Riser - paint chipped and peeling in limb pockets. Repair suggestions?

jonUK76

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I recently got a used blue W&W Winex riser which is a painted, as opposed to anodised riser. It looks very good externally but in the limb pockets, there's some fairly large chips and paint is starting to peel off, looks to me just from contact with the limbs. Is it worth attempting to touch up the paint? Or maybe repaint the limb pockets with something like Hammerite? Any other suggestions?

Or would you just leave it? I know it's an area you can't see in use, but I'm concerned that peeling tends to spread and would prefer for that not to happen, and it's just a bit of a shame in an otherwise immaculate looking riser.

Thanks
 

Timid Toad

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If it's down to the metal, I'd want to protect it, but not to the detriment of the limbs of course.
 

jonUK76

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Thanks. Yes I think some bare metal is showing. Both ends are similar:



I was thinking maybe remove the dovetail/alignment mechanism (assuming that's an easy task), wire brush/sand off the old paint, coat of aluminium primer, and a few coats of Hammerite, just on the affected surface? Sound reasonable?
 

Timid Toad

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Not as simple as that, unfortunately. The reason the paint is lifting there is because that is where the limbs sit. It's a vital part of the alignment of your bow.
If you aren't *extremely* careful you can affect how your limbs sit, which in turn can affect alignment. The riser has left/right adjustment, but if the paint is a few hundredths of a millimetre too thick one side over the other, the limbs will be rotationally out too. Of course, the paint might already be causing this, so you could look at it as an opportunity to adjust your riser's straightness for the good. You might get lucky, but you do need to be aware of the issues involved.
 

jonUK76

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I see, I hadn't really thought about that :) Well, I can't say I'm particularly talented with a paint can, but perhaps with several extremely thin coats of spray paint, with very fine sanding between coats, I think it should be possible to get a reasonably smooth and even finish. With the limbs I've tried on it myself (W&W Winex and some budget Samicks), there actually appears to be a small gap between the pocket and the limb under tension, i.e. it looks like it's pivoting on the metal pin rather than the edge of the pocket. As I bought it used, I'm not sure what limbs were used on it previously. Could it depend on the limb design and perhaps position of the limb bolts too?
 

Timid Toad

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Yes, limbs can be designed to sit on slightly different places. But most limbs should be in contact, when strung, with that part of the riser in some way or another. Just slotted together maybe not. However, if you go at it with care, and wait for each coat to dry properly, then fit and string up the limbs and watch for something going wrong, I'd guess you should be able to control what's going on. I would get a load of masking tape on the limbs and carefully measure your string position and mark it off. Then you'll be able to see when paint isn't being applied consistently.
Now when you observe the string moving out of alignment, you've got to work out which limb, then which side is at fault. I haven't got my head round that yet.
 

jonUK76

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Belated thanks for your reply :) Yep after shooting the bow some more it's quite clear the limbs contact the pockets but further back (two distinct patch marks from the primer, I think, left on the limb after shooting). Think I'll work on a few test pieces to hopefully master the spraying technique before attempting anything on the bow.
 
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