Giving it a shot... My First Laminated Glass Bow Build

[mikkekeswick]

I just play about with the wattage of the bulbs to get the max temp to where I want it. Your box will only ever get to a certain max temperature. I use 2 x 200 watts, 2 x 100 watts and play from there. My hot box is bigger than yours though.
Don't stress about the temperatures too much as long as it gets hot enough (and it will!) for long enough you are good to go. I also put any excess glue from the glue-up in the box as well when curing parts for an extra 'read' on glue/curing.
I use lots of tape to hold my lams in place and have never had anything move.

[Major Boothroyd]

peanut39350, I ordered a fan, so I'll give that a try, along with having the form inside the box for another temperature test run.

If that doesn't even out the swings, then I will probably pull the thermostat out, and play around with different wattage bulbs, as mikkekeswick suggests, along with the fan.

[Roy from Pa]

You will find that going from say 2, 3, or 4 bulbs, the temperature for each combination of bulbs will hover pretty closely to the same. Meaning 2 bulbs might be say 110, 3 bulbs maybe 140, and 4 bulbs 160, etc.

[Mad Max]

Originally posted by Roy from Pa:
You will find that going from say 2, 3, or 4 bulbs, the temperature for each combination of bulbs will hover pretty closely to the same. Meaning 2 bulbs might be say 110, 3 bulbs maybe 140, and 4 bulbs 160, etc.

I guess that's OK  LOL

[Roy from Pa]

 LOL

[takefive]

Nice work on the hot box and your form.  I'm looking forward to seeing your bow.

[Mad Max]

Originally posted by takefive:
Nice work on the hot box and your form.  I'm looking forward to seeing your bow.

x2

[breazyears]

X3
Im watching.

[Major Boothroyd]

Accidental repost (by hitting the browser's back button).  I can't delete the post, so apologies for not having a real update.

I'm hoping to cut my riser out later this week.  I glued the glass strip to the bottom form with contact cement, so I'm getting closer to the glue up day.

I picked up a few pieces of nice Brazilian Rosewood, locally, that I may use for accent overlays on the riser and for limb tip overlays.

Hopefully more to report in the next couple of days...

[Mad Max]

Major
Update please
       

[Major Boothroyd]

Okay, sorry about the delay... I had a bit of a busy week, and couldn't really get over to my buddy's shop to do much until today.

I cut my riser out of my Zebrawood stock, along with an accent strip of Brazilian Rosewood.  I sanded both, and did my best to get paper thin fade outs.  I shaped the accent strip similar to the way the bow that I patterned mine after has it.

One thing that I could not seem to get was a perfect line at the end of my fadeouts.  I don't know how critical it is to get that perfect.  I may have to spend some more time with a sanding block to try to get a perfect line, if that is imperative.  I look forward to hearing what you guys think (pics below).

I also cut some slots in a dozen fender washers, and screwed them onto my lower form.  They are to keep the stack of laminations lined up during the glue up.

I also hand sanded away a slight overlap that the fiberglass strip on the top edge of the bottom of my form seemed to have, so now it's perfectly flush with the form.

Finally, I added little plywood "feet" at the ends of my form to make it more stable throughout the glue up and cooking.

The lower portion of the form with feet added and fender washers installed:
     


Closeup of one of the feet and a slotted fender washer:
   

My riser cutout and sanded:
     

A different angle of the riser:
     

One of the fadeouts on my riser... pretty ,such paper thin, but not perfectly straight across the width, as you can see (the other end is closer to being straight across):
   

Brazilian Rosewood accent strip:
   

The fades on this strip are razor thin at the ends:
   

But also not perfectly straight across the width:
       

The next significant step will be a dry run assembly, to make sure everything fits nicely before gluing up and cooking.  I hope to do that Sunday afternoon.  I'm shooting in a tournament both tomorrow and Sunday morning, so I won't get to it until Sunday afternoon at the earliest.

One question I have about using the 1/8 inch dowel for pinning the laminations.... drilling, should be done right before the actual glue, up, right?  It seems to me that once you pin the laminations to the riser, you would have to flush cut the dowel right before putting the pressure strip on and closing up the form and pressurizing the firehose.  I can't see any easy way of pinning it for the dry run, and being able to disassemble it easily, without risking cracking a lamination.

Also, is it advisable to sand or rough up the ActionBoo laminations, wood veneers and the fiberglass strips prior to glue up?

[Mad Max]

For the dry run.
Pin the back stack into the riser, clamp that down to the form center line, the pin will push itself flush.
lay the belly stack on top and line up the TIP ends of the lams, put the pressure strips (one for each side) on, and zip tie down, Leave room to drill the 1/8' pin. sand the pin before you cut it for a slip fit. I push the 2' long pin into the drilled hole then cut it 1/8" above the glass with a razor blade.
now you have to cut the butt ends off
The fade ramps, the pressure strip would not cover the pin. just butt it next to the pin while you hold it down and zip tie it down.

You don"t want to be trying to drill glued lams and all that.

That is how I do it
I use to get in a hurry when I was gluing up, lots of thing can happen when it get's slippery.
so the dry run and pinning works for me.

[Roy from Pa]

Looking nice.

[monterey]

You are probably already doing this, but when you are thinning the taper on your riser you need to have a backer behind it.

I take mine down on an osscillating upright drum sander until the ends of the fades are about 1/32" thick and then finish thinning them with a piece of 60 grit glued to a 8" length of scrap wood thin enough to be flexible.  Once again, you need a backer.  

Sometimes it's a good idea to set the power tools aside.  

[Major Boothroyd]

Mark Daniel, how do you separate the pinned laminations form the riser after the dry run, for the glue up?  Do you just carefully pry the laminations off?  Do you drill the holes slightly loose, so the pins aren't too tight in the first place?

Also, do you use zip ties during your actual glue up, and just let them stay under the firehose throughout the curing of the epoxy?  Do you have a series of holes drilled along your lower half of your form for the zip ties?

Thank you for the tips!


 

Originally posted by Mark Daniel:
For the dry run.
Pin the back stack into the riser, clamp that down to the form center line, the pin will push itself flush.
lay the belly stack on top and line up the TIP ends of the lams, put the pressure strips (one for each side) on, and zip tie down, Leave room to drill the 1/8' pin. sand the pin before you cut it for a slip fit. I push the 2' long pin into the drilled hole then cut it 1/8" above the glass with a razor blade.
now you have to cut the butt ends off
The fade ramps, the pressure strip would not cover the pin. just butt it next to the pin while you hold it down and zip tie it down.

You don"t want to be trying to drill glued lams and all that.

That is how I do it
I use to get in a hurry when I was gluing up, lots of thing can happen when it get's slippery.
so the dry run and pinning works for me.

[Major Boothroyd]

Thank you, Roy.  Were you at ETAR this year?  I went with a few of my friends from Pasadena, CA.   It was our first time going.  What a great time that was!

monterey, I am using backing when sanding the fades, and I sanded by hand as I got to the delicate part, too.  I did not use a flexible strip of wood however.  Thank you for the tip.  That sounds like a great idea.

[mikkekeswick]

I use the piece of riser I cut out to establish the fade curve.

[Major Boothroyd]

That's exactly what I did, Mike.  Also, I used that same piece to protect the riser's delicate fades  after I finished sanding and prepping it.  I basically used it as a cradle, and taped the two pieces together with painter's tape.


 

Originally posted by mikkekeswick:
I use the piece of riser I cut out to establish the fade curve.

[Mad Max]

Originally posted by Major Boothroyd:
Mark Daniel, how do you separate the pinned laminations form the riser after the dry run, for the glue up?  Do you just carefully pry the laminations off?  Do you drill the holes slightly loose, so the pins aren't too tight in the first place?

Also, do you use zip ties during your actual glue up, and just let them stay under the firehose throughout the curing of the epoxy?  Do you have a series of holes drilled along your lower half of your form for the zip ties?

Thank you for the tips!


   

Originally posted by Mark Daniel:
For the dry run.
Pin the back stack into the riser, clamp that down to the form center line, the pin will push itself flush.
lay the belly stack on top and line up the TIP ends of the lams, put the pressure strips (one for each side) on, and zip tie down, Leave room to drill the 1/8' pin. sand the pin before you cut it for a slip fit. I push the 2' long pin into the drilled hole then cut it 1/8" above the glass with a razor blade.
now you have to cut the butt ends off
The fade ramps, the pressure strip would not cover the pin. just butt it next to the pin while you hold it down and zip tie it down.

You don"t want to be trying to drill glued lams and all that.

That is how I do it
I use to get in a hurry when I was gluing up, lots of thing can happen when it get's slippery.
so the dry run and pinning works for me.

[/b]

you sand the pin while it is still long, check the fit, loose

2 holes for zip ties on each riser ramp. and a couple each side of the form, close to the washers.

yes the zip ties are on top of the pressure strip

Read my post on page  1 and 4 again

[bigbob2]

Re the zip ties, I pump hose to about 15# check all is still aligned then cut and remove ties just so there is no possibility of them pressing down on limbs under higher loading  from pump.