Bow Press & Vice Input

[Squirrels]

To start I've never done anything to a bow other than move the rest and sight but I am tired of depending on taking it to a shop with a so called pro to do anything to bow. Our current shutdown situation has me even more interested in buying the equipment and learning. I know I can learn it and I am very particular and meticulous about almost everything I do. If I decide to pursue I think I will get a ez-press. I'm curious as to what some of you guys who have more knowledge of this stuff than I think about some if the package deals LCA offers. I was looking specifically at the Advance Package https://lastchancearchery.com/shop-1/advanced-package
Looks to have a lot in it, including a vise. Not sure I care anything about the fletcher but I could sell it. I'm all ears experts....

 

[melocal]

I am of similar mindset at the moment. Have had three poor experiences at two different bow shops in quick successsion recently. Here is a thread I started recently, maybe it will be useful for you.

Budget Friendly Bow Press and Arrow Build Equipment?

I have had less than satisfactory experiences with two different bow shops in my area now, and so I am thinking about getting the tools needed to do fletching, cut arrows, basically build an arrow, as well as some sort of bow press. I spent a couple evenings down the youtube rabbit hole...

saddlehunter.com

 

[Apex7]

You can pick up a portable press for a lot less and you can make a draw board and a vice is easy to get. It would save you a lot of money. Do some research before you drop a couple grand.

 

[like.2.fly]

+1 on that. Bowmaster portable cable press, with split limb brackets if needed. Inexpensive and works fine on every bow I've tried it on (Hoyt, Prime, PSE, etc.). Not super convenient to use, but it works and is perfect for the home tinkerer. Build a draw board on your workbench using a boat/hand winch from Harbor Freight or ebay. Lots of good DIY videos/articles/plans online for this. Google it. No need to spend a bunch of money unless you plan on opening a bow shop and doing high volume work. I use an inexpensive bike repair stand/tripod as a bow vise. The frame grabber will grab your stabilizer and hold bow at any angle and height. Around $100 - $150 for everything you need to do your own basic bow work like changing strings/cables, installing peeps & silencers, adding/removing cable/string twists for tuning, etc. Spend another $50 and you can build your own custom arrows.

 

[slonstdy]

Restrung my switchback for the first time myself last week using a Bowmaster portable cable press. I use a Bike Hand bench top vise to hold the bow while I work on it. Also built my own draw board on a 2" x 6" with a worm gear winch picked up at Harbor Freight. It cost me less than $150 for a complete diy home bow shop that can do everything an archery shop does BUT now it gets done right!

I've never worked on my bow previously (other than sighting in) so I'm new to bow tuning but I'm finding it's really quite simple and having the right tools allows me to experiment with stuff I would never have touched in the past. It's very rewarding to restring a bow, set up the correct nock pt, tie in D-loop and peep, verify bow settings are to spec and then have it shoot better than it ever did after bringing it to a "pro" shop.

 

[Aksisu11]

This is awesome stuff guys! With this whole lock down stuff I’m finding that I have a lot of time on my hands to start tinkering around and this is something I was looking into. You all are about to save me a ton of money

Struggle is I would like to find a portable press that works with my Gearhead B24 and Elite z28. Any suggestions?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Gamover06]

If I were you I would piece it all together. I would get the green press and the draw board. Buy the t allens off amazon or at a local place. The Bitzenburger jig is all you need for fletching and then you don't have to try and sell a 200+ dollar jig. You don't really need that pro parts kit. Most bow company's will send you the parts you need for your bow for free or at little to no cost in my experience. You can get a bow scale for less then 30 bucks off amazon also.

I have the Bowmaster and really like it but I am looking at getting a green press because I do work on friends bows and it is just a lot easier then the bowmaster. I have replaced stings with the bowmaster but it will be easier with a green press.

This is the vise I have and it works great.

For Sale - New Spewingjason Bow Vise thread

Starting a new thread as my old one has a lot of outdated info and images of vise versions I don't even sell anymore. I offer all anodized and professionally machined components on my vises now. As of yet, my anodizing colors are black, red, blue, and waiting on a sample of some silver parts...

www.archerytalk.com

It would be nice to order once and have it all but in the end I think you could save your self some dough by piecing it all together. You could also buy yourself an Weston arrow saw and still be money ahead I would think.

Greeen press - 400
Draw board - 225
Vise on AT - 80
Bitz - 90
T allen - 50
Archery pliers - 20
Weston Arrow saw - 200
bow scale - 30
arrow scale - 30
odds and ends? (arrow spinner, arrow square...) - 100
Total 1225

should be close to all you need. I am sure I am missing something but not at home in my shop so cant see it all. That's if you just want to buy and not DIY an arrow saw, draw board, or vise. AT has a lot of DIY for those items.

 

[d_rek]

Skip the portable press. When you eventually get a full sized press you’ll kick yourself and wonder why you ever wasted time with the portable one.

LCA presses are great and easy to operate.

Other nice to haves for a full archery setup include:

Draw board (you can DIY one easily with a boat winch and 2x6, but if you’re going all in then it might make sense to get the press attachment)

Bow vise

String squaring jig/tool

Couple sets of needle nose pliers

Couple sets of Allen wrenches.

Assorted sized Binder clips( the black ones you see clipping paper together)

Silver and black sharpie markers

Arrow squaring device/jig


Working on bows isn’t that hard. The scariest part for me were those first few presses with the portable press. Once I upgraded to a full sized press it got that much easier, and a lot of that fear of hurting the bow is gone.


Sent from d_mobile

 

[slonstdy]

The guys recommending a full size press are absolutely right unless of course you have a tight budget.

The portable press works fine if you only need to use it sporadically, like a string swap or peep install and then put it away and forget about it for months which is what I thought my original intended usage would be but now I find myself wanting to get deeper into tuning and experiment with cam shimming and limb swapping which will require a lot more press time and the ease and convenience of a full sized press is simply on another level.

I'm planning to make a clone of the EZ green If can source the fingers but if not then I'll just have to figure out a way to sneak that FedEx package past my wife.

 

[Squirrels]

I want a full size press. Buy it and be done. Just got to decide if it’s worth the extra to get the standard over the green.

@d_rek what you say? Or anyone else?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[d_rek]

I think it's all personal preference and budget. I don't think the ez green does anything different than the ez press, at least as far as I can tell? It's not clear from the LCA website what the major differences are an the matrix doesn't really tell me much. Maybe a quick email or call into LCA would clear it up?

 

[Squirrels]

I think it's all personal preference and budget. I don't think the ez green does anything different than the ez press, at least as far as I can tell? It's not clear from the LCA website what the major differences are an the matrix doesn't really tell me much. Maybe a quick email or call into LCA would clear it up?

I did call them. EZ press has the wheel, Green has the hand crank. EZ press finger base is bolted on, Green is welded (this allows for being able to change the fingers out if they ever release and upgrade which I was told that was not in any plan). EZ press bench mounts bolt on and are adjustable, the Green comes with bench mounts welded on and are not adjustable. I was told the construction is otherwise identical. I am going green.