I run and make everything on dadcando. I put this project here as my first instructable to see if I could get people interested in my other stuff. In those days I didn't understand about instructables . Then I got the bug and for some of my projects I made special instructables. That was when you didn't get pdfs at the end of the instructable. Now I keep doing new stuff on dadcando and if you like it you can pay a small fee to join for a year and get all the projects free or you can buy individual ones and for the ones that are on Instructables, look upon them as a bonus!

Happy making

lllalllo in reply to lllallloJan 4, 2009. 9:34 AM

Also, he's the copyright owner, and can do what he wants with his work.

i make shooting things in reply to lllallloJan 6, 2009. 7:47 PM

sorry to all i should not have assumed he had just copied pictures from some one else's work

KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to i make shooting thingsJan 7, 2009. 12:00 AM

hey, it's really no issue, I'm glad you're on the look out for that kind of nasty practice. I put a lot of work into my projects and since i have started charging a small fee for them to help make ends meet and pay for my site upkeep, it has been depressing seeing my work copied wholesale by others and posted up on other sites, which has happened a few times. So thanks for the vigilance and happy making stuff!

mg0930mg in reply to i make shooting thingsDec 25, 2008. 7:14 AM

Apologizing would be nice....

KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to i make shooting thingsMay 13, 2007. 2:28 AM

Hi, these are my own pictures of the thing I made. and if you follow my instructions and use the templates that I have provided then yours will look like this (I'm a designer and I took these phots and used photoshop to drop the image onto a white background and put in the fake shadows. I designed it one weekend with my brother-in-lae helping with the trigger mechanism. One thing that could be betterin it is to use a ball point pen spring behind the trigger (inside the stock, so that the trigger automatically returns to the cocked position. If you have a look at my web site you'll see that I have made more stuff from junk on there. Are you going to make one, if so I'd love to see a photo.

serdar says: Aug 27, 2007. 3:23 PM

MY CROSSBOW IS 100 TIMES BETTER THEN YOUR CARDBOARD CROSSBOW AND paulm's crossbow is good but not as googd as mine i'll post a pic later

mg0930mg in reply to serdarDec 25, 2008. 7:13 AM

If it's so much better,make an instructable. God! No proof, and that's your only post.

KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to serdarAug 28, 2007. 12:10 AM

100 times better at what?

McGyver2 says: Oct 24, 2008. 5:49 PM

I made a smaller version of this and turned it into a crossbow pistol and then later made a bigger one big to the point were it has to sit on my shoulders and it can fire real crossbow bolts with twice the force... thanks for the cool instructable!:)

KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to McGyver2Oct 24, 2008. 11:55 PM

you just gotta show us a picture

McGyver2 says: Oct 24, 2008. 5:59 PM

keep up the good work and for the record when i scanned the net i didn't find anything that looked like this crossbow.

KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to McGyver2Oct 24, 2008. 11:55 PM

thx, I do my best to be original! Glad you like it

suppi says: May 16, 2007. 4:11 AM

i like the idea and it would be nice if you upload your own image if the finish product...

KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to suppiMay 16, 2007. 4:13 AM

Thanks, glad you like it ... these pictures ARE of my finished product, the one I made, and they are pictures that I took with my little 4megapixel camera. I took them and just retouched out the background using photoshop, these are my drawn instructions to. If you go to www.dadcando.com, you'll see loads of other projects that have similar instructions and photos. Cheers for the post, Chris

mashedpotato13 in reply to KaptinScarletAug 17, 2008. 2:09 PM

I saw that at Dadcando.com and I made it...

KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to mashedpotato13Aug 17, 2008. 2:26 PM

Yeah I saw, and uploaded some great pictures... thx, great to have you as a member of the dadcando crew as well.

Geordiepom in reply to KaptinScarletOct 26, 2007. 3:19 PM

Amazing. Two people have now accused you of using other people's images/ideas. Neither has had the manners to apologise when it's pointed out that this instructable was produced using your own (considerable) skills.

KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to GeordiepomOct 27, 2007. 2:58 PM

thx, but that's life I'm afraid. generally the instructables members are amazing people, so really I have no complaints at all. But thx for the support.

paulm says: Jun 7, 2007. 6:32 PM

not really an instructible. my crossbow is wooden and draws at 1m

sparetimer says: May 30, 2007. 1:10 PM

ohh.. i see

sparetimer says: May 30, 2007. 1:09 PM

wer da hell do i get the cut out sheets?!..lol