I am fletching up some Gold Tip Traditionals. I have had issues with Platinum in the past. I prepped the shafts with denatured alcohol or used Dawn dishwashing soap to degrease, rinsed thoroughly and let dry. Fletching just fell off using either method right in the middle of a hunt. Been doing this for years with good results until the last time I used Platinum.
Well, I am back again attempting to use Platnum. I went to the Loc-tite gel in the blue rectangle shaped bottle with great results.
Here is a post from a couple of years ago, where some Trad Gang members had no issues and some had fletching just fall off with aluminum and carbon.
Question is, has your experience with Platinum improved or have you just gotten away from a product you don't trust?
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=096846;p=1
Please let me know.
Billy
Never had any problems with it on carbon shafts.
Never tried it on aluminum.
I'm new to building arrows but in the past couple months I've done 14dz aluminum and carbons and haven't had one feather come loose yet with the Platinum and that's all I use. I just prep with the alcohol like your talking about. I just use a clean rag and saturate it with the alcohol and briskly rub down the knock end of the shaft.
I would start with a fresh tube. Once opened, 12 months seems to be max shelf life for me on Platinim. I now use tape and prefer it to glue. Holds well and easy to refletch.
onewhohasfun has the answer
I hace used Platinum on some aluminum arrows and the fletching fell off also while hunting in cold weather. Never used it again.
I have had zero problems with it, gone through several tubes in the last couple of years. I mostly do wraps but have glued a few feathers straight onto the shaft. Not sure why you would use the dawn and the alcohol, the alcohol is sufficient to degrease by it's self. I'm suspecting the dawn soap is leaving some sort of residue. Good luck and shoot straight.
He's not using both the Dawn detergent AND the denatured alcohol. He stated that he's using one method OR the other, both with unsatisfactory results.
Do yourself a favor, use fletch tape.
Never had a problem with Platinum. I prep with acetone and scrub vigorously either carbon or aluminum. Once fletched and dry I put an additional dab on both ends of each feather and sometimes down each side of each feather. May be overkill but that is the way I have been fletching for 25 years and I almost never have feather issues unless I wear them out or shoot thru something that rips them off.
No problems with wood or carbon But can't seem to get it to hold on to aluminum :dunno:
About 3 strokes with a paper towel and isopropyl alcohol is all the prep my arrows get. Never a bond issue for me (even when shot through 1/4" plywood on occasion). Shelf life is disappointing as I usually chunk about 1/3 tube.
Acetone, acetone, acetone to wash my friend, let it air dry and pour to it. Never had any problems.
BUT- If your open minded about change, try fletch tape, i bet youl never even think about fletch tite again
I have had the same problems with Fletch Tape, feathers come loose. It must be a shelf life issue. Last I fletched I used Gorilla Glue instant adhesive. Haven't had a problem. Not as fast as Fletch Tape but much faster than Fletchtite.
Never a problem for me, but I'm usually putting feathers on over wraps or paint. On bare carbon, acetone and 0000 steel wool has given good adhesion for me.
I've done two dozen over wraps and haven't had a problem yet.
I quit using the platinum a couple years ago and went to Duco. No problems with it. I am using it for wood arrows though.
I have been using it for years and never had a problem on aluminum or carbon. The only prep work I do is to run some #0000 steel wool over the area a few times prior to gluing.
I like Duco on wood, it works great.
As for aluminum, I have had bad luck with any of the old glues we used to use. Platinum I tried and the same result, frikin feathers just fall off.
I prepped exactly like you did. I have tried acetone and 93%+ alcohol both followed by dawn dish washing soap. NO luck.
I finally just went to the Locktight Gel and it works perfectly and dries quicker.
I will not be repeating my mistakes with the old stuff. Don't ask me why it does not work anymore but it is not worth the frustration.
No problems for me on wraps, GT trad, and CE heritage.
I have had problems on the Beman black shafts. Those are hit and miss. I have had a feather fall off at times on the Beman shafts.
I prep with acetone only and just let dry.
Never had issues with Platinum. I've used it on carbon and most often on aluminum.
I still do my alum shafts the old way, scrub with comet cleanser and hot water. Dry with paper towels. I do this for bare shaft fletching and cap dipping. I have not had any issues with the new fletch tite yet. This works for both feathers and vanes. On bare carbons I use fletch Laq thinner to clean. So far no fall offs.
I quit using the %$#! stuff and went to tape. My problem is I had a few dozen arrows all glued up before I realized the %$#! stuff was no good. Every time I go to a 3-D or my practice range I have feathers falling off. I cuss a bit then repair with tape.
My buddy is the dealer who sold me the %$#! stuff, we all give him the raspberries when one of our feathers falls off at a shoot.
Its only $5 a tube, so I just get a new tube every 6 months. No worries. Worth it to me
Try the Saunders in a tube.works better for me than the platinum.was really disappointed with the platinum and quit using it.the old fletch title always worked in the white tube.
Ajax and scotch brite pad to prep arrow shaft with fast fletch never had issues with fletches falling off
Fletch-Tite Platinum is the only glue I use for both wood and carbon (Bemans). I've had exactly zero problems with it, and I have no reason to change.
I used fletching tape a couple times just to see what all the hub-bub was about. Suffice to say I returned to FT glue and never looked back.
i use acetone an paper towel i have had bad luck with both glue an tape..tape only in cold weather i shoot something hard an it looks like you shot a duck with a shotgun feathers everywhere. :dunno:
We use platinum by the pint and go through quite a lot. The secret is to not use it on anything that comes from Easton or Beman unless you take special precautions.
Gold tip really requires no prep, but we wipe with denatured alcohol anyway. As far as we know, we have only ever had one problem with platinum on gold tips and I believe it is from an old tube of platinum. We had left the cap off our bottle and it hardened over the weekend so in haste we used a tube that had been opend and used then set aside for months.
Carbon Express requires that you wipe with denatured alcohol to clean off the release agent left on the shafts from manufacturing. Then fletch away.
Easton and Beman have a coating on there shafts that won't accept glue unless you scuff them first. Even after that, results are mixed. They sell there own type of glue called quick bond. I don't know what the difference is, but we have tried all the other cyanoacrilic glues, but Quick Bond is the ony one that would adhere to the easton shafts.
Safest bet is to clean shafts, install wraps and fletch. No more problems.
BigJim
big Jim..
great information..i thank you i have been useing nothing but wraps on my arrow for awhile now with no issues..
I just don't understand why my feathers wont stay on tape in cold weather? feathers are coming off the tape not the tape off the shaft.any body had this issue?
I have used it on dozens and dozens of aluminums (all Easton) and carbons (CX) and have never had a problem.
More recently, for no reason at all, I decided to see what Fletch tape was all about, and let's just say, I'll never use glue again... I do use my remaining duco and fletch tite to dab the top and bottoms of the feathers that are flethced with tape though.
I use NPV glue....works great ; it is the same glue used by a local archery supplier that fletches thousands of arrows a year....arrows with a glossy finish need roughed up a bit to remove the gloss...Beman ICS shafts especially
I spray my shafts with BullDog adhesive promoter and never have a problem, reguadless of what glue I use. Goes on clear and dries clear in just a few min. Check it out, you won't be dissapointed
I use acetone on aluminum and alcohol on carbon. I like to hear "squeaky" clean. I wipe with a clean dry rag afterwords. I never have a problem.
always use onestringer wraps on my carbon and aluminum, and the platinum works great with those. When I used to fletch bare (without wraps) I used goat tuff. (pretty sure it's just superglue) and it worked really well and dried in seconds.
Saunders NPV always worked well for me. I had no problems with my last tube of Platinum though.
I liked the goat tuff as well. All of my problems are with the aluminum without wraps and I used acetone last time wiped off and used a brand new tube of platinum. No luck. I used the locktight and ran a bead down the fletchings that were still on the arrows and so far it has kept them in place. But no more saunders, fletch tight on aluminums or carbons for me. Lock tight will be used for everything I got in the future wraps or no wraps.
The only time Platinum worked for me was when the aluminum shafts were cap dipped. On bare shafts Saunders NPV works best for me.
I started using the Platinum a few years back when the regular fletch tite became nearly impossible to get. It is all I use ans I shoot Gold Tip black shafts. I have never had any issue with fletching not staying put once I glue it on.
Bisch
I am having real trouble with platinum as well have had several feathers just peel right off during flight. I started use the heat shrink wraps and so far that has solved the problem, however when this tube runs out im going to try the tape.
I shoot beman shafts. For platinum to work even close to reliably, I had to wet sand the shafts with 600 grit and then acetone wipe. To heck with that. NPV works flawlessly with only a quick alcohol or acetone wipe so that's all I've been using anymore.
fwiw...
Because I can't tolerate the slightest chance of a loose feather, I crown dip all my shafts. I do it for added visibility, too. When I glue the feather, it essentially is bonded into the paint or clear crown dip. You can't unseat that feather no matter what...it simply can't come loose.
I had a problem with tape. If my feather base wasn't milled at a perfect 90 deg angle, the feather would 'lean' to the side after being removed from the jig. If the feather grind was off, my fletch spacing would appear wide or narrow...depending. Despite using a tuned Bitz jig, tape invariably produced a weird fletch. It wasn't the tape's fault, but not all feathers are perfectly flat or 90 degree at the base. Glue has the ability to 'fill' a gap. Once set with glue, the fletch remains at the angle determined by the clamp...regardless of whether the base is milled perfectly to 90 degrees. I wonder if other guys experienced (or noticed) this happening with tape?
Saunders NPV is THE Fletching Glue for Me!