| Matt-Paper Tuning Part 1 |
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| Written by Matthew Burrows | |
| Sunday, 09 November 2008 | |
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Part 1-Making a Paper Tuner I am still working on building my home bow shop like I'm sure many of you are. There is a great PodCast, episode #53, on what tools and supplies you will need to start your own home bow shop. One of the items missing from my shop was a paper tuner. I have tried many times to quickly tune my bow shooting a piece of paper taped to my ladder rungs. NOT a good idea and one I would NOT recommend as I put a few holes in the wall of my basement and was out a few arrows. This blog entry will show you how you can make your own paper tuner by simply going to your local hardware and grocery store and spending around $30.
I know there are many different paper tuner designs on the market and you have all probably seen one at your local pro shop so feel free to alter this design to adapt to your own specifications such as height and construction materials. The main goal is to have the right type of paper and a tuner that will hold the paper tight so that you get clean crisp tears when you shoot through it. I will be doing another blog shortly on how to use this paper tuner.
Construction Materials You can purchase these materials at any Lowes, Home Depot, or plumbing/hardware supplies store. -3 pieces of 1" schedule 40 plumbing pipe 10' long -1 piece of 3/4" schedule 40 plumbing pipe 24" long -6 1" elbows 90 degrees -4 1" Ts -2 1"Ts with the leg of the T being 3/4" -1 roll of freezer paper -PVC cement -Tools- tape, marker, saw, rasp or knife to nock down edges after cutting
Step 1- Cut the 1" schedule 40 into the following dimensions; 8 pieces 24" long, 2 pieces 20" long, 2 pieces 46" long, and 2 pieces 2" long. If you are tall/short and want to increase/decrease the height of your paper tuner then add or subtract from the 46" measurement. Cut the 3/4" pipe 24" long. Clean with a knife or rasp the edges that were cut.
Step 2- The base is made of all 24" pieces from the 1" pipe. You want to glue this together on a flat surface so that all 6 joints are making contact with the floor. Start with the two Ts and glue a 24" piece on either end. When gluing with the pvc cement, lightly cover the end of the pipe and the inside of the fitting and twist together. After the two long sides are complete, glue the 90 degree elbows and then the connecting 24" ends making sure it stays flat and is not tourqued.
Step 3- The sides are next and they can be cut to the necessary height. I am 5' 11" and made mine so that I am usually shooting in the middle of the paper at full draw. Take the 46" pieces and glue a T to one end. Then glue the 2" piece of the 1" schedule 40 to the other end of the T. The last set of Ts are the ones with a 3/4" opening on the leg that will hold the pipe that the paper is on. Glue these Ts to each of the remaining portion of the 2" pipe. Make sure and align the holes!
After the Ts are glued and aligned, glue in the 20" pieces, continuing the side of the paper tuner. Finally, glue a 90 degree elbow to the top of the 20" piece making sure that it aligns with the two Ts below.
Don't glue any 24" pieces together on the upright portion of the tuner so that you can take off the paper and turn the top bar to roll up the excess paper.
Step 4 The 24" piece of 3/4" schedule 40 will go through the center of the freezer paper.
Place the piping for the sides in the Ts on the base and attach the two sides with the three 24" pieces, leaving the top until last. Don't glue the 90 degree elbows to the top horizontal 24" piece as you can roll the paper with it as you start to use it.
Step 5 String the paper behind the bottom 1" bar and then take it to the top 1" bar. Tape it to the bar the length of the paper. You can either cut and tape it each time you need a new piece or just twist the top bar and roll up the used paper. You might need to use a small piece of tape on either side of the paper on the bottom bar to keep the paper tight.
Step 6 Place a target 6' behind the paper tuner to allow your fletching to clear and start shooting and tuning.
Step 7 Read my upcoming blog, Paper Tuning Part 2, to learn how and use the paper tuner you just built.
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Comments (7)
  written by aroney, November 10, 2008
Matt,
Ditto - this is one of the most comprehensive lessons on how us average joes can build a paper tuner for under $30. If anyone follows these instructions, feel free to comment to Matt's blog on how the process goes for you - we'd all love to hear about it! Aneal report abuse
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 written by Rougedrifter, November 10, 2008
Awesome job...My father has been a sprinkler man for the last 20 years..I'll be able to build this for almost nothing. THANK YOU!!
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 written by Chris Roe, November 10, 2008
This is nearly EXACTLY what I built myself a while back. They're awesome!
For those that don't have the room to store one of these fully assembled year-round (I only use mine every now and then when I get new equipment), you can leave the connections UN-glued, and pull it apart and stash the whole thing in a corner of the garage, huntin' room, whatever. ...made my wife a little happier that I wasn't taking over ALL the available space in our house with hunting gear!  Good stuff, Matt Chris report abuse
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 written by MBurrows, November 10, 2008
Thanks guys. Good point Chris. I didn't glue the uprights to the bottom of the frame as you need to be able to store this away like Chris was saying. Also you don't glue the three 24" pieces that connect the uprights together so you can take the two uprights appart for storage and load a new roll of paper. Also you want to keep the paper ready for wrapping your meat during the fall.
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 written by jamaro, November 11, 2008
One thing that I really like about these types of tuners is that you can use shorter legs and use it as a target bag holder. You can also attached a j-hook on one of the sides and use it to hold your quiver or a bow holder. Some people also use them to pattern shotguns and to hold paper targets for rifle shooters...
J report abuse
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 written by D-Stizzle, November 12, 2008
Dude,
I'm coming over for some tuning bro! nice work! report abuse
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