Other Tiller advice for new bow

jime_d

New member
Hi

I have just taken delivery of my new SF ultimate and 34# SF elite limbs, i am still waiting for a few other bits to arrive before i can set it all up properly, but i used a spare string and checked the tiller and it appears to need adjusting. At the moment i have 17.2cm on the top and 17.6cm bottom.

There is a section in The art of repetition where Simon N mentions a good starting point, but he doesn't mention whether i should undo the top bolt or do up the bottom (hope that is the right way round), or even adjust both?, neither does the manual that came with the bow. So does anyone know which is the best way to do it, or does it not make much difference? I had a quick search but didn't find this info.

This is my first bow with tiller adjustment so its all new to me.

Thanks

jim
 

Bald Eagle

New member
Looks like you have reverse tiller! Adjust it so you have 17.6 on the top and 17.2 0n the bottom for starters. Get an experienced archer/coach to set the bow up for you and just shoot it! When you can group in the gold at 40 yds you can then do some tuning!
 

nedl25

New member
Hi Guys,

Interesting thread as i too have just got my first bow with tiller adjustment. So i am interested in what gets said. For a start what doe 17.6 on top and 17.2 on the bottom mean?

Sorry to be such a divv, i am sure there is a thread covering this on AI but i thought as it was a new thread it may be worth refreshing the thoughts and going over again.

Ned
 

Robbie Nude

Member
I don't have the SF Ultimate riser but I have the SF Pro Forged Plus riser so I'm assuming that they share similar or same weight, tiller and alignment adjustment systems. (If not, ignore anything I'm about to write below!)

The manual said that the riser comes with the draw weight set at the lowest in its range. There was a bit of a difference of opinions on that subject here on the forum but I eventually discovered that at least mine was at its lowest draw weight setting 'out-of-the-box'.
Here's what I did :-
On each tiller/weight bolt I loosened the lock screw then carefully counted the number of full turns that it took to completely unscrew the bolt from the riser. The count on mine was 11 full turns. I then began to screw them back in, again counting the full turns and stopped at 7. At this point the 'forked end' of the limb was nowhere near like making contact with the underside of the bolt, so I continued turning and counting until contact was made -- and that only occured at 11 full turns on each of the bolts.
(By doing this I now know 2 things :-
I know that from that point my limbs can only be increased in draw weight, and I also know the reference point at which to begin again should I ever have occasion to remove these bolts from the riser
.)
I strung the bow and the tiller on each limb was exactly the same. I then turned the bolt on the lower limb socket (unstrung bow) ONE full turn IN and arrived at a tiller measurement of around 5 - 6mm difference between the limbs.

Jim.
 

Robbie Nude

Member
Hi Guys,

Interesting thread as i too have just got my first bow with tiller adjustment. So i am interested in what gets said. For a start what doe 17.6 on top and 17.2 on the bottom mean?

Sorry to be such a divv, i am sure there is a thread covering this on AI but i thought as it was a new thread it may be worth refreshing the thoughts and going over again.

Ned
Ned (and anyone else) HAVE A LOOK AT THIS.

In that video it shows how, and where to measure the tiller of your bow, and also how to adjust it.
After you've viewed the video you'll understand what the "17.6" and the "17.2" mean, although they're metric measurements and not imperial as used in the video.

Jim.
 

jime_d

New member
OK i lied about the manual.

Checked it again and there is one sentence

"To adjust the tiller on the riser without affecting bow weight, adjust each weight/tiller adjustment bolt an equal amount but in opposite directions."

Really i should only have to turn the bolts a little if we are only talking about a few mm
 

jime_d

New member
In that video it shows how, and where to measure the tiller of your bow, and also how to adjust it.
Although on the video he did one complete turn of just bottom bolt, so i should turn top bolt half turn clockwise and bottom half turn c-clockwise?
 

nedl25

New member
Hi All,

Not really specific to this thread but slight bit about tiller adjustment at the end. But what a great video for beginner archers to familiarise themselves with their bow and all attachments. Well i found it interesting and informative. VIDEO

Ned
 

PhatMan

New member
Jim, I have recently followed the advice from Michele Frangilli, and set the tiller to be equal top and bottom (my bow : Samick Vision 2 / Kaya K3 limbs, 48 lb otf). So far no problems or issues :) Have fun ! Best regards Russ
 

Rik

Supporter
Supporter
I would usually advise to follow the mfrs recommendations... (Samick advised +5mm on the Extremes IIRC). In the absence of any further information, I would go with whatever you currently use, so long as it's between flat and 10mm :devil:

Unless you feel like experimenting? People claim to be able to feel a difference in different tillers, and I've seen stuff about setting it based on the behaviour of your sight. But life's too short for too much fiddling...
 

Robbie Nude

Member
Although on the video he did one complete turn of just bottom bolt, so i should turn top bolt half turn clockwise and bottom half turn c-clockwise?
jime_d ~ as long as you're able to back-off your top limb bolt by half a turn there's no reason why you can't do as you've suggested above except that you should turn the top bolt counter-clockwise and the lower bolt clockwise. (that's looking at the bow from the "outside")


In my case, my limb bolts were both at the absolute minimum so I couldn't do the half-and-half thing with the bolts and I had to increase the lower bolt by a full turn instead.

Jim.
 

jime_d

New member
After setting the tiller don't forget to adjust your nocking point
I haven't even got that far yet, still have to set the nocking point. Trying to keep riser/limbs in their boxes until i get the last few competitions out of the way, else i will be spending all my time messing about with the new bow when i should be concentrating on shooting.
 

jime_d

New member
jime_d ~ as long as you're able to back-off your top limb bolt by half a turn there's no reason why you can't do as you've suggested above except that you should turn the top bolt counter-clockwise and the lower bolt clockwise. (that's looking at the bow from the "outside")
Of course, if i undo the top bolt that would increase the top distance which is what i want.

In my case, my limb bolts were both at the absolute minimum so I couldn't do the half-and-half thing with the bolts and I had to increase the lower bolt by a full turn instead.
I think the forged + manual is the same one i have, i just found that sentence "The limb adjustment channel is factory adjusted to minimum bow weight for [Ultimate] [Forged +] etc."

So i think i will have to do what you wrote earlier Robbie Nude

I should stop skimming over the manual and just read it thoroughly. :scratchch
 

Shirt

Well-known member
Set the thing to zero and don't worry about it. And zero means only one line on your bracing gauge to check...
 

joetapley

New member
Hi

I have just taken delivery of my new SF ultimate and 34# SF elite limbs, i am still waiting for a few other bits to arrive before i can set it all up properly, but i used a spare string and checked the tiller and it appears to need adjusting. At the moment i have 17.2cm on the top and 17.6cm bottom.
Clubs should really include basic equipment set up as part of the beginners induction (gripe, gripe, mutter).

Collection of bow on line bow set up guides here https://sites.google.com/site/archerybibliography/recuve-bow-setup

Don't forget that when you get around to getting your arrows and bows to work together you are going to be changing the tiller bolt settings so no point in overdoing the tiller setup at this point. Suggest starting with the bolts at around mid-point with tiller about zero.

Everybody has an opinion about tiller but the reality is that decades ago it was established (by experiment) that for a stabilized recurve bow tiller, within reason, makes no difference so, with zero tiller limbs, using zero tiller setting is sensible. If shooting bare bow or longbow then different "tiller" story.
 

Easily Confused

New member
I have a quick question for jime_d, but please don't take this as being too patronising...

Are you sure you have your limbs on the right way up? 4mm tiller is pretty standard, but your -4mm could just be a case of putting the limbs on the wrong way up.

Personally I do what others have already recommended and set mine to 0mm. I've found for my particular setup and technique this gives the least amount of limb wobble and a nice crisp feeling shot.
 

jime_d

New member
I have a quick question for jime_d, but please don't take this as being too patronising...

Are you sure you have your limbs on the right way up? 4mm tiller is pretty standard, but your -4mm could just be a case of putting the limbs on the wrong way up.

Personally I do what others have already recommended and set mine to 0mm. I've found for my particular setup and technique this gives the least amount of limb wobble and a nice crisp feeling shot.
That is actually the first thing i checked.

Would changing the bracing height affect tiller, because i had it set at the minimum recommendation from the manual?
 

jime_d

New member
When i start setting this bow up i will try 0mm and play around with it in between 0 & +5mm and see how it goes.

I have to learn how all the adjustments work, will just have to set a whole day aside to do it.
 
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