DIY Bow Press Build

[FALFA]

I needed a press and didn't want to shell out all the money. It probably took me 3 hours so far. I did some research on trying to make a draw board and concluded that wasn't worth it.

Tubes are 1/8" wall 2" and 1.75". to get them to telescope, I took my grinder and made a groove in line with the interior weld inside the 2" tube. I rubbed some beeswax on the tube as well. Slides pretty nice.

The press finger has a separate smaller piece because they can only laser cut 1/2" aluminum, that'll double it up and fit my Mathews Lift better.

Figuring out what kind of handle I want to put on as well.

Cost:
$40 - Steel
$15 - Hardware
$16 - Pillow block bearing
$120 - Laser cut parts - (sendcutsend) bow press fingers, block that finger attaches to, and some hooks to hang stuff while saddle hunting, which are unrelated but in the order total.
$265 - Archery Dezign- draw board

$456 - All in for press with draw board.

I am waiting on the draw board and laser cut parts. Will post some more photos once those come in.

 

[Wheels]

Looks good, I would think the draw board would be the easiest thing to make in your DIY project.

 

[jdmaxwell]

Nice job. I also built bow press just like yours out of square tube. Works great

 

[FALFA]

Looks good, I would think the draw board would be the easiest thing to make in your DIY project.

The closest parts I found were small hand winches and I fingered the gearing would be too big to make it a pain to check timing and reversing would be all in me not letting go of the handle. Figured it was worth paying the money for one that was made for the function to not take the risk of blowing my bow up.

Maybe somebody else found some better parts besides a hand winch?

 

[Wheels]

I’ve seen where some people use a boat winch with worm gears.

 

[FALFA]

Few more photos, works great!

 

[cornfedkiller]

Looks great!

Only thing I would suggest for anyone else looking to do this build is "acme rod" rather than standard threaded rod. Heavier and deeper threads, so it cranks a little faster and smoother and is stronger.

 

[That7MagDude]

Agreed. Spent too much time using threaded rod over the years to trust my bow to it

 

[FALFA]

Looks great!

Only thing I would suggest for anyone else looking to do this build is "acme rod" rather than standard threaded rod. Heavier and deeper threads, so it cranks a little faster and smoother and is stronger.

Good call! I assumed it would be too expensive and never looked into it. Not as expensive as I was thinking when I just googled it. I may switch it out at some point. I use this press so infrequently the extra cranks probably won't get annoying and not too worried about strength with how little load it takes to press or draw a bow.

Thanks

 

[LowBrow]

That’s a sweet set up. You definitely have some fabricating skills!

 

[ALhunter425]

Sweet setup. Did you design the press fingers, or did you use something as a template?

 

[FALFA]

Sweet setup. Did you design the press fingers, or did you use something as a template?

I found an image of the last chance one and drew something close on cad. I just made sure the part that goes against the bow was the right size and I just used calipers on my bow to do that.

 

[ALhunter425]

I found an image of the last chance one and drew something close on cad. I just made sure the part that goes against the bow was the right size and I just used calipers on my bow to do that.

Neat. Your bow seems to have a built in saddle for the bowpress fingers. I dont think my bow has those on it, but i dont have my bow infront of me now. Can your bow press fingers be used for other types of bows? would you try to catch the cam axle in the cut valley in your bowpress fingers?

 

[FALFA]

Neat. Your bow seems to have a built in saddle for the bowpress fingers. I dont think my bow has those on it, but i dont have my bow infront of me now. Can your bow press fingers be used for other types of bows? would you try to catch the cam axle in the cut valley in your bowpress fingers?

Yeah those fingers specifically fit my mathews lift.

 

[Athor119]

Looks great, all it needs is a coat of black paint!

 

[68-Whisky]

I needed a press and didn't want to shell out all the money. It probably took me 3 hours so far. I did some research on trying to make a draw board and concluded that wasn't worth it.

Tubes are 1/8" wall 2" and 1.75". to get them to telescope, I took my grinder and made a groove in line with the interior weld inside the 2" tube. I rubbed some beeswax on the tube as well. Slides pretty nice.

The press finger has a separate smaller piece because they can only laser cut 1/2" aluminum, that'll double it up and fit my Mathews Lift better.

Figuring out what kind of handle I want to put on as well.

Cost:
$40 - Steel
$15 - Hardware
$16 - Pillow block bearing
$120 - Laser cut parts - (sendcutsend) bow press fingers, block that finger attaches to, and some hooks to hang stuff while saddle hunting, which are unrelated but in the order total.
$265 - Archery Dezign- draw board

$456 - All in for press with draw board.

I am waiting on the draw board and laser cut parts. Will post some more photos once those come in.

Late to the thread, but I simply bought a square trailer jack, welded some square tube to the ends to make it wider, and went online to find some CAD files for plasma cut fingers. I cut them out. All said and done, it cost me less than $100 and 2 hours of welding/cutting.