First Lam Bow...49" Recurve...47 1/2" nock to nock

[onemississipp]

I came across these plans, someone here had posted a link to the recurve plans also found on the "Vintage Projects" site.

"Build a Distance Flight Bow Plans" can be found here            http://www.vintageprojects.com/archery/flight-bow.pdf          

I looked at the plans and thought, these were made back in 1960, so this would be considered a "Short Bow" back then.

Looking at the plans they didn't seem to much different from a "SuperMAG 48."

So I started up Google Sketchup and started laying it out to see what it came up with.

I also did a "Supermag 48" to compare...

Sketchup is a nice tool, you can draw to scale and print to scale also for making patterns.

Well here is what I came up with after laying it out and then taking pics from the pdf putting them to scale and measureing everything again.

Pic...is small because of the size limit for the board.

           
and the "Supermag 48"

           
The full size (or a larger image) can be seen here *click the Pic for a larger image*

           http://onemississipp.googlepages.com/flightbow          

This page is just starting out and will be a build along..once everything is in place.

You can check out the rest of my page by hitting return from the above page or by going here

           http://onemississipp.googlepages.com/home

[onemississipp]

Right now I'm waiting on a couple of shipments from "Bingham Projects, Inc"..

Airhose, glass, and smooth-on.

I ordered my lams..edge grain red elm from "KennyM" Great deal!!!

Riser wood from "Woodcraft" 2"x2"x24" Sapele

So far my total with shipping is $144.64

I got a 4'x8' 3/4" sheet of plywwod for free so that saved some bucks, but still need to come up with a heat box. I will be building the form this weekend.

Have a look and let me know what you guys think about the flight bow. It measures 49" tip to tip along the back.

[onemississipp]

I guess I could break it down a little better..
Lams with shipping $25.00
Black .040 glass 2 strips $29.00
Smooth-on 1 pint unit  $16.50
shipping on that order $12.50
Riser wood Sapele 2"x2"x24" $11.99 + $6.99 shipping

Decided to go with airhose meathod

72" of hose with caps and clamps $36.16 + $6.50 shipping

Total $144.64

Could have saved $6.50 by ordering the hose at the same time as the glass but wasn't sure yet.

This is my first Lam bow and hopefully it goes well.

I'm almost thinking about extending it out another 3/4" on each side to get a 49" nock to nock bow.


I'm going to do the form with these instructions

 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=054410;p=1

[onemississipp]

Well, I revised the bow again, took the limbs out 1/2" looks smoother now. Riser is a tad longer also.

 

If anyone sees something that could use some adjusting please let me know.

[onemississipp]

After the revise, I printed and cut it out on Cardboard. Measured along what will be the back of the bow and got 50" tip to tip.

I think I'll go with this!

String nocks cut at 3/4" would give 48 1/2" nock to nock.

[kennym]

I've never built one with that short a riser ,this is interesting. Keep us up to date,please!!

[ZaneD]

That short riser otta help make it nice and smoooooth.

[onemississipp]

Well here we go again, revised once more. I put it to scale once more in Sketchup, figuring,

 

"The plans have been designed by Frank Bilson, one of England's foremost archers, and in his capacity as head of the Yeoman Bow Company, a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Bowyers. These then are the plans and specifications of the Yeoman Flight Bow (Copyright 1960)"

 

Once put to scale again I noticed the measurements and the arc of the bow didn't really line up, have a look
 


 So once again I did some adjusting, trying to stay true to the plans. Here is what I came up with now.

 

 

 

Today was my deadline for design, I hope to start the form tomorrow.

You can always can on my status here

 http://onemississipp.googlepages.com/flightbow

I'm hoping to make this a build along from idea to finished product.

[onemississipp]

Well I may have cut my deadline short. This being my first lam bow and not really having a template  for the riser. I decided to cut a test riser from some cedar I had. Decided to go with cedar for it's easy to work. Good thing I did, had to go and refine the riser some. I will cut this one out and see where I am with it. Here is a photo of the riser I cut out and the new riser template.

 

 I also began cutting my template for the form, out of some beadboard I had left over. I need to smooth it up and make sure everything is right.

[onemississipp]

I got my template for my form done today. I printed it out from sketchup traced it on the beadboard, cut it close with a bandsaw at work ( I don't have one yet, think Oscillating Spindle Sander will come first). then finished it with 80 grit sand paper by hand.

   

   

 I also cut out part of the new riser today, it looks like it will work, hope to have it done tomorrow.

[onemississipp]

I finished the second riser, I believe it's going to work! I'll post pics later.

The new riser turned out to be 9 1/2" in length.

Here is the bow with the new riser.

 

I'm not sure how far I'm going to get with it the next 2 days. I'm leaving town for a couple weeks on Sunday. I finally received all my orders, just need to build the form, heatbox, and cut the riser out.

[onemississipp]

I have the new riser roughed out and I like the way it looks and feels.

 Here are some pics of the new roughedout test riser, I colored it with a black marker to see how and where the black glass would lay.

 

 

 

[onemississipp]

I also started to cut out the form with a router, I should have read KennyM's post again. Things got real confusings fast, with the offset of the router base. They say things happen for a reason and before I got to far my router bit broke in half. That was my fault it had slipped down a liitle and the shaft was riding on the wood for a few seconds. Anyway I noticed it and fixed the problem and got about an 8" cut done when it broke. So I went and got a pattern bit, no offset to deal with. Here is the bit I bought "Porter-Cable 43325PC 1/2 inch Pattern Cutting Template Bit" I would have rather had the 1/4" but it's all they had.

 

Here is a pic I took before things went wrong.

 

I'll try to pick back up on it tomorrow evening or Saturday.

[onemississipp]

This didn't go well again this evening, I hope the rest for this goes better than building the form.

But you have to learn some how.

The bit I bought and the thin beadbord (MDF) didn't get along to well, the high speed of the bearing burned (cut) into the beadbord.

So I'm now going to have to make another template, this time I using 3/8" plywood.

[onemississipp]

Well I wen't back to the template making, used the MDF again, it's just to easy to work. I laid it out with the offset of my router base to bit 2 5/8".
 

If it were a R/D Long bow I could have just moved the template down the 2 5/8", but it being a Recurve the curves had to be down sized. Once the template was cut out again I got to work cutting it out with the router.

Here is a pic after the second one was cut out. I used the half template for the first one. Cut one limb flipped it over and cut the other. Then since I had bought the template bit I thought I would use it. No more flipping and hopefully less chance for mistakes.

 

 

[onemississipp]

There are the two cut out, two bottoms and a top. For the top I just measured up 10" then cut it with a skill saw. It went well and they matched great. Then the third on was going great until about the last 3".

   

Broke bit again!!! This being the third time I have ever used a router, the first two times was the failed attempts two days earlier on this form. I'm just glad it happened at the end. That brings the cost up another $25.00. I would suggest to anyone else to use a 1/2" shank bit when cutting 3/4" plywood.

   

I finished it off with a hand saw and will sand it smooth. Here they are all cut out.

   

I glued and clamped the bottom together, I glued it with Elmer's Probond wood glue it says it resists heat. Since it will be getting heated in the heat box I thought that might be a good thing. So I will return in two weeks and unclamp it and then do the top.

[onemississipp]

After reviewing the days events I'm thinking I'll have to reroute the tops again to get the 1 1/2" clearance when installed on the bottom. If so I'll need to take about another 1 1/4" off them. I'll check it out when I get back in a couple weeks. I hope I'm wrong.

[kennym]

Hey Dustin, I've never done one with that kind of bit. I glue the form up good and flat,then bandsaw 1/8" from the mark. That gives the chips a place to fly. I can only cut a half inch deep at a pass with the 1/4" strait bit I use. Stay with it,you'll get'r'done.

[onemississipp]

Well, I have returned from my trip. I unclamped the bottom of the form. and then glued and clamped the top part together.

I still need to do the final smoothing of the bottom form, and recut the top to get the clearance needed.

I need to come up with cork or rubber to cover the bottom form, and a pressure strip. And I still have to build a heat box.

Dang this Lam bow building is a lot of work, in the preparation phase.

I have 3 weeks to get this rolling before leaving again for 6 weeks.

[onemississipp]

My trips usually bring me a little extra money, so I bought a "Rigid oscillating spindle sander".

I wanted a oscillating spindle sander and a belt sander and this is both in one machine.

 http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/EB4424-Sander/

 

Back to the form I'm almost finished with it, after I smoothed it up on the spindle sander, needing more practice with the sander, I went back the the old ways of a sanding block. I borrowed some of my daughters sidewalk chalk to find the high and low spots in my form.

 

To get the curve where the risers is I just put the sand paper in the block around the curve instead of the flat side.

Here is the form with the top and bottom, note the top has not been cut to accommodate the belly side of the riser.

 

Now it has I traced my riser template onto the top, made a cut with a hand crosscut saw then took it to the spindle sander.

 

I now need to cut out the riser and do a dry run with everything installed to see if I'm going to have enough space between the forms. I have a little over a 1/2" right now, normally the correct space will be from 1" to 1 1/4", depending on the number of laminations used. This may just be me thinking to hard but since I'm glueing up a 2" wide bow with a 2" air hose I thought I might leave it shorter until I check it out.