Lots of blood and a very sore hand.

[Mick Smith]

I decided to take my new Flatline Raptor and half a dozen of my Easton Full Metal Jacket arrows to the archery range yesterday. I really like shooting this gear. It's a great combo.

Easton Full Metal Jacket shafts are basically aluminium in construction, with a carbon inner core. They're not particularly cheap, but they perform beautifully.

I hadn't used the FMJ arrows for a while and I didn't notice that some of the 4 inch fletches were starting to lift slightly. On my third shot of the morning I immediately felt a searing pain on my left hand. I noticed extensive blood splatter on my new bow and then on a closer inspection, I noticed a part of one of my fletches sticking out of the back of my hand. As I pulled the fletch out, I discovered the fletch was actually a full 4 inch fletch that was more than half buried into the back of my hand. I bled like a stuck pig for ages.

I had previously had an unblemished record of success using Locktite superglue to glue on my fletches. It appears it doesn't work very well on aluminium though. I thoroughly cleaned the shafts with metho before sticking them on. Upon checking my other FMJ arrows, I discovered the fletches were all very poorly attached. All it took was the slightest of pressure and they would come free.

This was very annoying as I had spent a fair amount of money and time building these arrows. Obviously the fletches will have to be removed and I doubt if I can reuse them, as they're quite stiff and have residual glue attached. I will buy new fletches.

I'm seriously thinking about buying some heat shrink wraps to fit to my FMJ shafts. I figure the plastic on the shafts will give the glue something good to bond to. I'm also thinking of using good old fletchtite to stick them on. I don't want another bloody bow hand.

Am I on the right track with refurbishing these aluminium shafts? Is there a better solution?

[Ian Turner]

Hi mate,
Aluminium and plastic are two of the hardest things to get to bond to each other.
I use isopropyl alchohol from bunnings after a light sanding of the shaft and if i am using AAE fltches that have their own activator on them i clean that off with a cotton bud and acetone and then glue them together.
Aluminum being a "greasy"metal is a b____r but i find with this surface prep it works.
By the by i spray the isopropyl alchohol on heavily and wipe off twice with a coarse paper towell.
I use this method with Killer Vanes, AAE Plastyfletches and Max Hunters on aluminiums and so far so good.
I find this also helps the feathers sticks really well too.In fact bloody hard to scrape them off when i want to get them off.
Cheers
and hope the hand is all good.
Ian

[Sleepy]

Hi Mick,
sorry to hear about the hand. Ouch!!

Am afraid I don't know much about bonding to aluminium shafts - I'm guessing epoxy for gluing the fletches down would last longer and adhere better than the superglue. And to ensure this doesn't happen again, I'm thinking cresting/binding the front of the fletches down with thread and lacquering over the top should do the job? Especially if the thread had a roughish surface to latch onto - e.g. perhaps paint something (e.g. some thinnish epoxy or perhaps superglue?) onto the aluminium surface and roughen it up with a little sandpaper before you lay down the thread? And it'd make it a little more "trad" too.

Alternatively you may be able to accomplish the same thing (and this could be useful as a quick-and-dirty method while out in the field), with a short piece of heat-shrink over the front end of the fletching (assuming the heat applied while shrinking the heat-shrink down doesn't also damage the fletching)? Just an idea.

Like I said before though; this is just me guessing - I couldn't see any mention of what Ian Turner was using as the glue; the same Locktite superglue as yourself I'm presuming. So if someone else chimes in having dealt with this before, I'd go with whatever they say!

Cheers!

[greybeard]

Yes Mick, such events can be painful. I found the worst part was extracting the remnants of the quill.

It has only happened to me once and that was when shooting a selfbow off the knuckle.

Daryl.

[littlejohn59]

Hey Mick

That's not good to hear. Your having a bad trot at the moment....

I use the same method that Ian uses for fmj's. The aae glue is more expensive but it goes a long long long way. Use it sparingly!

The best thing with aae glue is that the fletches are dry within about 30 seconds if not less and your arrows are ready to be shot almost immediately. You will break an arrow before the fletch comes off, using aae glue. Once the bottle is opened put it in the fridge which will help preserve the glue. I have had one in there for a year and its still fine.

Another little trick that i do is with a screwdriver is roll the round shaft of the screwdriver over the beginning of the fletch for half an inch. Its especially helpful if you shoot off the hand.

I would refurbish your arrows. I would not use fletchtite. I would not even use platinum. I think the quality has dropped off with fletchtite. Others might have a different opinion regarding fletchtite though.

ps. Just make sure you don't forget the glue is in the fridge and use it as a condiment on your sandwiches.

[alaninoz]

Hi mate,
Aluminium and plastic are two of the hardest things to get to bond to each other.
I use isopropyl alchohol from bunnings after a light sanding of the shaft and if i am using AAE fltches that have their own activator on them i clean that off with a cotton bud and acetone and then glue them together.
Aluminum being a "greasy"metal is a b____r but i find with this surface prep it works.
By the by i spray the isopropyl alchohol on heavily and wipe off twice with a coarse paper towell.
I use this method with Killer Vanes, AAE Plastyfletches and Max Hunters on aluminiums and so far so good.
I find this also helps the feathers sticks really well too.In fact bloody hard to scrape them off when i want to get them off.
Cheers
and hope the hand is all good.
Ian

I second this - it's much the same as I used to do before switching to woods. One other point is to choose the right glue. Loctite 406 will work better that 401 or 454. There might to others out there but 406 is relatively easy to get.

[Mick Smith]

Thanks for all the help and kind words everyone.

Yeah, getting the quill out of my hand wasn't enjoyable at all. Luckily, all the blood saturated the fletch to the extent that it just sort of folded back, allowing me to pull it straight out. I couldn't believe how much had gone into my hand, or how deeply it must have gone in. I was lucky I didn't faint.

I ripped all the old fletching off my FMJs today. It came of quite easily, although there were a few spots that seemed to stick a lot better than others. I had to take all of the old fletching off, as I just wouldn't want to shoot those arrows again with those same fletches. Not only is it painful to end up with a fletch in the back of your hand, it's very disruptive of the days planned events.

Getting the glue residue off the shafts was easy. It was just a matter of running along the shafts with an old blunt pocket knife until it was all gone. The black anodised finish is very tough.

I ended up buying some new brightly coloured wraps for my FMJs, as much to ensure a good bond with the fletching as well as to end up with a nice bright arrow that's going to be easy to follow in flight. I will also buy some new brightly coloured fletching to complete the transformation.

I plan to try one of the glues suggested above, rather than sticking with my Loctite superglue gel that I've been using. My old glue worked very well on woods and carbons, but it sure doesn't like bare aluminium.

[UPTHETOP]

Mick: Karma mate, should have been using woods with the flatline , fletches would still be on the shaft.

P.S Hope the hand heals well.

Cheers Wayno

[rodlonq]

Gday Mick, hope the hand is healing well. How about putting a short length of heat shrink tube over the shaft and front end of the fletching, similar to binding, only quicker and perhaps more weather resistant?

Cheers... Rod

PS Like Wayno said mate, you probably wouldn't have had the problem if you was using wood LOL.

[motty]

Mick, I've been fletching Easton alloy arrows with fletchtite for 20 years on and off. Just recently I've had feathers and vanes come off just as you've described. A few people on USA sites posted about the same thing. Different superglue gels have good/bad results. Even a light sand paper and metho clean doesn't help. Might be the anodised arrow coating from Easton?
Jason

[Mick Smith]

I have fletched other aluminium arrows before without any problems. I thought the difference this time was that previously I had painted caps on my aluminiums and the glue was adhering to the paint rather than the aluminium. I remember from many years back, I used to fletch bare aluminium shafts with fletchtite without any probs.

It might be that Easton is using a different anodised finish on their shafts these days, but I think it's more likely that my Loctite superglue gel just doesn't adhere well to bare aluminium anodised finishes.

Either way, I'm pretty sure the use of wraps on my FMJs will almost certainly be a good solution for me. My Fletchtite Platinum will, almost certainly, stick to both the quill of the fletch and to the plastic wrap well.

After a few adverse comments about my selection of shafts appeared on this thread, I thought I'd get my good old wood arrows out for a few shoots. They felt like I was shooting telegraph poles!! I can't fault the way they flew though.