Arrow straightness revisited
 

I recently set up the arrowspinners on my new Cabela's arrow saw with a dial indicator so that I could check the straightness of my arrows.

It was very disappointing. None of my carbon arrows was close to the advertised tolerances. The only exception is some practice arrows that have been cut down to 26" by trimming both ends. They were within .002" TIR. Some were close, but some that are supposed to be .003"measured .016".

This showed me that Lenhasbeen exactlyright in his arrow rants over the last few years. I always believed him, but thought he might have been exagerating a little. But based on thechecking that I've done, he is not exagerating at all.

A lot of people say that they can shootas wellwith arrowsthat are.006" as they can with .003"arrows.Maybe the reason is that they have never actually shot arrows from a dozen that is within .003" straightness.

I plan to contact the manufacturers of all the arrows that I have that are not within advertised tolerances. Hopefully if enough of us do this,they will begin to notice.

Have any of you had similar results?

RE: Arrow straightness revisited
 

i have a guy i fletch arrows for he has the same problem

RE: Arrow straightness revisited
 

Yeah, some shaftslook like a wet noodle when spinning them.

What shafts did you check?

RE: Arrow straightness revisited
 

Carbon Express - CXL Select
Carbon Express - CXL standard
Carbon Express - CXL2 Select
Beman - ICS Hunter
Gold Tip - XT
Beman - Carbon Hunter
PSE - Radial X Pro

I'm at the office right now so I don't have the numbers, but the worst arrow was the ICS Hunter.

The CXL Selects did test to .002" TIR when I cut them to 26". They weretrimmed from both ends.

The CXL2's have not been trimmed at all. I bought them because I like the arrow and found a good price. They will be cut & used when the CXL's are retired.

RE: Arrow straightness revisited
 

If you've got a spine tester and need another eye opener, check the spine at several axis on each shaft.[:-];)

RE: Arrow straightness revisited
 

I only need a 880 gram weight to use the same setup to test for spine. A 2 pound dragline cannonball should do it. They are available at fishing supply stores nearer the coast. A little road trip is coming up this weekend.

RE: Arrow straightness revisited
 

Just for comparing spine deflection from one shaft to the next, or at various points around a shaft,the weightdoesn't need to be exactly right. So a cannonball would work fine.

If you want to get a setup that'll give you the true deflection measurement, do this. Get an empty vitamin bottle, a screw-in hook and some bird shot. Fill the bottle with shot until you hit the exact weight you need. It's much easier than trying to find a lead cannonball that's perfect weight, or trying to whittle one down that's a bit over weight.

RE: Arrow straightness revisited
 

I don't think that "rants" is the proper description of how Len tries to get information across to people.When he makes statement about Bows,Arrows,Tuning or whatever the case may be, he is basing it on years and yearsof testing and experience, NOT on personal opinion.I am lucky enough to be able to go to his shop and have him explain things that i don't understand.He has nothing to gain by "ranting" about anything.If people would just sit back and "think" about what he says and not try to disprove anything he says. Maybe just Maybe we could "ALL" benefit from his expereience.JMO;)

RE: Arrow straightness revisited
 

I'd love to know exactly how you did this. How did you attach the dial indicator to the arrow saw? Any photos? For years I've heard of people complaining about this, but I've never had a way to check arrow straightness over a 28" distance or whatever the standard distance is. I see how the arrow saw conversion might work.

Like Arthur says, check spine with a tester for a real eye-opener. I've found that by spine tuning my arrows, that straightness didn't seem to be a factor in bad broadhead flight. If I could get spine matched arrows with the cock feather on the stiffest side, I got great flight. the only time flight was poor, was when the spine was too far off the average for the group. For this reason, I won't shoot an arrow that isn't spine tested. It's that important on carbons. I've never had a way to test straightness over the full length of the arrow, and because of the flight that I get off spine-tuned arrows, I'm not sure it's that important.

RE: Arrow straightness revisited
 

newman1 - Please don't think that I mean any disrespect to Len by using the word "rant" in reference tohis posts. I also am lucky enough to be able to visit Len's shopand agree with you 100% that he is one of the most knowledgeable archers around. ;) I always listen whenever he talks about archery and bowhunting. In fact most of the time that I log onto this website, the first thing I do is check for any new posts by Len.

Straightarrow - Check out the photos of the saw on Cabela's website. Their saw comes with two spinners that hang onto the vertical leg of the steel base. I simply turn the saw around and set up my dial indicator on a magnetic base to read the runout. I found that the magnet in thebase onthe Harbor Freight unit is not adequate to hold it steady. It needs to be clamped to the saw. A machinist would probably die laughing at my set up, but it works.