My first three piece take-down proto-typing!

[Apex Predator]

Do you guys glue anything on your limb pads for sound dampening, or is it best to avoid that if possible?

[bjansen]

Apex, for whatever reason I try to avoid fiberglass limb to fiberglass piece on the riser contact (just me personally).  I usually have phenolic on the from of the riser and then laminate a thin piece of hardwood to the limb.  I've put cork (gasket material from autozone) in between and that works well, but to me doesnt look all that great.  I have also used some stick on, thin felt circles and I think that works best and looks good too.  I have a Cascade bow that has a very thin felt lining on it and I think that is the best I have seen yet..I haven't looked to hard for a place to get it though.  

Your bow is looking great!

[Apex Predator]

Got my new drilling jig delivered this afternoon.  I will take down the riser and limbs until my jig fits snuggly, clamp and drill.  That will be right at 1.400".  The hardened inserts can be removed and/or swapped around depending on whether I am drilling alignment pin holes, limb bolt holes, or limb bolt threaded insert holes.

I still haven't decided whether or not to go with two bolts and a pin, or one bolt and two pins.

 

 

[GREG IN MALAD]

Marty,
 I prefer wood or phenolic for limb pads, glass to glass seems to be a bit louder. I have tried cork, felt, and plastic spacers between the limb and riser but none worked better than Remington dri-lube, a dry teflon spray.
 The drill jig looks good, I had one built last year, it was money well spent. I hope everything works out well.

[walkabout]

very cool so far im excited to see your finished results as you always post great stuff.

[kennym]

Marty, I am not a TD guy,but this one is cool!!

[Canadabowyer]

Your form is looking great Marty, the wingnuts on the side washers is a great idea that I am going to try. I have been using MDF for years now because it is so much easier to work with than plywood. I do have the heat tapes so the forms don't go in a bow oven. Thats going to be a great looking takedown!!  Bob

[Apex Predator]

Got one limb cleaned up and the other in the oven.  This thing is starting to look like a one limbed bow now!  I think it may draw 80# though!  

My jig worked out well.  I drilled the riser and limb seperately and they fit right together.  The idea is to build a set of limbs without the bow, but there is a problem.  See down towards the bottom of my photos where I sanded the limb into the riser, so it all flows well.  That is where the riser needs to be in my possession in order to make it look good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BenBow]

Really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. Looking nice. Really like how the drilling jig is working for you.

[Apex Predator]

Well, I've learned alot today!  My jig would be the ticket if I had a drum sander to square up my riser block and limbs before drilling.  Everything lined up fine, as far as pins and bolts go, but the limbs are not quite straight!  I think I can work out the twist.  Another issue is my wedge bending at the end of the riser.  Doesn't look good to me, and I'm not sure how to avoid this shy of going with two bolts.  My wedge is 3/8" thick.  The hook in the limbs is too much, in my opinion.  What I have here is a semi-recurve, and will surely get some string slap.  There is no tip wedge.  My total stack has a .003 taper.  She is gonna finish around 54@28, but that is at 60" NTN, and I was shooting for 58".  The full draw photo looks kinda hingy, but she will probably be fast.  She seems to have very good early draw weight.  The limbs are kinda noodly at brace.  You can move them easily with your hand in the string direction.  Is that vertical instability?  What are your thoughts?

 

 

 

 

[walkabout]

looks pretty cool for a prototype    wish i could help with the technical stuff, but  my area is all wood so far. as for the limbs not being straight on the wedges is it an issue with the form or is it the wedges themselves not being square? you could always make a rubber bushing to mount between the two to help dampen vibration, i hear of people using innertubes to help soften up production takedowns all the time. looking at the pictures it looks like the area of the limb that mates with the wedges might not be quite long enough before it transitions into the taper, i held a credit card up to the computer screen against the edge of your phenolic strip and its pretty straight, however the limb side of it just barely curves away from it.maybe overbuilding the flat mating surface of the limb by a little bit then trimming after glue up would help relieve some of the tendency of this area to bend slightly with the rest of the limbs on the form. just my $.02,hope it helps a bit.

[Apex Predator]

The flat section of the wedge is flexing.  It's perfectly flat un-braced.

[GREG IN MALAD]

Marty,
I think one limb bolt will work if you move it closer to the end of the riser, there is a lot of leverage on that bolt. A 1/2" thick wedge will help, can somebody measure the wedge thickness on a Black Widow take down?
 To eliminate the string slap and noodle limb, straighten out the last 8" of the limb. Leave some reflex just not so much. Using .004 taper per inch will also help, as would making it 1.5" wide.
 For a first prototype it doesn't look bad and it will be fast. Just a few minor changes and it will be fine.

[walkabout]

if the wedge itself is flexing the only way to really combat that is probably either move the bolt closer to the edge or to make the wedge thicker so it doesnt flex.

[PZee]

Hey Marty,

That is looking great! Seeing my recent mishaps, you can always send that one east over the Atlantic to the UK. I will put it to good use    

Pete

[Apex Predator]

Well I cropped this riser on each end back one inch.  I got rid of the outer alignment pin because it was in the way of my cut!     I drilled out the inboard pin hole and installed another insert.  So now I have two bolts and no pin.  I'll take some photos a little later after my latest laminate on the back of the riser sets up good.

[kennym]

And so goes experimental bows!  :D  

I'm bettin you get her whipped into shape!  

[Apex Predator]

I'll get her shooting Kenny, but definitely have different plans for the next generation design.

[T Folts]

Marty
I had the same issue with the limb not laying on my riser with the bow unbraced (my limbs are on the other side.). When I braced it, it closed the gap but I wasnt happy with it. My problem was in my form. From the but end of my form it started bending too early so I adjusted my form by sanding and filling with bondo untill I got a nice flat form just enought so the limb layed flat on my riser. For your setup I would think the two bolt system would work better and eliminate the gap just by the pressure of thightening the bolts.
Good luck.
Terry

[Apex Predator]

I'm learning a lot with this one.  Here is my new limb.  And the new shortened riser.  I got some epoxy in my inboard inserts that I have to clean out, and then I'll show you some new photos.  I'm sorry I'm updating so slow, but have another build I'm in the middle of as well.