Fletching glue

davereap

New member
What is the best glue for the plastifletch vanes to aluminium and CF .. my normal superglue isn't working well
 

Martin Heelis

Active member
Ironman
I use AAE Fast Set Adhesive for everything. Providing that the shaft has been cleaned properly you should have no issues. Try to leave them leaning against a wall or something for a day afterwards...unless you like the CSI effect all over your arrows :)

I also tend to put a blob of Bohning Fletch-Tite Platinum at the ends too.
 

fbirder

Member
Try to leave them leaning against a wall or something for a day afterwards
To keep my newly-fletched arrows from too much interaction I got an old poster tube, cut it to size, stuffed some crumpled newspaper into the bottom and drilled some holes in the top -

 

Phil Reay

New member
I always use superglue, scrap the old stuff off the shaft with a stanley blade and then used 400 wet and dry to clean off everything left and to give a good key. I wipe the dust off with a dry cloth, then put superglue on the fletching and they never come off in flight. putting a tiny dab on both ends of the fletching so stop them picking up on pass throughs
 

dell

Member
I now use Arizona Max Bond Adhesive and find it works very well, but don't use too much otherwise the fletching clamp sticks to the vane!
 

davereap

New member
The cheapest glue is obviously the ? shop CA, but this is hard and brittle when cured, and although the fletching I've tried is fixed firm enough it may come adrift over a period of time with the various stresses that get put on the arrows.. so I looked for flexible CA types of glue and finally found the gorilla superglue that is rubberised ..this is just over ?4 for 15gms or 2x3gm tubes at ?3.. it is a medium viscosity.. so can be put on thick enough, similar to the gels sold... I will let you know how it gets on..
 

darthTer

Active member
Supporter
Ironman
American Shoot
best thing for Aluminium arrows is to use wraps (not the tortilla ones...). That way your sticking onto plastic rather than metal.
The one downside is that if you have to replace one fletch, you have to do them all. However, the flip side of that is that the fletching just don't come off.

A wee trip to your local sign writers to see what off cuts they have will serve you well.
 

davereap

New member
Ive now tried the gorilla rubberised superglue.. it works very well.. in fact its now very difficult to remove the vanes if you get them slightly wrongly placed...I got mine from amazon.. in a 15gm bottle for much less than glues sold in archery shops.. A normal CA kicker speeds up the set for an instant fix..
 

Microphonic

New member
+1 for AAE Fastset Gel. I used to use fletchtite which really pales in comparison. When using AAE vanes they have an 'activator' on them which compliments their own glues (apparantly...)

AAE Fastset is so strong it will glue your fingers together. Never got that with fletchtite. Don't pick your nose whilst using it.

I scrape off old vanes and glue with a knife (not razor sharp) clean the shaft with warm soapy water then wipe down with isopropyl alcohol.

I apply pressure with the clamp of my fletching jig so that little beads of glue come out at either end of the vane. In my mind, those beads help stop the vanes peeling off.
 

wingate_52

Active member
Fresh Loctite super glue works well on Bohning vanes and carbon shafts for me. Nice and neat, A dab on each end of the vane does not help with shoot-throughs on a straw boss.
 

buzz lite beer

Well-known member
I stopped paying stupid Archery shop prices for super glue years ago why pay loads more money for the stuff that's exactly the same but just hasn't got "archery" or "fletching" on the tube, Just about all super glue "gel" types available on the high street or in supermarkets are more than fit for purpose, the latex content of the "Gel" type glues reduces the brittleness regular superglue inherently has.
 

davereap

New member
I normally use the ?1 shop cheap CA glues... but the gorilla glue is much, much, stronger... normal cheapo CA is brittle ..the rubberised gorilla glue is tough.. yesterday I used it to fix a metal to metal door support on a fridge after gluing the parts I built up a fillet in a few layers along the join... it has worked well.. and the fletches I fixed are so well on it takes a blade to remove them, where with normal cheapo CA they can be flexed and then removed easily.
 

Rik

Supporter
Supporter
I always used Bostik...

I tried the Easton diamond vanes which came with an instant glue, but it didn't work that well - always some section which didn't adhere. And if they went on slightly wrong: dead fletching. Had to cut it off and start again.
When stripping vanes, I prefer it if you can mostly remove them by hand, without resorting to tools.

Of course, spinwings are a whole different set of problems...
I tried tape on normal vanes once. It works. But no real advantage over glue, other than that you could have some spares taped up and ready to go.
 
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