metal longbow build along

[Gino Bruno]

i figured i'd pull this one over from the old site....... i'm starting to get excited for bow building season and going through the old pics is helping light a fire under my butt to get going

here is the metal hybrid from this past summer.



well, too much work has left me with a bad case of bowbuilding withdrawls (LOL). sooooo......... i have decided to do a purpose built metal longbow riser and carbon limbs. this will be similar to the recurve riser/hybrid combo riser but shorter to give me a 60-62" hybrid for hunting. i may incorporate some harmonic dampers into it but it will not be the skeletorized version that i designed several months ago with the unique limb pockets (or lack there of) allowing massive adjustablity (i will need some time on that one for machining so it will have to wait for winter) this will be a full on hunting bow so it will not have the pretty inlays and will probably be film dipped in predator camo.

since work still has not completely slowed down yet this may be slow going for the next month or so but i will keep updating as i have time to work on it........ here it is so far..... just a block of 7075 still clamped to the table, squared up and ready for machining.



sight window and shelf are cut



well i had about an hour and a half after i got home tonight to fart around in the shop so the block of aluminum lost a few more ounces.

this time i cut the limb pads. i started off cutting on the bandsaw just outside the scribed line. from there i used my dial test indicator to square up my angle table and then square up the 4" right angle that sits on the angle table (set up on this stuff takes longer than the actual machining processes LOL). from here i set the angle table to 11 degrees and clamped in the riser. using a ball end mill, i cut the inside end of the limb pad pocket to the desired depth. from there i used an edge finder to find the edge and then adjusted the gib so that the 3/4" end mill would not cut into the radiused corner that i had just cut and milled the rest of the limb pad. here is a pic of what little i accomplished tonight (LOL).




i had a little time tonight to work on the riser. basically i got the sides milled to the dimensions that i want and am ready to drill and tap for pins and limb bolts...... from there i will mill out the holes and flanges for the harmonic dampers and then cut out the profile. here are a few pics.

milling the riser ends



here i am also milling the ends but i snapped this pic while milling. unfortunately i had the shutter speed too high so it looks like nothing is moving...... if you look just above the endmill, in front of the collet you can see a chip in mid air..... there are a few more in flight if you look close.




here is the riser after the ends were milled





now i am using a 5/8 ball endmill to add some contours as well as radiusing just under the shelf/grip area




a little better pic after i was done




here it is next to my recurve riser after i was finished tonight.

[Gino Bruno]

today was my first real day off in a couple months.....but....... instead of working on my bow i put about 200 miles on bike. then i got to work on the riser.... i was able to get the 17 degree grip section milled, outside corners rounded, holes drilled and tapped, and the holes and flanges for the harmonic dampers milled out.

pic of my scoot (another passion of mine)...... it started it's life as yamaha warrior......it doesn't look much like it did when i bought it last year :^). i'll be stretching the tank and putting new tins and paint on this comming winter as well as milling a bunch more parts for it.




rounding the corners with a corner rounding endmill




chamfering the holes that i just drilled



tapping the holes




drilling the pilot hole for the harmonic dampers




milled hole and internal flange for damper





first damper in it's new home..... it fits perfect!!!




both dampers in






now i will drill and tap the plunger hole and i may mill out some sections for some more wood inlays (not sure i want to go to that trouble again LOL). then i will be ready to cut out the profile. this bow will have a grip section that will be interchangable with a full grip or scales...... i'll play with it to see what i like best.



i never got a chance to work on the riser today but i did get a little accomplished yesterday.... i decided to go ahead and mill out the groves for some wood inlays...... i just have a hard time not purdy'ing up a bow so i figured what the heck......... while i was doing this, i got a very unexpected phone call from sackett........ it was great chatting with him.

i also milled out a section in the grip where the integrated grip will be seated but i forgot to snap some pics....... i'll get some tomorrow.

few pics of the wood inlay groves.





i have not had a ton of time to work on this lately but things are finally getting to normal with work. here is where the riser sits now.... it is only rough sanded and i should be able to final sand it tonight as well as the grip. i decided to go with a combo of a grip/scales. the throat of the grip is shaped both in the wood and the aluminum. this gives me a really small throat and a narrow grip with a nice palm swell...... it is very very comfortable. the grip is held in place by two stainless steel pins that pass through the riser and 1/8" into each side of the grip so that it does not creep or move at all.

cutting the profile out on the saw




face milling the grip block




this one is hard to see but i am milling some plexiglass templates for the wood inlays





tracing a line from plexiglass templates to what will be the inlays






here is how it looks right now without the limb pads bolted on.

[Gino Bruno]

here is a little more progress

the riser is primed with automotive primer and ready for paint




grinding the inlays to the marked line...... this can be a little hairy since they are only .050 thick..... one false move and the sander will snap them instantly and they get sucked into the vac.



first limb out of the press and the glue cleaned off the edges



both limbs out of the press and cleaned up..... they are ready for squaring



this is how i square my limb blanks. it is a 3/4" sheet of MDF. MDF is very uniform and this sheet only varies by .003 from end to end....... it gives a very flat surface. the blocks of wood are dymondwood that i milled to be perfectly square. i clamp the wedge end of each limb to them to insure that the base of the limb is perfectly square. from there they are run through my drumsander and are squared up.



these are the limbs setting on top of eachother...... you can see that by squaring them this way provides a very straight and square edge (notice that there is no gap anywhere between each limb). also, this method allows me to get each limb down to an exact width and both limbs are just as wide as eachother.





got the limbs roughed out today as well as the nocks cut. i still have to tiller, final shape, and trap the limbs as well as finish the tips out (they are still square). once i trap the limbs, the last 1/3rd will "open up" more so they will have a little less of a pronounced curve. right now, this set of limbs is right around 5lbs as they sit... by the time i am done with them, they will be in the neighborhood of 51-52lbs.

here are a few pics...... the grips and inlays are not on the riser in these pics.







went over to bill howland's today to weigh the first set of limbs on his really fancy scale. came out to 52.35 lbs. this set of limbs are done except for final sanding to prep them for spraying.

i just glued up some blocks that will make up the wedges for my set of hunting limbs...... they are going to be kind of pretty and will match the grip and inlays........ they are cocobolo and zebrawood with two carbon accents sandwiching an osage accent....... more than just pretty, i did it to stiffen up the wedge so that any flexing in that area that may occur will be minimized to further inhance the performance. i'll post some pics of them when i get them ground out.

i am heading out to the shop now to cut and grind up the lams for this set of limbs..... hope to be shooting them by monday.


just got done spraying the first coat of gloss on the limbs. i use the gloss to fill all the pores in the wood...... very little of this goes on the carbon lams. after 4-5 filler coats, i will resand the limbs and spray with a satin to mute the shine on the limbs.

the wedge is cocobolo and zebrawood with carbon,osage,carbon accents. the overlay is figured macassar and the tips consist of 6 layers of .010 carbon weave/macassar/more carbon weave

here are a few pics just after spraying..... sorry about the tip photos being so fuzy, i had to use autofocus with the macro lens because i was trying to hold the limb up and snap pics at the same time...... the camera kept focusing on the back ground (LOL).

[Gino Bruno]

Tis done...... finally!!!!!!!!!!!...... i'll assemble it tomorrow and snap some pics.

i may lay up another set of limbs for it....... maybe not...... still think i'd like a set closer to the 60lb mark for elk, though these carbon limbs (53lbs) will outperform many bows in the 55-58lb range :^)

[Gino Bruno]

here is a pic i snapped of the bow last night........ i'll take some better ones this evening when the light is better. but the best part is....... it is done..... finally! i still may build a set of 58-60lb limbs for elk though.




here are a few more pics.

[JimmyFingers]

Gino...all I can say is....WOW!!...Jim

[Gino Bruno]

thanks jim! i built this one this past summer....... i did the metal recurve last winter (the one that i killed the caribou in my avitar with) and i will move that thread from the old site here as well when i get some more time........ soon, i'll start a few more build alongs on some non metal recurves and longbows....... there are some great build alongs on the old site that i need to get moved over here.

[rwsbow]

Gino, don't forget to do a build along for the one-piece hybrid!!!

I can't make it, but figure someone else will make one that will be too "girlie" for them and will offer to sell it to me!!!

Jolly Roger

[Hornseeker]

Glad you brought that back Gino!

[Cutty]

I second Ernie, Gino...one of the all time classic build-a-longs on any site...even if I can't even dream of duplicating it...

So, when are you going to build me a bike?