Clay pigeon trap, arm design.

.50 (MOA)

Hey guys (and ladies:cool:), just hoping someone on here might be able to give me a hand. I've been building my own clay pigeon trap and have come up against a bit of a problem and was hoping someone might have seen a solution to my problem on some other trap out there, as i've only ever seen one manual trap.

The problem is that the centre of mass of the clays is above the rim so they try to flip over on their way out of the arm:(. I was told this would happen by someone on here when i mentioned it before, i went ahead with building the trap arm and it came true.

This is the second trap that i have built and my plan was that it would throw singles, V pairs, stacked pairs and rabbits. so far all it works with is rabbits because their centre of mass is inside the rim of the target so it doesn't try to flip over. i've tried throwing a rabbit as an aerial target and it works perfect throws up to 70 metres or more.

The first trap, i copied from a one my fiend had. It had a top part to the throwing arm, and this prevented the clay from flipping over, but this trap will only work properly with a single standard target or a V pair.

I tried a couple of things, like a piece of wire, and some rubber as a top part to prevent the clay flipping over but the wire wasn't flexible enought to allow the difference in thickness between a double and a single, and the rubber was too flexible. i have thought on load sof other stuff but had to shoot alot of them down for different reasons.

I saw this trap on my trawlings through t'internet and it has a similar idea with no top part holding the clay down near the end of the arm as this is where the problem is.

http://www.philipmorris.uk.com/product/Bowman-Manual-Clay-Super-Trap-Gyrator
but the site doesn't have a high enough resolution photo that i could look at.

If someone has a trap like this one or something similar that doesn't have a flat pice of metal (usually aluminium) to prevent the clay fliping over and could either describe it or put up a picture (a picture paints a thousand words) then it would help me out alot.

Also if anyone might be interested i was thinking about making plans for the trap and posting it here just as soon as it is finished and working properly, so that anyone who wanted could make their own- recession and all that, or just for somethig to do. if it wasn't for making things as a pastime i'd go mad. And now, having a throwing arm, that won't throw, i'm starting to get that way.


heres a couple of pictures to let you see what the trap looks like now

foxhunter

Fair play that's a piece of work alright sorry I can't help with the problem but dont give up after going that far!!

Half-cocked

Hi .50, With normal clays (as opposed to rabbits), the clay should be in contact with the arm on diameter one step up from the base of the clay, not the outermost circumference of the clay. If you look at a commercialy manufactured trap you will see a gap between the arm and the launch plate. This gap will be slightly larger than the thickness of the clay's base. All the clays I have used have a knurled surface around the diameter which the arm is in contact with. Hope I have explained it clear enough, I'm useless at posting pics/diagrams. There's a diagram showing the knurled edge on page 13 of the brochure at the link below:

http://www.claypigeoncompany.co.uk/downloads/brochure_2008.pdf

.50 (MOA)

Half-cockedHi .50, With normal clays (as opposed to rabbits), the clay should be in contact with the arm on diameter one step up from the base of the clay, not the outermost circumference of the clay. If you look at a commercialy manufactured trap you will see a gap between the arm and the launch plate. This gap will be slightly larger than the thickness of the clay's base. All the clays I have used have a knurled surface around the diameter which the arm is in contact with. Hope I have explained it clear enough, I'm useless at posting pics/diagrams. There's a diagram showing the knurled edge on page 13 of the brochure at the link below:

http://www.claypigeoncompany.co.uk/d...chure_2008.pdf

Thanks Half cocked. That is brilliant, exactly what I needed. Should have thought on it myself but sometimes I cant see the wood for the trees. I know exactly what you mean with the change in contact position and I have a clay in front of me now, can see it and know exactly what i need to do. If i'd seen more traps up close i'd have known without asking. now the problem will be to change it back for rabbits but that shouldn't be a problem. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

BIGK

50,on your throwing arm you will need a piece of rubber which will be in contact with the clay.As for holding the clay on the arm a bowman trap has a piece of flat 'tin' which the tension can be adjusted so as to keep the clay flat when it is being thrown.Sorry I cant explain a bit better but if I can I will try and post you a few photos of one I have tomorrow or thursday.
kieran

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af4eK-gicns&feature=related

Is this any good to you?

.50 (MOA)

BIGK wrote: »

50,on your throwing arm you will need a piece of rubber which will be in contact with the clay.As for holding the clay on the arm a bowman trap has a piece of flat 'tin' which the tension can be adjusted so as to keep the clay flat when it is being thrown.Sorry I cant explain a bit better but if I can I will try and post you a few photos of one I have tomorrow or thursday.
kieran

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af4eK-gicns&feature=related

Is this any good to you?

useful yes, but i have seen that before, even if i did put a clip like this on the throwing arm it wouldn't stop the clay from flipping over as it gets nearer the end of the arm. I experimented by putting a coating of muck on the rim of the clay and i could see that it was leaving the arm 7 inches before the end.

I'll be putting some kind of clip on the arm like that so i could throw springing teal and really high birds as well as the rabbits, but i didn't really have much of a problem with that part of it, its the contact between the side of the arm and the clay, that is where i was going wrong.

Any pictures of this part of it will be very useful, a clip isn't really a problem for me to make