Cheap, safe, HIGHLY effective target pins
I found a GREAT way to hold targets onto fiber matt butts, wanted to share with folks here and help out. I combine several ideas from past threads and take the plastic discs off "plastic cap roofing nails" and drill a larger hole into center, then push onto a LONG BAMBOO golf tee. So far seems unbeatable for cost, safety, efficiency.
Longer story/evolution of idea, why bamboo, why long, why not just use the nails as is.. etc. if you care
I used the roofing nails and their discs alone for a long time, but worried that I would drop one and a kid would step upon it, puncture their shoe and their foot. Just not safe. I always counted nails at the end of the day, one day came up short... and it took us 20 min to find.
So we started using golf tees so I could feel better about it if I lost one. I doubt they would go through a shoe as the point is pretty blunt. Unfortunately the paper would pull through the heads. Their wedge shape just tears through paper each round as you remove arrows.
So- I added discs from the roofing nails to get a larger surface area pushing on the paper. I can drill two at once with a drill and pliers, so pretty fast to make up a batch of target pins. But- the wood pins occasionally break. So I bought the "7x stronger" 3 1/4" bamboo tees at 200 for $10 on ebay.
I think I have it "nailed" now: For about $0.07 per unit these hold VERY well, are very durable. I bought a pack of 250 40cm and another 100/ 80CM targets from Alternative Services in UK with one of my orders and got target cost down to ~$0.22 and $0.50/target. As long as we don't break an arrow, we now spend quite a bit more on gas than on range equipment. I give targets away to newbies, let them use my pins, etc. Cheap goodwill and more fun for them- and at the end of a day beginners can see if they are shooting left, right, high, low from the hole pattern. Priceless.
I am now considering putting little micro wedge cuts on bamboo to see if they will grip the fiber matt bundles a bit better. They work ok now, but I am one of those fellows that keeps looking for ways to improve processes. Downside is it will absolutely weaken the shaft- it failed miserably on the wood tees, hoping with the bamboo it will do fine.
This "process improvement" pattern of mine, on occasion, drives folks at work nuts: "We can do this better" is not always seen positively. But heck- anything you do both with high repetition you can (should?) incrementally optimize. At root, that is likely why I love traditional archery: It is a continual effort to optimize my personal performance, I can see improvements, and have fun at same time. And no one ever asks me "Why change?"
This posting is copied from stuff I did on another site.. but is mine. Trying to boost my post count so I can IM a fellow without just "trolling"
I found a GREAT way to hold targets onto fiber matt butts, wanted to share with folks here and help out. I combine several ideas from past threads and take the plastic discs off "plastic cap roofing nails" and drill a larger hole into center, then push onto a LONG BAMBOO golf tee. So far seems unbeatable for cost, safety, efficiency.
Longer story/evolution of idea, why bamboo, why long, why not just use the nails as is.. etc. if you care
I used the roofing nails and their discs alone for a long time, but worried that I would drop one and a kid would step upon it, puncture their shoe and their foot. Just not safe. I always counted nails at the end of the day, one day came up short... and it took us 20 min to find.
So we started using golf tees so I could feel better about it if I lost one. I doubt they would go through a shoe as the point is pretty blunt. Unfortunately the paper would pull through the heads. Their wedge shape just tears through paper each round as you remove arrows.
So- I added discs from the roofing nails to get a larger surface area pushing on the paper. I can drill two at once with a drill and pliers, so pretty fast to make up a batch of target pins. But- the wood pins occasionally break. So I bought the "7x stronger" 3 1/4" bamboo tees at 200 for $10 on ebay.
I think I have it "nailed" now: For about $0.07 per unit these hold VERY well, are very durable. I bought a pack of 250 40cm and another 100/ 80CM targets from Alternative Services in UK with one of my orders and got target cost down to ~$0.22 and $0.50/target. As long as we don't break an arrow, we now spend quite a bit more on gas than on range equipment. I give targets away to newbies, let them use my pins, etc. Cheap goodwill and more fun for them- and at the end of a day beginners can see if they are shooting left, right, high, low from the hole pattern. Priceless.
I am now considering putting little micro wedge cuts on bamboo to see if they will grip the fiber matt bundles a bit better. They work ok now, but I am one of those fellows that keeps looking for ways to improve processes. Downside is it will absolutely weaken the shaft- it failed miserably on the wood tees, hoping with the bamboo it will do fine.
This "process improvement" pattern of mine, on occasion, drives folks at work nuts: "We can do this better" is not always seen positively. But heck- anything you do both with high repetition you can (should?) incrementally optimize. At root, that is likely why I love traditional archery: It is a continual effort to optimize my personal performance, I can see improvements, and have fun at same time. And no one ever asks me "Why change?"
This posting is copied from stuff I did on another site.. but is mine. Trying to boost my post count so I can IM a fellow without just "trolling"
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