Gravity Assisted Bow Sight

thingiverse

The Innovation I've been dissatisfied with traditional bow sight designs. They're important for keeping the bow perfectly perpendicular to the ground, but changing your focus from the tiny bubble 20 inches away to the target 20 yards downrange can be a tedious and time-consuming process. Improvements Needed Let's ditch the spirit level entirely. Instead of a separate unit, integrate it into the sight itself. I achieve this with a hinge that suspends the ring on its axis, effectively turning it into a pendulum. When you draw your bow or alter its position, the sight naturally leans with the bow. Stabilizers The two stopper pieces help prevent the ring from swinging uncontrollably when drawing the bow from an unconventional angle. They provide an even clearer peep picture of how much the bow is leaning. It's also essential to remember that strong cross winds could potentially knock over your entire setup; in this case, create a full circle stabilizer to counteract this. Conceptual Insights This design represents a win-win situation. The sight instantly informs you whether your bow is aligned properly. More crucially, though, it ensures that the ring-and-pin remain perfectly perpendicular to the ground – an exact replica of how an arrow would fall due to gravity. An Inconvenience Noted Upon creating my design, I encountered a misstep in terms of measurements: opting for M3 bolts resulted in components significantly smaller than expected. Given hindsight and improved skill with three-dimensional printing (it was merely my second project), choosing M4 bolts might have been the smarter decision. However, this setback did highlight potential future applications if the model were to be machined out of aluminum. Room for Improvement If miniature bearings could be employed for the hinge, it would make the entire motion much smoother. In its current form with RepRap prints, everything feels rather flimsy. The Extras My initial intent was merely to craft a Z-axis adapter for my existing Trophy Ridge knockoff sight, but I ultimately opted to design a more comprehensive system that allows for both elevation and windage adjustments.