fletching angle

[jthain]

Just to add to be careful when taking it apart as the springs and ball bearings can be lost quite easily.

[BowSurfer]

I know this is not quite the same, but it seems related in a way so I am posting here initially. Mods feel free to move it to a new thread if it is better there.
I use a Beiter adjustable rest and in their 'hints and tips' the say to align the nock in the 'Y' position, one vane straight down two up. quote "In this position the fletching gives the arrow the biggest free space to allow the best possible clearance". With high speed photos to prove their point - although not wonderfully clear and the arrow seems to be well out from the bow as the fletchings pass the rest anyway.
They also say "It is absolutely normal to have the higher Nocking point 16-20mm above Zero. These allows the arrow rest and the plunger to work in better synergy".
Has anybody tried settings like this?
comments? ridicule? general hilarity? or even grudging agreement?

[Cimbian]

Originally Posted by jthain

I had this problem that you are experiencing and found it really frustrating but managed to cure it with a bit of fiddling about.
On your jig is there two grub screws close together on the large collar that holds the rotating bit?. If so release the hexagonal screw that secures the rotating part and it comes out. I found that there were two positional collars inside, each has a ball bearing on a spring to push them into holes set into the collars that operate as you turn the rotating part but only one has a setting for three equally spaced holes for the ball bearing to fall into. I discarded the one with uneven settings and put back the one with the equally spaced settings and it worked fine.
Hope you understand this.

Thanks John, I'll take a look inside.

[mk1]

well this is absolutley facinating


I've been struggling to fletch some 1000 triples with an upright Arten jig. Now those as most of you will know are pretty skinny arrows. so of course the difference in space between the fletchings shows up really clearly with two small gaps and a big one. I thought it had something to do with my using beiter nocks even with an adaptor as I had some memory of a similar problem years ago where I resorted to using g nocks in the jig and got a better results.

I've got over my current "problem" by marking the arrows with a tri-liner and then turning them in the nock to line up the line with the clamp for each fletch rather tham moving the jig round the arrow and using fletchings with a narrow footing.

You wouldn't think I've been at this game for ^^teen years

I've never read anything about uneven spacings, but come to think of it it would help clearance over a launcher of past a riser - so it makes sense. I'm not surethat the un-equal spacing makes much difference to arrow flight, but then I've been using spin wings out of a recurve for most of my archery life and have used one of these tube like things with the slots in it for positioning those.

Anyway the triples I've fletched so far aren't that prefectly spaced and they're grouping alright.

RIK - the jigs may well be machined by a bloke in a shed in Scotland, but they have been engineering stuff for years - I'd think they know a thing or two; and I do buy joetapley's answer. I've visited Arten a couple of times and they're among the nicest people you could hope to meet. If I get an opportunity I'll ask Mr Arten In the meantime, I'll be digging through my basic archery books and seeing if I come up with anything and I'll measure my jig and I'll ask some "oldtimers" who may know a thing or two.

[Andyakashrek]

I use a bitzenburger for fletching and as jthain says on the collar that houses the rotating index dial that sets the vane angle there are two grub screws. One does 120 degrees between fletches and the other does 3 fletches but at a different angle setting. It may be that yours is the same. Take it out and have a look, or fletch 2 arrows, one on each setting and see if they are different.
If you find that the jig is faulty it is probably the one Hamish made on a Friday afternoon after a lunchtime whisky.

[mk1]

Andyakashrek

The Arten I'm using and Cimbian has a flat square plate with three dents in it at the triangle points. An arm rotates from the middle of the plate and a ball on a spring under the arm connects with the holes in the plates to swing the jig apparatus round the arrow which sits vertically like its on a space ship launcher.

The position of these 3 holes dictates the fletching spacings.

Are you saying if I'd coughed up for a bitzenburger years ago I'd have found out one of archery's hidden secrets?

[mk1]

well - went through my archery books last night including Archery Equipment by John Holden. The only reference to fletching spacing I found is in W.F.Paterson Encyclopaedia of Archery where it states that "they are usually three in number and spaced at a hundred and twenty degrees around the shaft"

I also marked the triangle up on the base plate of my jig and its equilateral.

[Andyakashrek]

Hi MK1,

Bitz's are very expensive for what they are, luckily I did not have to pay for mine, my sponsor treated me.

They are very versatile though and can fletch any angle you want. IIRC on the instruction sheet it shows 6 maybe 7 different fletching patterns possible, it also does spin wings. You can also get clamps that will put a curve into feathers as they are fletched. Although expensive they are indestructible, and heavy.

[Andyakashrek]

I was thinking of the wrong jig.

[Cimbian]

[quote=mk1;74196]Andyakashrek

The Arten I'm using and Cimbian has a flat square plate with three dents in it at the triangle points. An arm rotates from the middle of the plate and a ball on a spring under the arm connects with the holes in the plates to swing the jig apparatus round the arrow which sits vertically like its on a space ship launcher.
QUOTE]

No, I am using the Arten Tollgate jig (the yellow one that sits on a toolpost at an angle), not the vertical one.