What did you do today, 2015....

[canopyboy]

Bow out of the form. Looks like my swap bow will be colored glass. DU2 stole my last clear glass.

[Crittergetter]

More good memories David! Man, That form is super impressive!!!!

[SportHunter]

Really neat looking form, more details please.

[canopyboy]

My first air hose form was made out of laminated plywood, but had a couple of problems. The biggest was that the bolt holes for the tie straps would deform under load (1.5" x 72" x 80 psi = 8600 lbs). Which made it tough to keep the form nicely aligned. Second, it took a lot of wood to make the form and then that form took up a lot of space. So messing with multiple forms became problematic.

Being an engineer with ADD who sits in a lot of boring meetings gave me time to overthink this. What I came up with was a single form frame out of metal that could have various wood inserts swapped in and out.

All of the load is assumed to be carried through the metal components, the wood is just there for shape. Since the air in my hose expands in the oven and my pressure often goes over 90 psi while cooking, I ran the calcs for minimal deflection at 10,000 lbs of load. I decided to go with 1530 extrusions from 80/20. (1.5" x 3.0") 80/20 extrusions are anodized aluminum and very straight. Steel tube would have worked as well and been a bit cheaper. However, 80/20 also lets you add moveable feet to stand it up and clips for attaching the wood inserts.

The tie-straps are also aluminum (6061-T6) and sized to carry the load. (Note they actually carry 20,000 lbs combined.) I think the cross sections are 3/4 x 1/2. They bow out from the form in order to allow room for the air hose or wood inserts wider than 1.5". These straps are through bolted to the extrusions at four fixed locations with 5/16" grade 8 bolts. These through holes were drilled carefully and precisely to make sure everything stays square and true. If not all drilled the same, you could end up with some of the straps not carrying their share of the load. If not drilled true and square, the top of your form will cock over slightly relative to the bottom.

The straps in the picture are sized for 6" wood inserts which works well for longbow forms. I also made a set of tie straps that allow for 12" wood inserts when I want to make bows with more curvature in the limbs.

I've found the form bolts together very quickly and easily. It weighs about 60# with a bow in it going into the oven, which isn't that much heavier than my all plywood form. My glue-ups have all come out of it nice and straight and trouble free. I think it was definitely worth the investment in materials and construction.

If y'all have more specific questions I can try to answer them. I can probably also take some more pictures if you have certain areas you want to see in more detail.

[Zradix]

well done!  

[Roy from Pa]

Pretty cool David..

Took the puppy for a walk down to the pond today. She is a real lab now, she went in the water... 4 months old and is 35 #'s and strong as hell...

[rmorris]

Got her up and running just before sunset , got a few more logs to arrack on Sunday.

[breazyears]

stack and sticker those boards quick.
Its nice having a mill.

[breazyears]

Taking the dog out for a shed hunt tomorrow. Hope to find one or two.

[rmorris]

Cut some more elm today on the mill, one log was nicely spalted.

[bigbob2]

I'm so jealous!!  

[fujimo]

WOW!!!!  

[Roy from Pa]

Sweet...

[inksoup]

bigbob2  +1

[wood carver 2]

I see some incredible lams there. I also see a nice coffee table in a couple of pieces.
Dave.

[RedStag5728]

Ordered me up some shafts from surewood shafts for my new self-bow I made here  http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=011533;p=3

Can't wait 'til they come in and get some arrows fletched up!

[halfseminole]

Spent a good while talking to the maker of my next bow.  It's great being able to talk with someone and explain your needs, and them pay attention.

[canopyboy]

This weekend my dad visited for the first time in 2.5 yrs. He made blow guns and darts with his granddaughters and spent time shooting with DU2 - even following her around the local range yesterday. He seemed to enjoy reading Traditional Bowhunter Magazine in the evenings with his whiskey and talking about when he was a kid and my grandfather was big into archery. Yesterday morning he helped me glue up a reverse handle bow that I didn't have a solid purpose for yet. He seemed to enjoy shooting my longbow, and kept asking questions about the design. I had been thinking about making him a bow someday, but was planning a d/r design with some nice veneers - something a cabinet maker would appreciate. But I wasn't sure he'd ever shoot it much. Now I'm thinking something different. The bow he helped glue up would probably be perfect for him. I'm going out to see him at the end of April, I'd like to send it out ahead of me. Need to have a set of arrows to go with it as well. He also wants me to get one of the big toms that hang out on his property. (He was reading turkey articles in TBM.) I think they'll be in season when I get there. Makes for a good reason to be shipping a bow and some arrows without raising suspicions.

 

[Robertfishes]

Finish sanded 2 sets of ILF limbs..spraying finishing later today. I Deboned a wild hog ham, cut some up and flattened with hammer for frying in coconut oil.. the rest I kept whole and put in crock pot for BBQ.. We made mashed potatoes, sweet corn and I made some red and black pepper gravy..it was gooooood..looks like crock pot bbq wraps for the next couple of days..

[Bowjunkie]

Is everyone here but me retired?    :rolleyes: