Formaster Build Along
You will need:
Two pieces of 1" nylon webbing (19" and 18.5" long). The shorter one will be the inside loop.
One pice of 550 paracord or thin nylon rope 36" long.
Grommet Kit
Very sharp knife or X-acto blade
Small scissors
Hammer
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I saw a homemade Formaster thread posted here on Tradgang and on another site. I believe the thread I saw was by Green (?), but can't be sure. In reading the thread everyone seemed to agree that Formasters do help you master the proper shooting form.
But since $40 to buy one of these gadgets just seemed too steep, I thought I'd try to build it myself. As my lack of accuracy can attest, I definitely need help with my form.
Anyway, I went to the local backpacking store & got two pieces of 1 inch nylon webbing each about 19 inches long. (I got red and black so it would look fancy, like the higher priced Formaster you can buy.) I also got 3 feet of non-stretchy nylon cord. The webbing and cord cost less than $3.00.
Since I didn't have a grommet kit, I had to buy one of those too. The grommet kits were $9.75. (Seems over-priced for what it is but the major discount store did not have one.)
Total cost of materials is $13.00 including tax.
Here are the materials before I started.
I wasn't sure how long I wanted to make the nylon loops, so I shortened the inside loop (black) by 1/2 inch. I pinned it together with a small spring clamp to see how they fit on my elbow.
The fit seemed OK, so I started pounding a hole in one end of the nylon with the grommet hole cutter. It was very tough stuff. The hole cutter does not go through. It just dents the webbing.
Eventually, I used the grommet hole cutter just to mark where I would cut. I found that an X-acto knife and a very sharp pair of my wife's sewing scissors worked much better.
Once I had all the holes cut, I was ready to put the grommets in. You use the Grommet Punch and Base for this. It works fine but just make sure the holes are neither too small nor too large.
Finished Grommet
I wanted to put one grommet through all 4 layers of nylon, but found that the webbing was much to thick for the size grommets I had. So I put two pieces of nylon together with each grommet instead. When finished it looked like this.
I looped the cord through the grommets to tie it all together. Tying a knot makes the cord length easily adjustable. But make sure the knot is secure. You do not want this to come apart when you draw your bow.
The red (outer) loop goes above your elbow, the black (inner) loop goes just below your elbow.
After using it, I have a couple of observations:
First, it worked fine, no difficulties. I needed to adjust the nylon string length to get it just right, but that was expected.
Second, it does seem to work. By that I mean I could feel my back muscles being exercised as never before. It does seem to force you to use your back rather than your arms. My back is a little sore, but that's good. It tells me I'm doing something right.
Third, I should have made the nylon straps a bit shorter. The black strap is definitely too long, by maybe an inch or 1 1/2 inches.
Forth, I can't figure out what function the black strap serves. Maybe it is to keep the red strap from sliding up your elbow, but to me it seems redundant. I don't think you really need it. I would probably eliminate it altogether.
My thanks go to the original poster of this idea, though I cannot find his thread.
Topic: Formaster Build-along with pics (hopefully) (Read 178 times)
