Excellant thread. To help with continuity (same pattern on multiple arrows), you can tape a peice of paper on the base of the crester. Put a fold in it so the paper comes up along the back of the arrow as close as you can get it without it touching. Use a pencil and mark lines and colors. Each shaft you put in the crester will line up and you get identical patterns. Keep the template in a file if it is an exceptionally good pattern.

A clear coat over the finished crest helps protect it longer. One can do some really cool stuff with colored permenant markers in lieu of paint, or in addition to it, though it will smear generally if you dip in clear coat afterwards--thoughthat creates a cool effect in of itself.

As stated above, thin the paint, and the higher quality the brush, the better the application. There is a reason why an artist might pay $15.00 for the higher grade thin camel hair brush. If you clean the brushes well after use, they last a long time.

The indians (native americans for the PC) used to often customize their arrows. It is relaxing to do and another activity to add to the hunting experience...

I have used Goat Tuff on both my aluminums for traditional and my carbons off my compounds for quite a while and never had a problem with it.

I sprayed just white paint on this AM. Let it dry, came back this PM, fletched up three vanes with Goat Tuff, shot it after supper and on the first shot it blew the index vain clean off.

I know Goat Tuff is good stuff...but I don't know about it sticking to cheap spray paint. Maybe try waiting longer? Seal it with something? Heck maybe I used too much glue and couldn't see it for the white paint?

Any thoughts?

I dunno, Swamp... you may want to try the Duco the guys in the Trad Forum suggested to me; it worked superbly on the spray paint when I was using the Gold Tips... I'm at a loss in trying to explain why it's not working as well on my ACC's.

Or, if you're like me, and all you truly care about is a little bit of personalized customization but more importantly that white cap to aid in recovering the arrow, you could always sand off the bottoms like I did in my last pic and glue 'em like normal.

Thanx for the bump Greg/mo. Will lookinto getting set-up soon. Sounds to me like its cheaper than wraps in the long run.

Greg,

This is the kind of stuff we are looking for when we come to this kind of sight and thanks for all your effort in putting this together. This should have a permanent link at the top of the page...hint hint.

I tried again last night after following Greg's instructions this time. Much better results. I'll post some pics tonight after I get some fletching on the shafts.

Greg, is that a light dimmer switch you are using as the speed control? I tried one on my setup and it does not function, it keeps tripping the circuit when I adjust down the speed.What's the secret? Can you supply name and model number of the switch and where you purchased? I would prefer not to use the foot control that comes from the old sewing machine motor, to hard to control. BTW, did a couple arrows in white base with a flo. green fade, look nice!!

Thanks, Gingus

gingus, that's exactly what it is... it's made by Leviton, which is a pretty common brand that can be found at Lowe's I think. The only thing that looks like it may constitute a model number is the NOM 057 stamped on the bottom, and it's also stampedin seperate ink on the label stuck to the side of it.

The motor is a YDK motor, and the model number is YM-40 if that helps. Like I wrote in the orginal post, it was just one the appliance store had laying around which he sold me for $5.

Greg, what is the Bohning part number for the arrow "chuck/holder"? I could not locate any seperate cresting parts on Bohnings website.

gingus, I bought mine from 3Rivers Archery, and probably bought it six months prior to asssembling my cresting machine... so that puts it about two years ago, since I orginally wrote this thread a year and a half ago?

I ran a quick search for you and found that they offer this one now... looks like it's changed somewhat in shape and appearance. Hopefully, it will still work: http://www.3riversarchery.com/Product.asp?c=2&s=8&p=27&i=4139

You may also want to try to contact Bohning directly and tell them you need a replacement chuck for one of their older-style machines.