I've got all the basics done on the automaton, but the fiddling, fettling and fine detail is a nightmare.I've spent all day adjusting the control rods that run up his back and getting his hand to snag onto the bow string. It's been V difficult to get a consistent action and I've had to add small modification to take up slack and slop.
Just getting a smooth mesh on the gears took an age. I bet a pound to a penny once it's finished someone will ask if I have plans for it, not realising that plans are no good for this sort of thing, it's working from an idea followed by loads of trial and error.
I'd made about 3 versions of the control rods out of ply before realising that they clashed into each other and I ended up making them out of copper from a bit of 15mm pipe sawed in half down the length and hammered flat. That makes them thin enough to overlap each other.
I've had a furry helper looking down from up above the work bench!
Here's a few pics including the nock of the arrow, to give an idea of scale, the string is a single strand of linen thread and to open out the nock to get a good fit I had to make a makeshift saw by filing some teeth into a bit of thin tin plate. The arrow itself is a wooden kebab skewer.The next big step is to get the release action to loose the arrow, that can wait as I'm knackered.
There is a big tied nocking point below the arrow, it's linen thread with a tiny spot of superglue, it provides something for the hand to catch onto so it can draw the string back.
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