Monday 6 March 2017

Energy/Work in Flight Bow?

Is it worth drawing the flight bow another 2"?
Here is some of the force/draw data which is pretty linear so there is enough to derive a straight line equation if one can really be bothered, but just taking the first and last figures gives a difference of 49 pounds over 16" of draw which is near as dammit 3 pound per inch.
Draw "  Poundage
10         18
12         24.8
14         30.8
16         36.6
18         43
20         48.9
22         55.8
24         62
26         67

For 24" draw if we assume 5" brace then we have pulled on average 31 pounds for 19 inches (that's 31 being the average of zero to 62 pounds and 19 inches being 24 minus the 5" brace)
That gives 589 pound inches

For 26" draw we get 33.5 x 21 which equals 703.5 pound inches which is a pretty impressive improvement on the 589. it's just over 19%
This really shows why it's so tempting to overdraw a fight bow. I got 199fps at a 24" draw, at the 26" draw I lost the flight arrow! You wouldn't think it possible to loose a flight arrow , but in rough meadow it's easy to see every odd bit of straw but not the arrow. It doesn't help that when you get that elusive clean loose you don't see the arrow go.
If we assume 28" draw doesn't explode and gives 73# that would give 36.5 x 23 which is 839.5 pound inches. Now that is over 42% up on the 24" figure, mind we lose some aerodynamic advantage in the thinner shorter arrow.
the problem is that one can't go back to 26" draw if it explodes at 28" ephemeral things flight bows!

Anyhow the upsot of all this rambling is that I'll make some flight arrows and maybe paint 'em bright yellow in time for an ILAA shoot on Sunday.

As an aside one sometimes gets asked the question, or asks it of oneself. "Is this ok?"
Well the chances are, if you've felt the need to ask, the answer is probably no!
An example, the double patch I did on the warbow last week, left a tiny bit of chrysal showing on one edge fairly about mid way between back and belly where there is little strain... well the chrysal won't propagate into the patch will it? Also I'd forgotten that the warbow belly had been heat treated and I hadn't heat treated the patch, that won't matter will it?
After a day of roving I've seen the bow and sure enough, barely visible, there lies the chrysal exactly where it was before but much smaller! It didn't extend into the first thin edge patch but it was across the big patch
If it's not right... do it again properly.
I've rasped out the big patch extending it lengthways to take in some of a pin knot on the side and to extend deep enough to remove the entire chrysal. There is nothing of the original big patch left and I'm into clean wood, I made a new patch rough fitted, then heat treated. The heat treating makes the patch warp so it needs re-shaping after heat treatment. It's been glued and the wraps taken off today.
It will get finished ready for a shoot at the weekend. It should be ok this time, but rest assured if it's still not right I'll confess!
The point of this is to be honest and analytical with your work, no one does perfect work all the time. Sometimes mistakes and errors can be worked around and will be fine, but sometimes it takes a bit of perseverence.
Remember, the man who never made a mistake, never made anything, and if you really must have a definition of "expert" (I hate the term) I'd say it's the person who can put right their own mistakes.

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