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Fletching damage

Mike K/NJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2006
Messages
108
Location
New Jersey
So far I've taken about 60 shots with my Tac and the same bottom right fletch on every arrow is trashed and split in the middle. The other three are wrinkled from the whisker qiscuit which is normal but that one bottom right is almost ripped off. This doesn't seem right! Is anyone else having this problem?
 
So far I've taken about 60 shots with my Tac and the same bottom right fletch on every arrow is trashed ...
Which TAC is it?

Is there anything along the right rail that might be catching the fletching?

Is there anything different about right side of your TAC, say how cables cross?

Are the arrows' knocks set to where Left and Right fletchings are level or positioned at same angles in relation to bow's rails?
 
Okiebowie, I have the Tac Elite. The fletching is level when nocked and I always nock the arrows with the same side up every time. The only thing that looks like it could be a problem is the cables. That is the side they cross on. I paper tuned, and with it at full draw there is only about 1/8 of an inch max between the arrow and cables. This seems like a design flaw. I have 6 tac arrows and after about 60 shots total, all 6 need to be refletched.
 
I paper tuned, and with it at full draw there is only about 1/8 of an inch max between the arrow and cables. This seems like a design flaw.
On my TAC 15, there is about 1/4" of clearance. I am wondering if the paper tuning has your bow setup wrong, thus causing your fletching problems.

An arrow notched at rest should not change its inclination when it is at full draw.
If you place a TAC to where its rails are level front to back, a notched arrow should also be level front to back. You need digital level, such as Clinometer app on iPhone to check level to 0.1 degrees.

Harder method to check rest height, and you will need a dial caliper. The center of Whisker biscuit should be same distance from rail as center of string from rail measured at rest and also at 3/4 of full draw (part way forward so you can measure string center).

If you are really having to position Whisker Biscuit to where it sits low, whereby arrow has a downward incline, then there may be something wrong with your limbs. A mismatched pair of parallel limbs is nearly impossible to tune and will cause an arrow to have an eradicate flight path.
 
I have also papertuned and found that I had to move my arrowrest way down. So far that the arrow is obviously angled downward. I believe it has alot to do with the design of the bow. for instance when the string releases from the "slide block" it drops down, which i believe makes my arrow level during the shot. If you attach the slide block to the string and nock an arrow, stand away at the rear of the bow and look at the line of the string. It angles up from the cams to the slide on both side, both cocked and uncocked. When you pull the trigger the string drops while it is moving forward, changing the angle of the arrow during the shot. I tried leveling the arrow and all that like Andy had said in an old thread about setting up your Tac. but during the shot all that is out the window. After I posted about it, he too papertuned an Elite right off the shelf and found everything I'm saying to be true... so much so that he deleted the "set up" thread and said he was getting with the engineers to find out why the bow is designed that way. I have not heard anything more about it. My bow is shooting perfect "bulletholes" at 7yds., 20yds., so the arrow is definitely launching and flying correctly.
 
... for instance when the string releases from the "slide block" it drops down ...
How did you determine that string is dropping down upon release?
Something Hi-Tech like High Speed Video Camera or something Low-Tech like string making brushing marks?
 
he too papertuned an Elite right off the shelf and found everything I'm saying to be true... ... he was getting with the engineers to find out why the bow is designed that way.
Has he seen this on more than one TAC Elite or just the one?

Hard to imagine why a TAC Elite would be designed to where string is held upward to where upon release the string immediately drops downward. Which has me wondering if there was a bad run. Caused by some machining process that got accidentally and temporarily changed or there was a mis-calibration of a machine that went unnoticed. Could even be a case of repetitive human error by one person on a changing shift schedule.
 
How did you determine that string is dropping down upon release?
Something Hi-Tech like High Speed Video Camera or something Low-Tech like string making brushing marks?

just looking at it... if you nock an arrow, only on the string without the block under it, you will see that the string is straight from cam to cam. Now slide the block forward and you will see that the arrow nock and string rises up when the block goes under the string to hook up your loop and activate the anti-dryfire device. When you draw the bow the block goes even higher right before the notch then settles in the notch. The notch is on the same plane as the rest of the slide so your string is still sitting up on the block in the cocked position. When you pull the trigger the string comes off of the block and while moving forward it also returns to the same height it was before the block was slid under it which pushed it upward... so naturally it is dropping off the block during the shot. It's definitely not a flaw. It's how it is made. Its just the way it is designed to operate. The only way to change it would to be a redesign of the block to keep the string on the same plane all the time, but then you would lose much of the downward pressure on the anti-dryfire device. If the string did not have to lift up on the block to keep pressure on it then the block and release mechanism would end up being "sloppy" with up and down movement. This pressure is what keeps all of these things tight. It's not a big deal, in my mind, as long as the bow can be properly papertuned. It is what it is.
 
just looking at it... if you nock an arrow, only on the string without the block under it, you will see that the string is straight from cam to cam. Now slide the block forward and you will see that the arrow nock and string rises up when the block goes under the string to hook up your loop and activate the anti-dryfire device. When you draw the bow the block goes even higher right before the notch then settles in the notch. The notch is on the same plane as the rest of the slide so your string is still sitting up on the block in the cocked position. When you pull the trigger the string comes off of the block and while moving forward it also returns to the same height it was before the block was slid under it which pushed it upward... so naturally it is dropping off the block during the shot. It's definitely not a flaw. It's how it is made. Its just the way it is designed to operate. The only way to change it would to be a redesign of the block to keep the string on the same plane all the time, but then you would lose much of the downward pressure on the anti-dryfire device. If the string did not have to lift up on the block to keep pressure on it then the block and release mechanism would end up being "sloppy" with up and down movement. This pressure is what keeps all of these things tight. It's not a big deal, in my mind, as long as the bow can be properly papertuned. It is what it is.

Also keep in mind, we are not talking about a great deal of droppage here, just enough to make a difference.
 
OkieBowie , I noticed on another thread that you don't have an Elite. The aforementioned might not be true on the Tac 15. If you go to the LRH store and look at the Aerobolt II , you will see, in red letters that they dont recommend those arrows for the elite because the fletchings are hitting the cables. They say the Elites have less clearance than the Tac 15s. Evidently the Elites are designed a little bit different than the Tac 15s.
 
You guys can call it what you want. Its a bad design if you can only shoot an arrow a couple of times before the fletching is being ripped off. At the price we all paid for these rigs, We should at least be able to shoot them without fear of damage or God forbid, injury.
 
You guys can call it what you want. Its a bad design if you can only shoot an arrow a couple of times before the fletching is being ripped off. At the price we all paid for these rigs, We should at least be able to shoot them without fear of damage or God forbid, injury.

You can say that again! Too much money for ANY issues!! I'm not getting any ill side effects like that though, my fletchings are barely clearing the cables... If I were you I would set up your papertuning rig and make sure you are shooting perfect holes, if you are then move the rest up EVER SO SLIGHTLY and shoot again, do this until it just barely starts to change your bullet hole then move it back to the last one where it was still shooting a bullet hole. Of course this is just for the sake of trying to get your fletchings to clear the cables......
 
You can say that again! Too much money for ANY issues!! I'm not getting any ill side effects like that though, my fletchings are barely clearing the cables... If I were you I would set up your papertuning rig and make sure you are shooting perfect holes, if you are then move the rest up EVER SO SLIGHTLY and shoot again, do this until it just barely starts to change your bullet hole then move it back to the last one where it was still shooting a bullet hole. Of course this is just for the sake of trying to get your fletchings to clear the cables......

Well, I do have a good supply of bare shafts now.
 
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