I might have the opportunity to trade a bow to a machinist in return for having him machine an aluminum form on his CNC machine for me.  I don't intend to change my osprey longbow form as it has served me well for several years and thought it would be nice to have a form made that I will never have to replace.  

Does anyone use an aluminum form and are there any considerations to be aware of.  Does it transfer heat to the lams differently, etc?  
Thanks,  Chad

Chad, I haven't come up with any reason not to.  I've thought about the idea myself and don't think it would be hard at all to get a form that would last a lifetime.  I think a take down press would be my choice due to the weight that might be involved with a one piece set up.  Tim

TTT

Sure would be a lot easier to mount clamps to or lay in a press. Imagine mounting angles along the form halves with a weld nut or thread through the plate to use for clamping.

You'll need to get the data from your current form reverse engineered into a CAD program to utilize the CNC.....or maybe this guy already has a means to digitize your parts to program from.  (?)

One easy way to get this done is trace your forms 1:1 on gridded paper. Then if you sent it to me I could model up your form halves pretty easily in Solidworks.

Maybe I should start a form modeling service......hhhhhhmmmmmmm    

BTW - aluminum is an excellent heat conductor and heat dissapator.  I'd think you'll want to use 6061 instead of cheaper aluminum as well.

Well, I got the first half done.     Just a visual to show you how it can be done and show you the clamp idea.
Gotta go pick up kids but will check back in later.

Hey Chad, give Dave Dwyer a call about the aluminum press. He had one made for his last bow design, the Duantless Longbow. I'm sure he could give you pointers and suggestions.

P.S. How's that Chronograph working out? Did anything hit 300+ FPS:)

Greg, I'll see Dwyer at Horicon this weekend.  I'll ask him.

Gordy, I think I'll stick with the air hose method as it works great.  What is 6061?  Is it a top grade of aluminum?  Chad

Yes, 6061 is more of a tooling grade aluminum.

Don't you need something to hold the form halves together ?

Maybe I over did the clamps !  

Chad, Keep the thread going ..need the info...solidworks.. what other programs would work?  :confused:

Shawn..

Wait a minute, I thought I was the R & D guy for Holm Made Traditional Bows?    



Basically any old CAD package that exports a .DXF file will do.  The trick is getting a good CAD guy to smooth out the transitions between the radii, the rest is easy.

However this is done, you need to at least have the guy plot out something full scale before you start making aluminum chips, and hold it up against the old form, even half or a quarter of the form would do.

Chad or Shawn let me know if I can help. Chad that .DXF I sent you some time ago would be a good one to test to see if the guy can read it into his software. The more sophisticated CAM packages could work with solids files like .SAT or .STP, there is a solids version of .DXF too.

-Mike

I have a shoot to attend this weekend.  I'll get a hold of "my guy" next week.  Oh wait a minute Mike, your "my guy".  Sorry,  Chad

Mike, I will wait till after this weekend..chad will have more info and I will talk to my tool-maker friend..oh I thought you were the R/D guy for Holmmade bows.. I think you should re-negoetiate..    

Shawn..