Repairing Monsterbows Phoenix (leverbow) - needs powerlimbs.

Thorvald

Active member
Hi.

It's a quite long story - but for a few reasons (a dryfire among other) my Monsterbows Phoenix have been under repair / rebuild for several years now. Under the way the original powerlimbs was by accident / misunderstanding swapped with a lighter set of the powerlimbs. At the same time, I wanted to rebuild the bow with Area 5150's aluminium outboards. And that combination makes for a bow with a very light draw weight... So if this rebuild should succeed I would need a set of the original heavy Monsterbows powerlimbs. If I can't find such a set, then I probably just give up on the rebuild and - when I have money - buy a new leverbow. For your reference a picture of the original bow in it's greatness - when it was at the greatest. :) So just want to ask: Does anyone have such a set for sale or does anyone know of a possibility to produce such a set of powerlimbs?
 

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Thorvald

Active member
They were made specially for Monsterbows. They are very thick, much thicker than on any other leverbows, maybe because the deflection of the limbs are very small. Some numbers:

Thickness 12.7 mm.
Width 38.3 mm.
Length I back then measured to 237 mm.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
If you fit slightly shorter cables all round, that will increase the pre bend in the current limbs and increase draw weight. It depends on how much extra weight you are looking for.
 

Thorvald

Active member
As far as I understand, the guy who is / was trying to rebuild the bow, have already tried to preload the light powerlimbs. But with not enough success. They are probably to light plus too much lever from the outboards. He is also afraid to add too much preload, as one of the limb bolts, stripped when I had the bow and tried to apply more preload. I tapped the thread again, so it is usable, but probably not as good / strong as new. He also tried to add thickness fibreglass to the limbs, but as far as I understood it delaminated. The bow is in UK at the moment, by the way. :)
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
When thickening the limbs with extra fibre glass, the join will take a lot of strain. and will be a weak spot. Better to place an extra limb under the main one like a two leaf spring used in old motor cars.
 

dvd8n

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
There used to be some active lever bow forums in the US. Can they not help?

Or have they been killed by Facebook?
 

AndyW

Well-known member
Thorvald, it might be a long shot but maybe email Barnsdale archery in the US as they make replacement limbs for other bows. Yours is likely too niche to be commercial but he may have a lead on where you could source.
 

Thorvald

Active member
There used to be some active lever bow forums in the US. Can they not help?

Or have they been killed by Facebook?
There was a "Area 5150 / Gulfcoast Archery" forum. But since both businesses have ended, the fora has ended too. There is a lever lover forum on facebook, but I had not much luck there. My guess is 1) These bows from Monsterbows are relatively rare plus they are unique. So if people has such a bow and parts, they don't want to sell it. I understand that, because even if I cannot repair my bow, maybe (maybe) I won't sell the parts.
 

Thorvald

Active member
Thorvald, it might be a long shot but maybe email Barnsdale archery in the US as they make replacement limbs for other bows. Yours is likely too niche to be commercial but he may have a lead on where you could source.
Thanks for the tip. Tried to e-mail them just now.
 

Thorvald

Active member
Barnsdale Archery was not interested. He had not before made limbs for such bows and he didn't intend to. :)
One option could perhaps be a set of kevlar/carbon laminate limbs. They would perhaps be strong enough to withstand the necessary preload. But the next issue would then be who could produce such a set? Because even if I could get a set of limbs from RPM Bowfishing, we cannot be sure that they would not be splintered too, because of the preload. A set of the original powerlimbs already got splintered before. So I start to think that it is not possible to rebuild this bow for now. Maybe it would give me more value to buy a new leverbow. I am looking at a G-Nat. it looks good - se below example.
 

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Thorvald

Active member
Because I like the design of it, the simplicity. For me it is beautiful in it's simplicity. Nice soft draw force curve. And it looks cool. :) I assume you are talking about cammed vs. camless leverbow. Because if you mean compared to a compound bow, there are a few more reasons.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
The lever bow with cams, like the Oneida. does have issues. There is only one string that is visible; there is no cam lean in the normal sense, but to use the cams and get a draw force curve like other compounds; still requires the cams to be connected to each other with a cable in a figure of 8 shape. This cable runs in a groove on the outer side of the riser and I found it too fussy to set up.
Removing cams from my Oneida gave a bow with a very smooth draw and the draw force curve was the same shape as a wide arch. No square wave look about it. It was almost silent; whereas the normal bow was very loud.
I think the camless version is a sweeet piece of thinking.
 

Thorvald

Active member
I (think) I would agree. I have not had a cammed leverbow. However, if you look at attached photo, it looks like in this design, the timing cable just goes from timing wheel to timing wheel - visible. So I guess it can be done it other ways than your Oneida.
 

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geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
Yes, timing wheel to timing wheel can be visible, but the fact the bow has cams, for me, robs it of its simplicity. I get let off without all the extra bits. The bow can be given new strings and cables without having to get special ones for the bow. The cables may be unusual lengths; but not that unusual.
 

Thorvald

Active member
Yes, that is what I like about it too. :) And like you say, the cables for the camless version, can be normal strings, that are not so difficult to get produced. :)
 
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