I had a chance to play around with the bow simulator this past weekend and I think it is quite useful.
you can "draw" out your bow in length, width and thickness in a quick sketch or in minute detail. input deflex, reflex and recurve. there is even a feature to design a composite or laminate of differing materials. one part many might find useful is the static simulation feature. By moving a slider the designer can see what his bow should look like at any point along the draw curve.
Recently there was a thread discussing how one should be able to see the limb bendshape develop as the bow is tillered out longer. I think it was a deflex/working reflex that the bowyer thought should have the limbs go straight at some point in the draw. this application could help visualize
one can design and evaluate before building or input an already glued up laminate or pre-bent stave to see how it should bend.
a dynamic simulation feature seems exciting, as it indicates in a graphical chart where the energy is stored and released when the bow is shot. limbs, arrow and string are all part of the outputs.
Hopefully, the project will find a home in more than a few toolboxes.
lleroy, I will have to look over those .bow files. it seems that my old distrubution had trouble with the appimage, but an update got it working well.
