inner tube use

[Traditionalfirst]

What are the ins and outs on inner tubes for clamps? I see alot of nice bows from the the use of inner tubes.

[mater]

I use to use them, but to many times I didnt get good glue lines. Since I went to the airhose method, The only bad glue lines are from poor fitting of risers. I can control that.

[Swissbow]

I use the inner tube method, even for recurves, and I get nice glue lines. But the fades have to be nice and even. A friend of mine recently did glue up his first ever bow, he did all the sanding and fitting of the riser and it turned out perfect. If you have a drum sander you should be able to pull it off. I think the key is to check over and over and not to glue until everything fits perfect.

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Andy

[Joshua Lee]

I used bike tubes and I love my bow.  They give constant pressure on the bow. It is a little bit like wrestling a sticky snake but it works.  Definitely do a dry run and have the knots in the tubes pre-tied.  I got a bunch of them from a bike shop nearby that saves the ones they replace to recycle.  I'm sure the airhose is better but for me it turned out great.  The only thing I would change is that I would have mixed up two batches of glue (staggered)  so that I didn't have to hurry as much.
Good luck
Josh

[jess stuart]

I have used the tube many times in the past. I used truck tubes and cut them about two inches wide and pretty long.  I never made a form with the pegs on the sides to wrap the tubes around I just wrapped the tube around the bow form and all.  I can see where the pegs would be better.  

I have used the air hose for the last several years.  I will still use the tubes when building a bow for the first time, if all works well then I build the other half of the form and use the air hose going forward.  

You can get a ton of pressure with tubes if you use more than one layer. The only drawback I can think of is you are covering up the bow as you wrap, and can't visually see that everything pulled together corretly without slipping.

[Traditionalfirst]

Thanks guys.

[No-sage]

Here's my innertube form:

 

[Traditionalfirst]

Thanks for the pic, I would say the posts make it easier to use than trying to tie it right?

[No-sage]

I've done both.  

I like to just cut bands from the innertube.  You can vary the holding pressure by cutting the bands thicker or thinner.  For my form, 3/4" wide bands seen to work best.

When you use a long strip of rubber, it's tough to get equal pressure at each post.  I think the long strip is just harder to work with than individual bands.

[Joshua Lee]

I also used the posts, but I meant to tie the tubes so that they can be hooked on the posts. Here is a pic of mine.  I used longer tubes so that I could run some of them diagonally in case any broke in the heat box.
Josh

 

[NightHawk]

I use rubber bands I bought at staples. They work just fine for me

[carver]

bike tubes are good.  only drawback, as someone already said, is that they cover up the work and you can't see the lines.  But they provide ample pressure EVERYWHERE and so you get solid joinery every time

[Apex Predator]

I've used them exclusively for 30+ bows.  Never had a failure, and always good glue lines.  A good pressure strip is a must to distribute the pressure evenly.  I use bunches of bicycle tube strips, overlapping quite a bit.  Mine looks much like Joshuas.

[Joshua Lee]

Only because I modeled mine after yours  
thanks again apex
Josh

[Mark Smeltzer]

The first time I used inner tube I cut it cross ways so it made big rubber-bands but I have since learned to cut them length ways and thread them back and forth from side to side......much easier and better.

Mark