Guys, I’m pulling my hair out over these vanes. Installing on FMJ 5mm shafts. Switched from Blazers. Bought 100 yellow vanes and the install kit, wipes, pen and glue in one package. Bought them directly from AAE. Fletched on a Bitz, 3 degrees RH. Scraped the shaft clean, use wipe, waited, applied pen to vane, glued and set clamp. 24 hours later, a straight pull, stuck good, any sideways rotation and they fall right off. Little or no glue on shaft, glue on vane. What am I doing wrong or what am I missing? No acetone is being used on shafts or vanes. Worst vanes I’ve ever tried to use. Going to call AAE later this morning.
Quick update. AAE said it may be a contaminated batch of vanes or a old bottle of glue. They sending new vanes and glue. Now that’s great customer service!
I agree. That is good customer service. If it happens again I know what I would do. I’d put a wrap on the arrow and then fletch. Vanes stick to a wrap way better than they stick to an arrow shaft.
Well, had some wraps laying around from an old project. Installed them and fletched the arrows. Haven’t lost a single vane yet. For some reason the glue is not adhering to the shaft. The wraps didn’t alter the POI of the arrows out to 60, so I may go back to running wraps.
fwiw I know the aae vanes need to be activate. I usually give the shafts and the vanes a quick rub down with some acetone - I don't use their activator pen on vanes, before glue. I think I've lost 2 vanes, 1 I didn't have set well, the other I shot off...ymmv
Their activator pen is just acetone in a pen for convenience. Using that or wiping them down on your own is basically the same thing. My guess is a bad batch of glue. That stuff goes bad pretty easily, especially if there is any air in the bottle. You can always tell because it will start to yellow a little bit. When that happens it's time to hit the trash. I have those same vanes directly applied to the shafts of some aluminum targets arrows, and never had an issue. For my hunting setups, I much prefer wraps both because the vanes seem to adhere better and it makes the arrows way easier to see in flight and to find after the shot. The brighter the better.
I just use gorillas glue on vanes and feathers both directly to the shaft. Never had an issue that wasn't my fault for a bad shot and hitting something other than a target or deer, or, shooting such a tight group that I knock a fletching off. Guess which one happens more often?
Glue is usually the issue like Justin said. I been buying the then smallest tubes of glue I can to rotate though it quicker. Using the pen on AAE max vanes are a must. For whatever reason I haven’t found acetone to work as well as the pen. I clean the shafts with Etoh, then prep each vane while it’s in the bitz clamp. At that point It’s glue and go. I have great luck with AAE vanes, mostly max stealths.
Wrapped 7 arrows, vanes still stuck. That tells me it’s the shafts. Shafts have been fletched before. Called AAE and they agreed. Said there may be something on the shaft that the wipes aren’t removing. Their suggestion was to rough up the shaft. I thought maybe heating the shaft to remove whatever might be on it. Had 2 that needed fletched, so I heated both, roughed one and refletched. So far, they’re still on.
Found the MSDS on the AAE primer pen. Looks like it does have some acetone in it, but a whole lot more.
Well, I’ve fletched all the FMJs with new Max Hunters. No wraps, scrape clean, slightly heat the shaft, clean with AAE wipe and fletch. Have not lost one vane. There must have been something on the shafts that the heat is removing.
Interesting. I have a friend that cleans shafts with acetone or alcohol first, then uses water...and dries before gluing...I wonder if the heat is achieving a similar clean off of solvents? In your case vaporizing, his washing it away...
