Here we have another type of PVC bow failure. I constantly warn against burning PVC pipe. While small burns on lighter weight or low stress bows is not a big issue, even small burns on highly stressed designs can be catastrophic. A burn or a melted area can start a crack in the pipe at full draw, which will result in the bow snapping apart.
It's not very common, but if several factors are stacked against the bow such as being too short for the length, a very heavy weight, stacking heavily, being in a cold environment, having been in the sun too long before being made into a bow, or being burnt or melted in a spot, the bow could fail.
Here the bow was under very little stress, so the burn is somewhat severe but not unreasonable to what could easily happen. I also draw the bow to the point where the snapped limb nearly misses my head. If the bow snapped at full draw, which it may do if under stress, the limb would have hit me in the face.
So that's it. Please don't try this at home and be very careful about burning PVC pipe. Be safe and thanks for watching!
Hey fellow backyard boys, Nick here.
Today is a continuation of the bow failures.
So today I'm going to show you what happens when a PVC bow actually breaks.
Now the main reason why a bow would break is if it had any kind of burns in it anywhere.
Mainly around the handle, so in about this area.
Because the handle section and especially this mid-limb area is where the bow is under the most stress.
If there are any burns or spots where the pipe actually melted in this area,
it could cause a spot weak enough and brittle enough so that the bow would explode at full draw.
Now this bow here is only a light bow, it's not under a lot of stress,
but I'm going to show you just how bad some burns can be.
So here you can see this bow comes up to full draw, no problems.
So what I'm going to do is we're going to take it,
I'm going to use the heat gun and I'm going to create a burn right in here on the top limb.
Now this is really important, I'm just going to show you why it's really important not to burn the pipe.
Another thing too that could cause this is if the pipe gets brittle in the sun.
Because we've strengthened the handle but it gets weaker but not incredibly weak over here to maintain strength,
most of the stress on this bow is right in here.
So even if it simply got brittle it would be in here.
So that's why you don't want to leave your bow out in the sun for months at a time.
And most importantly you don't want any burns.
So I'm going to heat this up, I'm going to burn it and then I'm going to shoot it for you guys.
Or should I say I'm going to blow it up for you guys.
Here's the heat gun, here's the pipe.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to put a burn right in here where the stress on the bow is highest.
So burns happen when you focus on one spot too long, so I'm going to show you that.
Alright, so there you go, that's what a burn looks like.
This is not as bad as it could be, not as severe as it could be either,
but sometimes it can be a lot worse than this and you wouldn't even notice it.
So I'm going to let this cool off and then we're going to see if the bow breaks or if it survives.
Here's the bow and we've got the burn on it.
So I'm going to shoot it, or not shoot it, I'm going to draw it for you guys.
I'm going to show you what will happen and we'll see if it breaks or not.
I'm going to be wearing this fencing mask just for my own protection.
I don't suggest you ever try this, don't try this and make sure that there are no burns on any part of the pipe.
So here we go.
So there you go.
So guys just be careful, always be safe, make sure that you don't have any burns in your pipe or this will happen.
This was a 20 pound bow, it wasn't under that much stress.
I did overdraw it, but let's say if this were a 1 inch pipe bow and you were making it less than 5 feet long,
and you burned any part of the bow, this is what you're looking at.
So I'm fine, it didn't hit me anywhere other than the head and I was protected.
But just keep in mind that you could really get injured.
So there you go.
Thanks for watching guys, I'll see you guys next time.
