Buemaker - The jig on the disc sander is nothing more than a block of wood cut at some angle (don't even know what angle it is)and clamped to the table of the disc sander. It's a sharp enough angle that I get about 1/4" of gluing surface on a lamination.
So I did the glue up this morning. Like most everyone I use Smooth-On and mix it in equal amounts resin:hardner. Two dixie cups of each is more than enough to do a bow. I remember when I was building my first bow, I was working like a mad man for fear that the Smooth-On would start hardening before I had it all put together. I soon found out that you have plenty of working time with Smooth-On.
After the Smooth-On is mixed together, I let it sit for about 15 minutes while I get all my other stuff together. This gives it time for the air bubbles that got in there while mixing to come out.
Here I am spreading the Smooth-On on the laminations. I use a cheap plastic putty knife for this. I put Smooth-On on both sides of the lams and I use plenty. It makes a mess, and a lot is just wasted once the form squeezes it out, but I've never had any issues with voids or streaks under clear glass (not that you'd notice on this bow anyway with the colored glass.)
I'm doing a little bit different design on this bow from what I normally do. All four laminations are on the back side of the riser and only the belly glass comes up the riser fadeouts.
Here is the glueup setting on the bottom part of the form. Of course I had a layer of plastic wrap over the form and then another layer over the laminations and riser so I don't glue the bow to the form
On top are my tin pressure strips running down each limb. The whole thing has packing tape anchoring it to the form so it doesn't move once the air hose is inflated.
Lay on the air hose; bolt on the top of the form, and inflate to 70 psi. You'll notice some other scrap wooden blocks I attached to the form with screws. These are important to keep your laminations from spreading as the air hose is inflated. I put these at the ends of the riser fadeouts and near the limb tips. I almost lost a bow once when I didn't have the blocks at the tips and the laminations spread and I didn't notice until the thing had cured. Luckily there was still enough overlap down the center that I still got a bow out of it - Won't make that mistake ever again.
And here is my hot box made from plywood with four 100 watt light bulbs in it. It's lined with 1/2" insulation. After the bow is in there and the lights are turned on, I also cover it with some old blankets for more insulation. It will get to about 150 degrees and I let the bow cook for about 6 hours.
That's all for now. I'll get some pics up later tonight or tomorrow moring when I pull it out of the hotbox and form.
Topic: Building an Old School Hill style longbow (Read 4093 times)
