Tips and tricks thread

[Roy from Pa]

LOL, that's a catchy tune:)

[Buggs]

The whole album is good. Makes me miss the 70's


I wanted to add this pic

Its 1/2"  white 3M, used floor buffing pad I cut up and use for bleeder/breather cloth. It soaked up a lot of resin this run and it has an interesting look to it. Reminds me of granite or some other stone. Don't know what I would pair it with, but its interesting to see all the different looks you can get with unlikely materials.

[Buggs]

Figured I would post this, just in case anybody out there likes to watch paint dry or faucets drip



It went fast with the biaxial tubing. Also surprised how easy it is to access ytube and upload videos. I might be the only one happy about that

[Roy from Pa]

I guess it was ok:)

[Jon Lipovac]

Thought I would share how I set up my Rigid spindle sander since quite a few newer guys like myself start out with something like this.
I took a 1/2” Baltic Birch sheet and inlaid a thin collar with a flange to fit very close to the spindle. I had my friend, that machined the collar, also machine 6 additional rings, incrementally thicker so I could grind larger or smaller offsets from my pattern jigs. These come in handy when you choose accent stripes of different thicknesses.

My normal accent stripes have been just (2).031 G10 strips. I recently did my first mosaic accent which was significantly thicker at .145

[onetone]

Here is a measuring tip. I was recently gifted a large selection of dyes from an extremely nice fella and wanted to do some sample boards to get familiar with the colors. The problem is mixing tiny batches accurately for repeatable results. The solution? measure the solvent with little syringes!

You can get these on the web or at pharmacies and places that sell large animal supplies. They say for oral use only and have what's called a Luer tip. But they make needles with a Luer lock fitting, so these are also handy for injecting adhesives into tiny spaces. They measure down to .1ml 
I originally started using these with conversion varnish and other catalyzed paints and finishes. Real handy if you want to catalyze 2 or 3 ozs of finish and have no way to measure or weigh, .1oz of hardener. Metric system is much more useful, especially down at the small end of the scale.

Syringes have many uses in the shop. I use an inexpensive white plastic syringe to apply glue to arrow fletches. Keeps things neat, minimizes waste, easy to refill and lasts a couple of years. Have a high tech unit on hand for diverse applications.

[Nicholi]

Have any of you tried using a router with a template to rough out limbs?

[Buemaker]

I do not know if this is the right place to post this, but useful info. Sometimes on other sites you see people claiming hilarious speed from their bows and in many cases they do not know the correct way to make a speed test.
https://www.tradgang.com/tgsmf/index.php?topic=34418.msg550892#msg550892

[kennym]

Lighting will also make some wild speeds

I use a light on the chrony to get consistent results . 

I’ve also read you should black the field tip to help .

[Buemaker]

I bought special indoor lights for mine. Fluorscent light tubes can really mess up things. Outdoors they say the Chrono should have a clear view of the sky on an overcast day.

[kennym]

Mine came with a cardboard diffuser and a special bulb

[Buemaker]

Small tip. Over the the years my air hose had gotten some glue blobs that was hard to remove, so when I started with a new one I wrapped it with thin kitchen plastic when it was pumped up. Just leave the plastic in place.

[Crooked Stic]

I take my used 6x80 belts cut cross ways rip them in 1 in. Wide straps for shoe shine sanding tip overlays. A flexible rasp.

[Buemaker]

I made a new DR bow form, but wanted to replicate the middle section of one I had and just add more reflex to the outer sections. In order to use the old top forms I made curved wedges who fit the old one, just fasten the wedges with a couple of screws and easy to remove if I should want to use the top form on the old form.
Greetings from Bue, lazy bum smart arse.

[Walt Francis]

When filing string groves removing the file marks is a pain.  To help ease that pain take Emory cloth in a medium grit (120), rip a 12-16” piece off the roll, rip a 1/8 x 3/16 wide strip from it, and then twist it to make it round (see picture).  Then shoe-shine the final shape while smoothing the groves, sharp edges, and removing the file marks.  Next, I follow up with old sanding belts from my 1” x 42” belt sander in 180, 220, and 320 grits,

This a 7” x 5/16 piece of medium Emory cloth (It shows better on the camera for demonstrating.).

Partially twisted

 
Fully twisted.

Emory cloth is used by plumbers to clean/sand copper pipe before soldering fitting and can be found in the at the box stores or plumbing supply stores.  The is a huge quality difference in the cloth backing and durability between what is carried at the box stores and the plumbing stores, though the box store material will work.   It works very helping to final shape the handles and fades on bows.  1” x 42” sanding belts in various grits also work but are not as flexible or as durable. 

[Crooked Stic]

Yes sir been doing just that for several years now. Icall it flexible rasp.

[Kirkll]

Bow Press Heat Strips

This system for building laminated fiberglass bows is the best I’ve come up with in 15 years. But…. There are a few details in getting set up and operation that needs to be documented here.

First of all you will need 22 gage 304 stainless steel strips that are used both top and bottom in your form. I had mine cut to 1.5” and 1.75” widths and 72” lengths prior to shipping.  You want these “Cut” not sheared too. You want enough length on these strips to have about 3” sticking out of each end of your form.   I purchased enough strip material to have a pair for each bow form I use. I put the bottom strip in the form and attach it permanently and leave it there. Here is the link to my supplier:
   https://www.stainlesssupply.com/order-metal-online/docs/g1c1045s1ss0p0/304-stainless-steel-sheet-4-finish.htm

……..

Next you will need a fairly large battery charger that has manual settings. These are difficult to find now with all the electronic safety over ride models they have available now. The automatic ones with circuit boards will not work for what we are using this for. Look at the photo of the charger I use.
   https://photos.app.goo.gl/SxemPLaXwT66Ad6B6
This one below will NOT work   
 https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SC1353-Wheeled-Battery-Charger/dp/B07BVFGVQ1/ref=sr_1_21?crid=2O3KDCXISAPSA&keywords=battery+charger+automotive&qid=1642610980&sprefix=battery+charger%2Caps%2C399&sr=8-21

This manual wheel  type below  is what you want.
https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-Manual-Wheel-Charger-Engine/dp/B08PQ28NPB/ref=sr_1_27?crid=3G7TN835WBGWC&keywords=large+battery+charger&qid=1642611374&sprefix=large+battery+chargers%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-27
OK….. once you have your brand new battery charger, you need to tear it apart and rewire the cooling fan. There is a small fan that runs on 110 volts that needs its own power source.  Why?   Because the battery charger is going to run off of the voltage regulator at a reduced voltage….. That reduces the voltage to the cooling fan too, and slows it way down if it doesn’t have its own power source, and….. it WILL over heat the fan and the charger, and eventually burn up…. Trust me on this one….. The only other option is to attach another fan to the battery charger body that blows cool air into it while its running. This is real important.

See the extra lamp cord I have plugged in to 110 and notice the battery charger plugs into the voltage regulator.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/T5qa6trSMqEaEx7J8
…………
Next you need a voltage regulator. This will adjust the temperature of your heat strips.      Get the “10 amp” version…. The 5 amp model will be popping fuses all the time.   This is what you want.
https://www.amazon.com/LVYUAN-Variable-Transformer-Regulator-110V-120V/dp/B082KYKP9P/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3PF7ACKQJN850&keywords=voltage%2Bregulator%2B120v&qid=1642611136&sprefix=voltage%2Bregulator%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-6&th=1
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sKNmmsB6kfPizvtP9



The last item needed is an accurate thermometer. There are many different types of probe thermometers out there, but I like this one the best because it has a high temp alert built into it…. I can set the alarm for 180 degrees and if the strips get too hot it alerts me and I can turn down the voltage a bit.
Here is what I use.    https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZyzWkz1hz3vHBVfs5

OK….. so now you have all your parts and pieces and equipment, and have a set of heat strips ready to go….You install one in the bottom of your form, wrap your bow laminations in a thin painters plastic , and put them directly on the heat strip. Then put the other heat strip directly on top of the limb and use zip ties to hold everything tight to the form. Take care to align the heat strips so they are the same length coming out of the form, and use a small clamp, or needle nose vise grips to clamp the two heat strips together on one end, and the battery charger clamps red on one strip, and black on the other. Be sure these two do not touch each other. I separate them with a scrap piece of wood lam.
Next is your air hose and button up your form. Then slip your temp probe in between the air hose and the top of the heat strip and give that hose about 20-25# of pressure. Check your lamination alignment and let it set 60 seconds before going up to 50-60#s of pressure…. No more than that is needed. I’ve laid up limbs completely using 25# before and they came out fine…. That was an ooops though… Recurve limbs need that extra pressure.

Now turn on the voltage regulator and adjust the voltage to about 40-45 volts. That is a good place to start for 2 -36” heat strips…. One piece bows with long heat strips will need more voltage, and going from 1.5” width to 1.75” width needs adjustment too. You will have to do some dry trials to establish the right settings. But what you want is the temp to slowly rise to 160 degrees in about 30 minutes and stay between 160-180 for another 20-30 minutes. I set my timer on the battery charger for one hour and its perfect every time once I have my voltage setting established. Btw…. Hot or cold temp in the shop can effect the setting a bit too.

The only other thing of note is to wait until the temp cools to 90 degrees before removing them from the form. You could easily lay up 3 sets of limbs per day with this set up.

Here are some of my bow forms I have set up.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1ihdPa5SExkyBCma7


Kirk