Never ending redundant questions....

[skeaterbait]

I am working on a bow that will be four lamination's between the glass. Does it matter if I have three of them under the riser and only one over?

[kennym]

I don't think it matters, once glued up, the lams and riser and glass are a composite structure.  Just redneck engineering tho!   :D

[skeaterbait]

Hadn't thought of it that way but it makes sense to me.  Thanks Kenny.

[Crooked Stic]

I agree it probably dont matter. The only thing may be getting three lams to lay nice on the belly ramps if the butt ends are very thick.

[skeaterbait]

Something to think about, I was considering pinning them.

That spurred another question I forgot that I have. Should I cut the lams and glass down to length before glue up or is it better to cut the limbs down after glue up?

If I cut them before do I take off the thicker end or thinner end? I would guess you take it off the thinner end.

[kennym]

I cut them, saves a bit of glue . Be sure to leave em a bit longer than needed tho. I think for a 60" bow I make em 64" or a bit more. Depends on howI'm feeling that day...

Need an inch for tips past nocks and another one for safety.

Most all lams sold are measured at butt so cut the thin end.

And Mike is exactly right, if you have a choice, put the thinner lams on belly ramps.

I like to take an inch off my butt ends, just in case there is an inconsistency or snipe...
 Also, if you flatten out your ramps about an inch from the end it will help to get the lams to sit down...

 Enjoy your Build...

[skeaterbait]

Thank you all for the advice. I could have used better verbiage I think, I was referring to putting three lams on the back of the bow and one lam on the belly, which by chance will be the thinnest.

I am looking forward to finding the time to get this together to see how it turns out. The next one will be a KennyM bow as soon as I win it in the auction.
 

[kennym]

[Robertfishes]

When I am cutting tapers I first decide what my stack height needs to be. Then I measure all my lamination thicknesses.. If I am too thick on the total stack..let's say by 0.006"..Then I know I need to cut 3" off of one set of 002/inch tapers, making sure I still have enough length for a splice and enough length for my now length. So a 36" taper with 3 inches cut off becomes 33"..then you grind a skive joint on each end..now it's even shorter.that's too short for a 64" longbow, but about right for a 62" bow.. I use amberboo in most of my bows. I like to keep a good inventory of  amberboo parallels in my shop 015 up to 070. I have a mini thickness sander that works nicely for thinning parallels a little if needed.

[skeaterbait]

I did my dry runs today and discovered a problem, with the tapers being on the back of the bow I had slight gaps under the riser. I ended up sanding the flat of the riser to try and get it to fit better. I can't say that I got it perfect but as I got one end start closing the gap the other started opening. I am going to call this good and glue it up. I am hoping since it won't be bending there I won't get spontaneous disassembly.

It may work or it may be my first in a number of ways not to make a light bulb.

[BenBow]

Do not glue it that way it is highly likely the bow will bend in the riser area and pop off the riser.

[monterey]

X2 what Been said.

The cure for this problem is to place tapered lams on top of the form that are identical to the tapers in the portion of the stack that lay under the riser.  They are placed in the reverse direction of the lams in the stack.  IOW, with the thin end to the center of the form.  They are then protected just as though they are the form.

This has the effect of returning the form to a flat surface to match the flat back of the riser.  You might want to do the riser over.

[skeaterbait]

Thank you Ben for keeping me on track, sometimes I get frustrated to a point of personally learning the mistakes that everyone talks about.

I like that idea Monterey, it makes perfect sense but I will have to save that for the next one, I only purchased the tapers needed for the bow. I will keep after this until I can't see light between the lams though.

A thought I had last night. since the lams won't bend in the riser area, would it hurt to sand a short flat spot where on the lam that meets the riser?

[mikkekeswick]

No you could sand the ends of the lams flat.

[Bvas]

Originally posted by mikkekeswick:
No you could sand the ends of the lams flat.

X2
Exactly what I was thinking. It would be much easier to flatten the tapers in the section that is glued to the riser.

[skeaterbait]

Well, a couple of quick passes over the butt/seem of the tapers seems to have done the trick.

Hopefully I will be able to glue up in a week or two. I have had the materials long enough that the rubber on the bike tubes is getting a bit rotten and I don't trust it to hold... and since someone (uh-hem... Bvas) convinced me to spend all my play money at the auction, glue up will be tardy.    

[Bvas]

Your welcome    
You can thank me later.

I go to my local tire dealer and get free used tubes that they are throwing out. They are usually out of a semi tire and yield enough strips to do two or three bows. But make sure you check them for dry rot as well.