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Custom lightweight stick build

Murph4028

Murph4028

Well-Known Member
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Joined
Jan 2, 2019
Messages
1,489
Location
North Carolina
Wanted to build a strong yet lightweight stick. So I contacted @bowhunter15 to see how his sticks we're holding up with the 1/16th 6061 tubing. He said his are still doing fine so I figured I'd give it a shot. Here's what mine are made of and come out to:

24"x1"x.065", 6061 aluminum tubing
Custom steps designed by myself with 1/8" tread
Lone wolf tree v brackets
1/4" grade 8 bolts
Fender washer for versa button
1/4" amsteel blue
G2 paint job (thanks @g2outdoors )

Measurements:
24" long
22" step to step
Steps are 10" wide
Weighs 1lb 14 ounces with amsteel

One thing to note I don't know if this is known yet or not but I tightened the tree brackets down to where they can't rotate and this thing grabs HARD. Once I set it it don't move. Overall I'm happy with it and I thought I'd share. Definitely using it next season.
 

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Thanks everyone. It was a lot of fun. I think next I am going to design another set of steps that aren't 5 ounces a piece and 10" long and see how light but functional of a stick I can build. Maybe around the 8" mark.
 
How thick are your steps? I have found that 1/4" 6061 is plenty thick (sure you can bend it, but you'd have to go out of your way to do so). If you are using 3/8" you can cut the weight by 33% without changing your profile. Since you are using two bolts per step you don't need the recess for alignment and can run with the flat stock.

Nice job and I really like the paint. That would disappear here with our moss and lichen covered oaks.
 
Murph4028 said:
Wanted to build a strong yet lightweight stick. So I contacted @bowhunter15 to see how his sticks we're holding up with the 1/16th 6061 tubing. He said his are still doing fine so I figured I'd give it a shot. Here's what mine are made of and come out to:

24"x1"x.065", 6061 aluminum tubing
Custom steps designed by myself with 1/8" tread
Lone wolf tree v brackets
1/4" grade 8 bolts
Fender washer for versa button
1/4" amsteel blue
G2 paint job (thanks @g2outdoors )

Measurements:
24" long
22" step to step
Steps are 10" wide
Weighs 1lb 14 ounces with amsteel

One thing to note I don't know if this is known yet or not but I tightened the tree brackets down to where they can't rotate and this thing grabs HARD. Once I set it it don't move. Overall I'm happy with it and I thought I'd share. Definitely using it next season.
Click to expand...


overall what do you think each stick cost you?
 
Sandor27 said:
How thick are your steps? I have found that 1/4" 6061 is plenty thick (sure you can bend it, but you'd have to go out of your way to do so). If you are using 3/8" you can cut the weight by 33% without changing your profile. Since you are using two bolts per step you don't need the recess for alignment and can run with the flat stock.

Nice job and I really like the paint. That would disappear here with our moss and lichen covered oaks.
Click to expand...
Yeah my steps are 3/8 thick. I wanted this one to be stout but lightweight. I purposely made the steps oversized both on width and length knowing I would sacrifice a few ounces. On the next build I'll go a little smaller. But it's definitely not heavy at all to carry around. Pretty happy with it.
huntmore said:
overall what do you think each stick cost you?
Click to expand...
As far as costs it was expensive because I designed the steps myself and had them machined and with it being a small order of only 2 they ran me 65 bucks a piece. Then the LW brackets we're 10 a piece and the tubing was like 5 bucks. I already had the amsteel and bolt hardware. So somewhere around 155 bucks. I only built one because that's all I use.
 
You might want to check out Big Blue Saw. They are an online waterjet machining provider. You upload your cut files to them and they mail you your parts. For a comparison, I had them quote the steps that I used on my stick prototypes. (The last two version in this thread...) They quoted 10 pieces at only $15.62ea. That's in 1/4" material, so figure a few dollars more in 3/8".
 
Sandor27 said:
You might want to check out Big Blue Saw. They are an online waterjet machining provider. You upload your cut files to them and they mail you your parts. For a comparison, I had them quote the steps that I used on my stick prototypes. (The last two version in this thread...) They quoted 10 pieces at only $15.62ea. That's in 1/4" material, so figure a few dollars more in 3/8".
Click to expand...
Wow good to know thank you!
 
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