Trimming arrow fletching

[Valley Lad]

I posted a few months back about the arrow fletching touching the cables on my bow. I've since upgraded to a Quiktune 4000 drop-away but my fletching still touches the cables as the arrow moves forward after release. FYI - I'm shooting Easton Epic 400's with stock fletching.

I've tried to think of every possible solution but the only one I can come up with is trimming 1/8" or so off of the tip of one vane of fletching to eliminate the contact. Is this a bad idea? Will it cause erratic arrow flight? Will it affect my point of impact?

Any input would be appreciated.

[sniper]

Does your bow have an adjustable cable slide?

You might trim the one fletch, but you might also kill your arrow flight.
Trim one arrow and shoot it, if it works go with it.

[Valley Lad]

The cable guard is turned as far away from the string as it will go. The cable slide for the QT 4000 has to go on the near side of the cable. This brings the cables too close to the fletching, causing the contact and affecting my accuracy (which is marginal on a good day!).

I've got a couple arrows with one fletching damaged anyways that I may trim and see how it works. Would I be better off trimming the same amount off of each vane?

Thanks.

[sniper]

I would try and keep my arrow wieght as close as possible.

You might also try a cable slide that slides on the outside of the bar.
It puts alot of extra tourque on the bow but it might help you solve your prob.

[Mooseplus]

The beauty of drop away's is that you don't have to shoot cock feather down or up. Why don't you try to shoot your arrows with cock feather to the left if you are shooting right or the opposite if you are lefty. This should give you plenty of clearance on the cable side.

[petew]

noc an arrow and trun the shaft to get clearence.It sounds like the bow is not tuned? The rest seems to be to close to the riser.Try tuning the bow and do some paper tuning.If it tunes good that close to the riser spine might be an issue.Turning the shaft to get clearence will work but the bow will still not be tuned properly.

[Valley Lad]

Thanks to everyone for your input.

My problems appear to be a combination of a bunch of things. I have turned the arrow so it just clears the cable but then it was hitting the prongs on the way forward. I moved my nock point up so it's 1/4" nock high to fix this - I haven't shot with it yet but it will hopefully work.

I contact NAP's service department (they responded immediately - brownie points for NAP) and it turns out the QT 4000 rest isn't meant for my cable guard location. The stock cable guard is in the lower position - below my bow hand. I'm gonna have to get an after-market cable guard for the upper mounting location and it should fix the problem.

I wish I'd stop learning things the hard way.... :wink:

[daffyduck]

Hi,
First things first. My setup is a Browning Xcellerator Plus. The overdraw is a Browning Boss FPS with the Hunter TM rest fully integrated. Sounds o.k. right? Wrong. The rest will in no way that I can see travel right far enough to achieve a center shot without the vanes hitting the riser. By the way they are the low profile vanes. My solution last night after trying desperately to figure it all out was simple... Cut the dammed thing. Now my vanes are a lean 5/16" high. Sounds nuts you say? Hold on to your coffee. The arrow now jumps out and goes well straight as an arrow. At 20 yds. tonight I got off 12 arrows of which three went into the same hole. Now I just have to get the other pins set and bingo! Remember every setup is as different as the fella, or lady, pulling the string.

[daffyduck]

Went to a pro shop and after about 2.5 hours of them trying to figure it out a gentleman walked in looked at it for a total of 30 seconds and said "it's the wrong arrow rest." Tried what he recommended and the rest (no pun intended) is history.
As for trimming vanes... My experience shows that you can trim any or all without fear of things screwing up IF a bare shaft paper tunes perfectly. Makes sense as the vanes are there to help with the archer's errors and things like wind.

[macdonda]

Hey, I was just browsing and saw your topic. I shoot an MQ1 at 58lbs, I use an NAP drop away 4000. I knew when I first shot it that the vanes were hitting my cable. I didn't know what to do (I shoot 4" vanes on my aluminums and 3" vanes on my carbons). It was time for a refletching so I used the same vanes but I built a little jig (very simple) that I put my vane into and about 1/8 " sticks out and I cut it with a sharp boxcutter. I then take 400 grit sandpaper and go over the cut part just to smooth out any bumps. No joke, they shoot like a dream. I even did my 3" vanes. Even if I eventually change gear, I'll stick to the same plan. They're showing bullets on paper too. No bare shaft testing since the rest was on but the groups can't get much better. Go for it - I hope it works for you as well as it did for me.
Good Luck