ILF riser build

[Kirkll]

I thought id share this for some of you guys wanting to get your feet wet building ILF risers... Doing one by hand  without a milling machine would be a tough one to pull off. I suppose it could be done with a router and jigs, but its not something i'd like to do.

Here is a rough drawing i did showing the lay out, and a few pictures of the procedure.

The riser layup has a 3/8" G-10 I-beam offset 3/16"  so i can get a 1/4" past center cut shelf. Then i do a series of G-10 overlays on the back for the frame. I didn't include this overlay portion, but its self evident looking at the milling photos.

In these next few photos shows the milling and drilling process. Note*  This type of millwork is best and safest using a collet on your milling machine rather than a drill chuck. and very sharp cutters are necissary for cutting this G-10.

First mill work done is for the ILF receiver plate. I had a bunch of these milled from aluminum at a machine shop years ago. these are milled with a 3/4" wide cutter that leaves about 3/32" gap on each side for lateral limb adjustment. Why it isn't shown in this photo, there are 10/24 threaded inserts drilled and tapped into the side of the G-10 to adjust these plates.

Then i drill the bolt hole amd mill the bezel section. The bolts are T bolts or sex nuts if you prefer that come in through the back of the riser.

This is done with a 1 1/14" cutter and gives a perfect reveal on a std bezel washer.

There is a link below showing photos the finished riser shape with a sanding sealer.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/62jMkDQALQP1JwpYA


If you guys have any questions, fire at will.....     Kirk

[Kirkll]

Here are some more photos of other ILF riser i have built. and some of the millwork done. see the link at the bottom.

https://goo.gl/photos/kwioyLB1KvLhhrgh9

[kennym]

Very nice , Kirk!

I've built exactly one ILF riser and with no milling tools, I said never again...

[Gib]

Beautiful work again . Kirk , thank you for explaining things .

[Kirkll]

Very nice , Kirk!

I've built exactly one ILF riser and with no milling tools, I said never again...

Ya I’ll bet that wasn’t fun working with router jigs. It’s tough enough getting precise millwork done on these with a milling machine.

When I  first got into building these things, I played with full pockets that tapered to the end of the riser and hid the sides of the limb. and I was using a tapered end on the riser width too, to match the std ILF limb shape…. Pain in the arse… looked funky to me.

I also tried milling these using high density action wood risers to try and get the cost down using all the G-10 . But…. The lateral limb adjustment screws stripped out to easily, or actually split the wood on occasion. So I quit building them using that material.

Now I did find a canvas/epoxy phenolic that was hell for stout that I would use again. It actually milled a lot like the G-10, but the aesthetics wasn’t popular. I’ve still got a 17” riser in stock if you want to look at the photo. It’s in my “In-stock Bows” section on this page.

http://bigfootbows.com/b/bows/bows.html