The Old Phartt Has Another Breakdown

[Dick in Seattle]

Whenever hinge or take down systems come up, the first question always seems to be  "can I convert an existing bow?"   I knew this could be done, since someone on here did it.   I screwed up my courage today and did one myself.   I converted Big Bad Wolf in about 2 hours.  Kind of gutsy, as that bow means a lot to me now.  The project went pretty well and I added pix of the process to the big page I did last week about building a new bow for the Connexion hinge.   Here's a link to just the new material.  If anyone wants to review the whole project, there is a link to its main page at the bottom.


http://oldpharttsarchery.com/bowbuilding/connexionhinge/conversion-wolfie.html


I amended the first page of the Connexion material to show the new section, as well, so this whole body of material on this project, information about the hinge itself, the test run, construction of Airwolf, and the conversion of Wolfie, now stands as a unit on the Old Phartt's Archery site.

[koger]

Very Nice! I was wondering, did you seal off the wood where you made the cut, I would think if you didnt it would draw moisture? Sam.

[Greg Szalewski]

Another nice job Dick.

[DannyBows]

Well done!

[Dick in Seattle]

Koger...   I haven't put an actual sealer on it, just having done it this afternoon.   On the first one (last week) I waxed the wood heavily with a solid wax.   Not sure if I'll put some finish on this one or just do that again.   Kind of feeling my way along...

[Kevin L.]

Nice job, Dick. Takes some guts to put the saw to a perfectly good bow, LOL.

[tippit]

Dick,
You've got me convinced to try this.  Heck kinda like building a long knife  

You said in your Big Page you weren't as happy looking at the hinge a little off.  Here is a picture of my Centaur with the hinge.  It has a very nice antler over lay that hides the hinge but also has a great feel.  Just thought it might help ya...Doc

 

 

[JV Rooster]

Well done.

[Apex Predator]

You've sold me Dick!  I need to call Mr. Robertson and order a hing to try.

[ron w]

Dick, do you feel that this could be done on most longbows,and how would you rate the diffilculty 1 to 10.

[Dick in Seattle]

Tippett and RonW...

As to overlays, I looked at a "surround piece", i.e. a wood piece that doesn't cover the hinge, as Tippett's does, but builds up to it's surface, but decided it wouldn't really be practical on the narrow back surface I leave on my risers. I had barely 1/8" to either side.   Also, I have a small hand and didn't want to end up with too deep a riser for comfort.  Instructions are not to actually inlet it, as this would compromise the riser strength.  My flatbows already have pretty minimal risers.  

To me, it's pretty strictly an appearance issue.  I find the grip, with the hinge, quite comfortable.  On the Black Widow I had that had this hinge factory installed, there was a simple rubber roll up grip cover that worked well and covered/hid the hinge.  These are available, so I'll order a couple and see whether I end up preferring with or without.

As to difficulty, if you'd asked me last week, I'd have said "Yikes!"   However, if you read my pages, you know I approached it pretty systematically, doing a test installation on an old riser from a broken bow, then a build from start, and finally doing the conversion of an existing bow.  (And, yes, that was a very nerve wracking decision!)  With that practice experience, and having spent a lot of time thinking the job through, step by step, over and over again, I would say that the actual difficulty was no more than a 5 or 6.  I would look at doing another as just a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Read and re-read all of my info.  I did my damndest to show every consideration I could, including every mistake or mis-step I made.  I'd really like to think that's of benefit to someone.  Approach and carry out the work slowly and carefully.   Figure out the positioning of the hinge in relation to the lamination joins and study the depth of the riser in relation to the screw length, and I think you should be able to do most longbows.  The biggest potential problem I would be concerned about would be if there is much curve to the back of the riser.  If there is, you might have to flatten it some, and again, you'd want to consider whether you were compromising strength.

Good luck, and let me know if you do it.

[lt-m-grow]

Interesting and thanks for sharing.

It seems on Tippit's bow that the hinge is more than 2 inches below the shelf which I thought Dick mentioned is the best place for it.

If I am seeing this right (and read it right), I like the placement on the Centaur bow better.  It seems low and out of the hand grip.

Thoughts?

[Dick in Seattle]

2" below is the recommended distance in the instructions.  On my "from scratch" new bow installation, I was able to plan for this so that the ends of the laminations were at that point.  On an existing bow, some compromise is likely to be needed.  Personally, I would not want to cut the bow much above or below the lamination joins, such that you ended up with the bottom hinge screw going through the cut off ends of the laminations close to the join.   It's probably fine, but just doesn't seem like a good idea if you can avoid it.  Keeping the lams all one section under the hinge seems better to me.  On Wolfie, the hinge ended up about 1 1/2" below the shelf.

[ron w]

Thanks Dick, I have a Bear Montana that I might just try one on. Might make a neat project.

[phil_des_bois]

Nice job Dick, adding an overlay is not that hard and doesn't add that much to the size of the bow.I don't cut through the glass on the back of the bow as it seems to be done on tippit's bow, but here is how I do:

First drill small holes on the four corners of the hinge :

[phil_des_bois]

then with a dremel work slowly a place for the hinge:



as soon has there is enough room for the hinge drill the holes to screw the hinge on the riser:



then use a wood chisel to make it clean:

[phil_des_bois]

then screw the hinge and glue the spacers:



prepare the overlay a tad more thicker than the hinge thickness:



cut the overlay to make the room for the hinge and glue:

[phil_des_bois]

It was my first bow with a hinge in the overlay so I shaped the handle first before adding the hinge, it was a mistake and I had to deal with a very thin side of overlays, now I glue the overlay, then I shape the handle, but I don't have pics, so here is the thin edge of the overlay:

 

Then glue the last piece of the overlay:

 

shape it:

[phil_des_bois]

make a small v shape so that the hinge can bend, you also have to make sure that you can pull the hinge apart when it is bend, otherwise you have do use a file to flatten a bit the inner part of the hinge to have it pull loose when it is folded.

Et voilà :

 

Hope this help.
Phil