cutting limb pads (PICS)

[shapeshifter]

With all of the bow building threads lately I have had a number of people ask me what I mean when I “mill my limb pads” on a riser so I figured I would post a few pics and somewhat explain the process that I use. After gluing the riser together I set the block on a special sled that I built to run through my thickness sander to get one side of the riser flat. Then I put the block (flat side down in my milling vise (a very precise vise) and use a 3.5  face mill to get the opposite side perfectly flat. I then flip it over and run the face mill over the sanded side to ensure that it is perfectly flat and parallel to the other side. From here, I flip the riser block on it’s back and square the belly side of the riser again using the face mill. I don’t worry about squaring the back of the block because it will be cut away. Getting the block perfectly flat and square is very important in my process of cutting limb pads (and drilling hardware on takedowns). I then use my riser template to scribe the outline of the riser. Now I am ready to cut the limb pads. I now remove the milling vise and mount and square up a very precise milling angle table to the mill. I also mount and square a 4  right angle to the to the angle table. Next I clamp the riser block against the right angle and set the table to the desired limb pad angle, load a 3/4  end mill and start milling. This gives me very precise angles as well as limb pads that are on the same plane. The finish is so good that no further sanding is not needed. After this is complete I can go back using an edge finder and drill all of my hardware for a takedown and keep all tolerances to less than .001 . It makes for a tight fit between riser and limbs with zero slop.

The first pic is a riser clamped in and ready for milling.
The second pic is of a limb pad being cut.
The last pic is of 3 risers ready for drilling to accept limb bolts and alignment pins.

The risers from top to bottom for my buddy, my wife, and my brother-in-law. They are the first of the finalized version of the recurve that I posted last month about being a legit 200+fps 9gr/lb @ 28  bow (no carbon in the limbs). The limbs in the pic are a prototype carbon limb that will be significantly faster and even more stable.

Hope this helps any of you that I confused in P.M.s while trying to explain without pics.

Gino    

 

 

 

[Numitokayo]

Way to go Gino !!!  can't wait to see the next steps    

BG

[Buemaker]

Very good. A nice drilling outfit you have there. That special clamp on top of the riser block, does it have a name and where can it be bought.  Thank you. Bue--.

[Tom Leemans]

Bue - That's a cantilever clamp. You can get them from here.  McMaster Carr  Check page 2435.

[shapeshifter]

beu- you can also buy them under the name Kant Twist clamps. they are always on ebay for a good deal.
gino