brucelanthier

Our season will be over at the end of the month and I want to work with aluminum arrows in the off-season to increase my overall knowledge and to increase my arrow options. What I am looking for are some tips, recommendations and info before I get started.

I am planning on using easton shafts, are there others I should look at?

Straightening shafts. What's that all about, how to do it and what are good straighteners?

Gluing in inserts, nocks etc. What is good glue? Are the glue pots I have seen worth it? I have also seen the heating of a glue stick with a torch and applying it that way. Is that better/preferable?

Any tips about working with aluminum shaftsthat would be helpful would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

mobow

Straightening? Some of the other guys will have to chime in on that one, I've never done it, nor seen it done. I would highly suspect though that there is absolutely no way to get them as straight as they were.

We use FerrlTite (sp?) at the shop, over a small alcohol burner. Lets back up though. After you cut the shafts to length, you need a champhering (once again, SP??) tool to de-burr the inside of the arrow. Once that's completed, then your ready to glue the inserts. I know this sounds elementary, but I've seen guys burn their fingers because the are holding the insert directly....DO'H!

Hold the insert with some pliers, gently...heat the glue and the insert, but don't hold the insert directly over the flame. Once the glue melts, apply a small amount of glue. You're ready for the arrow, and this is where practice comes into play. You'll need to keep the glue melted while installing the insert. Again, you don't want to directly heat the insert or the arrow...Aluminum will melt. Insert the insert (lol...wow, that sounds funny) while spinning the arrow to evenly distribute the glue. Seat the insert and allow to cool. Then scrape off the excess glue.

There's really not much to it, but it takes a gentle touch so as not to melt the wrong stuff. I would maybe start out w/ some junker arrows that you don't mind ruining. Once you get the insert in, screw in a point. From there, you can heat the point which in turn will melt the glue, and you can remove the insert. Good practice.

Arthur P

Easton shafts only. If you see other brands, they're probably nothing but Easton seconds with someone else's name on 'em.

I use Ferr-L-Tite hot melt for inserts and Fletchtite for fletching and nocks. That's all you need. Leave the glue pots to the folks who are making arrows wholesale. Some folks use epoxy for their inserts, but I like being able to warm up the hot melt glue andturn the inserts to fine tunemy broadheads.

If you've got a high speed abrasive wheel arrow saw for cutting carbon shafts, it'll work great on aluminums as well.

An arrow straightener is good to have on hand, if you want to save money. You can usually straighten a shaft back to factory specs with a little patience and some experience with the tool. A bad kink is impossible to remove, but a little bit of a bend is no problem. Who knows how many millions of arrows that have been thrown away when a little work on a straightener would have put them back right. Here's a good arrow straightener made by Apple. There are less expensive ones and will pay for themselves sooner than this one would, especially if you're not shooting aluminum exclusively, or are using some of the heavy, tougher aluminum shafts. They just don't get bent as easily as the thin walled light ones do.



To clean aluminum shafts for fletching, I've always just given them a good scrub with Ajax, Comet or some other scouring powder, but a cleaning with denatured alcohol or acetone works fine too.

That's about it. Pretty simple stuff and a lot easier to work with than carbon.

KodiakArcher

Aluminum will melt but you're not going to do it with an alcohol lamp. I use a propane torch and have never even melted an insert with that. Get some glue melted on the insert and then heat both the shaft and insert as you push them together. It doesn't take much heat so don't sit there like you're roasting marshmallows. Just pass it through the flame a couple times and git 'er done! The thing I really like about aluminum shafts is the ability to heat and tune the insert/broadhead combination to get a perfectly aligned broadhead.

Working with aluminum shafts is pretty simple. If they're bent in the right place (not at the ends) and it's a simple "u" bend and not the more common "s" bend I can usually get them back to within .001" of straight (which is good enough for a target shaft) but the spine suffers and that arrow is more prone to bending again. The tool Arthur posted is similar to the one I use. You need to be careful not to crush/dent a thin walled shaft with it though. Anymore I figure that the time it takes me to straighten a shaft is worth more than the shaft itself so I just toss 'em.

brucelanthier

Thanks guys.

Good to know about the deburring tool. I'll get some ferr-l-tite. I'll also look into the apple straightener.

I assume that fletch tape for feathers will work just fine on aluminum shafts?

brucelanthier

This is what I had seen (Byron Ferguson video) and probably the way I'll go.
One of the reasons I am going to give these a good looking at.


I like the Carbon Techs I use as they are good quality and consistancy but they just don't give me the weight and spine options I want to fool with. I will continue to use them but do not want to be limited either.

mobow

In fact, I would recommend the tape for feathers. Works very well.

brucelanthier

Yeah, I use it on the carbons. Love it .

WV Hunter

Ditto what Art said, he is right on with all of it. Agree....Easton only, preferrablyXX78s (w/uni bushings).

Regarding inserts...what I do is put the insert just barely into the arrow, and heat it up over a propane torch...rotating it to evenly heat it. Then put yourferrule-tite stick on the insert, and rotate the insert in it....it will melt uniformly around the insert. Push the insert down onto a paper towel, and seat it into the arrow, then rotate it on the paper towel, wa-la....ready to go, with excess glue wiped off. You'll know when you get it hot enough, it doesn't take much....and you can't possibly melt the aluminum unless your a complete idiot.

I don't know if I'd waste the $ buying an arrow straightener initially. I have one, and they can definitely be straightened back if its not too bad, but honestly unless you shoot a ton...you won't use it much. Might be better to spend the money on something else. Fletcher, hi-speed cut off tool, etc.

Good luck!

brucelanthier

I think I'll take that bit of advice even though I do shoot quite a bit. I can shoot pretty much any distance , any time out back and I usually do LOL. It looks like all I'll need to get started with aluminum is the deburring tool, ferr-l-tite and some shafts.

Thanks again guys.