Last night I got a tour of the Stylist workshop and was shown how recurve limbs are made (by them). For those who are unaware, Stylist Bows are base down in Aldershot and Rugby with a riser designed by Steve Hallard and limbs made by the Hallards (in Rugby) and Steve Lingwood (Steve H's father-in-law) in Aldershot.
The risers are CNC'd elsewhere, then polished and anodised and the basic design hasn't really changed... if it ain't broke...
We have some of the laminates that go into the limbs. On the left is the glass-fibre, then we a choice of woods, and on the far right are some laminates of "foam"
Once the laminates have been chosen they are glued and placed together in order
Once the laminates are glued and ordered they are put onto the jig that will form the limb shape once the glue has dried. The limbs are then left in a heated cupboard to dry and set. This takes several hours, therefore...
... here are some that were made earlier!! The lines that have been drawn on the limbs are to position the shims that are used to make the limb tip and to protect the limb in the riser pocket.
Which is what is happening here... these then have to be left to be allowed to dry...
So moving onto another "some that were made earlier" we are now putting the 'dovetail' in the bottom of the limb so it can be seated into the riser.
Just a close up...
Now that the 'dovetail' has been put in we have a definite centre line for the limb and so it's possible to shape the lower, parallel section of the limb with the milling machine.
So this is the shaped, bottom end of the limb. As you can probably see, Steve is not a fan of the Hoyt Limb Fitting that the majority of other limb manufacturers have copied and called "International Limb Fitting".
Remember.... safety at work!!
Part Two will follow once I've done some work
The risers are CNC'd elsewhere, then polished and anodised and the basic design hasn't really changed... if it ain't broke...
We have some of the laminates that go into the limbs. On the left is the glass-fibre, then we a choice of woods, and on the far right are some laminates of "foam"
Once the laminates have been chosen they are glued and placed together in order
Once the laminates are glued and ordered they are put onto the jig that will form the limb shape once the glue has dried. The limbs are then left in a heated cupboard to dry and set. This takes several hours, therefore...
... here are some that were made earlier!! The lines that have been drawn on the limbs are to position the shims that are used to make the limb tip and to protect the limb in the riser pocket.
Which is what is happening here... these then have to be left to be allowed to dry...
So moving onto another "some that were made earlier" we are now putting the 'dovetail' in the bottom of the limb so it can be seated into the riser.
Just a close up...
Now that the 'dovetail' has been put in we have a definite centre line for the limb and so it's possible to shape the lower, parallel section of the limb with the milling machine.
So this is the shaped, bottom end of the limb. As you can probably see, Steve is not a fan of the Hoyt Limb Fitting that the majority of other limb manufacturers have copied and called "International Limb Fitting".
Remember.... safety at work!!
Part Two will follow once I've done some work