# No weld, wooden finger bow press



## Struttinhoyt88 (Jul 3, 2008)

Pretty slick....


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## parker64 (Jan 31, 2011)

Very nice!!!:wink:


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## revwilder (Apr 11, 2005)

I love it. I am going to try this one since I know nothing about welding. How did you mount it to the metal track?


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## revwilder (Apr 11, 2005)

Sorry! One more question. How do you work the press? What type of gear are you using.


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## Tunaboy (Oct 3, 2004)

The gear is a 5/8"-11 threaded rod with a standard rachet wrench as the power. The stationary (2) sections are held in place with standard Uni Strut track nuts. The sliding unit has a metal plate with a 3/8"-18 tapped hole. I use the metal plate because this unit needs to slide to compress the bow. The 5/8" rod is mated to a 5/8"-11 extension nut. (Menards). This is tapped and mounted to the 2 side plates to hold it in position. I am not sure if the 12" long 5/8" threaded rod is long enough to do a complete tear down of my Ultra Tec but I am pretty sure that the 12" rod would handle the Trykon and Alpha Max.


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## driller86 (Dec 13, 2008)

looks good


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## Challenger (Nov 4, 2007)

> The sliding unit has a metal plate with a 3/8"-18 tapped hole


Do you have a better picture of this??


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## oldschoolcj5 (Jun 8, 2009)

i like it


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## Tunaboy (Oct 3, 2004)

I think when I get time. (pretty busy today) I will pull the unit off the Unistrut and take a pic. so you can see better. When I look at my photo's it looks like a mad scientist works in my basement. Archery is like crack, easy to get started, hard to stop.


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## mudbug82 (Jan 23, 2011)

Amen brother! Archery is the greatest addicition in the world!!!


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

Very interesting concept!

I like it :thumbs_up

Allen


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## madarchery (May 28, 2003)

Good idea. Only change I would make. I would eliminate the bottom cutout of the wood arm. I would like to see more meat were the load is greatest. That bottom y leg just seems a little under supported. Seems a shear spot.


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## Crusher (Jan 27, 2003)

You make those wooden "fingers" out of metal, you may have your way around the Last Chance Archery's patent for anyone wanting to make a linear press from steel. Those definitely are a different design than Last Chance's design.


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## Tunaboy (Oct 3, 2004)

*Press*

Here are more pics.


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## justintohunting (Feb 6, 2011)

Sweet...


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## mike 66 (Jan 21, 2010)

pretty cool dude, i like this but a note of caution the ez press have 2 flaws..... 1 st. lots of reports of bows droping to the floor....2nd which i think you can fix, is that i have seen some bows [split lims ] that were being worked on the axles .manage to slide out. popping 1 limb off. but this is very nice... did you use oak for the fingers? and why the off set where the pressure comming from . why not in line ? looks great.. the best ive seen .....:shade:


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## jrip (May 19, 2008)

Now thats ingenuity at it finest!


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## Tunaboy (Oct 3, 2004)

The thing that you did not see is a small cord that hangs on my ceiling that catches the bow if it would drop. Again not pretty but effective, The fingers are made out of the better plywood. The stuff with many layers. Sometimes called Baltic Birch or Apple Ply.


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## hunt123 (Jan 17, 2009)

What is the piece on the end of the 5/8" rod? Looks like it can rotate somewhat. Also, doesn't the sliding piece bind up since the pressure is offset from the bow?


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## Tunaboy (Oct 3, 2004)

*Press*

The "pusher" that is in front of the rod is something that I salvaged. No I do not have a binding problem when I press. Look at the pics. the slide moves in a straight line because it fit snuggly over the sides of the uni strut.


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## crazy4hunting (Feb 4, 2006)

your a funny guy. lol. send ya my bow, maybe i could have it back for the new season. nice job!


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## DXT122 (Mar 5, 2009)

great idea definitely going to look into making one.


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## Tunaboy (Oct 3, 2004)

You could use solid wood for the fingers but the plywood works good and is very uniform. The fingers are easy to make so you could make different fingers for bows that required that. The fingers are held in position by the T insert but they butt up against steel roll pins in the back. The T nut only keeps the finger tight up against the steel angle plate the roll pins keep them from being pushed backwards when the bow is pressed.


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## hunt1687 (Aug 22, 2008)

Would it be possible for you to trace the finger pattern and email it to those who are interested. If so we could pm you our email address. Very nice job on the press. I am builing one out of a trailer jack but the fingers are the hold up.


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## Tunaboy (Oct 3, 2004)

*Press*

























Here are Pic's of the finger and the mounting bracket. You can get a good idea of the size. The profile was just a "Looks Good" eyeball type thing. Note the T nut needs to be right and left hand. The half hole under the T nut was just a mistake. Tale a look at the bracket that the finger bolts to. Steel roll pins keep the fingers from backing up under load.[


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## hunt1687 (Aug 22, 2008)

Thank you for the pics of the fingers, that will help and I should be able to wing it from there.


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## redbone311 (Sep 6, 2010)

Bump for an innovative thinker and a well thought out design that is on a whole new road.


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## jrdrees (Jun 12, 2010)

Nice idea on the plywood, I would be concerned if was just solid wood as it would hold until the day it snapped, the plywood would crunch alot to give you notice if there was to be a break. As someone else noted I would keep the base of the fingers thicker to take up more of the load. Overall great idea!!


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## Tunaboy (Oct 3, 2004)

The finger seem strong enough to do the job. I do notice that when I press an older style bow ( ultre tec) vs. an Alpha max. the press pushes harder because of the limb angle but still works fine. This makes sence when you consider the older design bows. My only concern about making the fingers bigger it that it would cover more of the cams and make working on the bow harder. I have considered a redesign but the unit works pretty good but just looks a little tacky.


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## Thansen (Sep 23, 2009)

Looks great and functionally makes good senses to me. Great job!!


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## b0w_bender (Apr 30, 2006)

mike 66 said:


> why the off set where the pressure comming from . why not in line ? looks great.. the best ive seen .....:shade:


Hey Tuna 
This is very ingenious but I would ask the same question as above I would guess that it would slide better if you put the press portion of the unit directly behind the fingers. Having them off set I would suspect would cause it to want to bind. However if it's working well ... It's working. you may need to get some longer threaded rod but really what is exciting is the idea not necessarily the execution. 

I would have issues with these fingers because of the draw stop on my bow would get in the way but I like what you have done, I think I might do some adjustments on my NF jack press to get the fingers off to the side.

Good work thanks for sharing


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## Tunaboy (Oct 3, 2004)

The lead screw that pushes the fingers is off set because you need to have access to the top of the uni strut so you can get a wrench or allen key in to tighten the unit down. Not sue if there is a way to have the threaded shaft and the slide with the fingers directly over the strut. It is a good idea that I will have to consider. The same strut that holds the press also is used for string making and my bow vise also fits when needed.


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## 808Hybrid (Feb 14, 2011)

Awesome job. Been trying to figure ou fingers for my pipe clamp press since I have no access to a welder.. Been months and I still haven't changed my string/cables. I might try your set up. I kind of want to find fingers for the pipe clamp press but seems no one sells them??? 

Thank for sharing!!


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## BHewes (Nov 15, 2010)

Great press idea, I am going to have one yet and this just might make it happen. It seems to me you could build this press for the cost of the trailer jack to build the other style press I have been wanting to build. If my wife was to see your pictures I would be banned from Archery Talk because that is probably what my archery area is going to look like in my house before long. Thanks for the post.


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