Hello Gang,

Do you use hot melt glue when tuning your arrows?  Seems like a good way to ruin a carbon arrow having to heat it up over and over every time I want to cut a half inch or so off.

Is there a trick to keeping the insert in when tuning and then using epoxy when the arrow is right for my bow?

I can cut the bare shafts from the nock end, but what about my fletched shafts?

I use just a small dab of superglue that i can cut through with a scalpel/razor when downsizing the shafts. It works great when firing into foam, but not sure i would recommend it on professional hay targets.. haybales maybe i guess will work.
Good luck tuning  

Many use plastic wrap to hold it.  That is ok in a bag or bail.  I wouldn't do that in foam.  I use hot melt for testing and final glue.  I heat the tip of the point and use a long point like a 175 field point.  I keep a water container close to dunk the end of the shaft to help cool it down fast.  I have done it a whole pile of times on the same shaft when tuning.  So far I have seen no issues with the shafts.  I have even taken out epoxy inserts and removed epoxy on aluminum footings with heat and no problem.  The footing I only due if I break the shaft and just want to salvage the footing.  Just don't get the heat right on the carbon and take care to only heat just enough.  I do a very gentle turn and pull so when it gets just right it will move out. I have found with practice I can count down how for how much heat to put one in and take one out.

I use the same technique as xtrema312

I screwed a 145 gr field tip onto a 100 grain insert, then covered them with Saran Wrap. Screwed and and shoved a 340 FMJ onto the covered insert while holding the field tip in a table vise. Cut the excess Saren Wrap off and shot them into a worn out Morrell target.
    That was a month ago, forgot I had not JB Weld them until I read this post, thanks

I have used the Saran wrap or plastic baggie, and it does work, but I have also split a shaft from the inside when I used too much and forced it in.  They will also pull out on you from time to time which is annoying if you're busy tuning.

I'm now using a new low temp hot melt, Super 735 which is designed for use with carbons.  It works great.  Just heat the glue on the insert, push it in, twist and dunk.

That 735 sounds great.  I'll have to order sone soon.

I attach the insert and cut the shaft from the back, after finding the length I cut the rest form the front - you know your length for life, with that shaft and tip weight. And have one shaft with the label in a different spot - makes no difference on the shaft.

Good answers, thank you.

I tried teflon tape on 2 bare shafts and 2 fletched shafts.  All 4 pulled out the first shot into my bag target.  It didn't help that the insert is a little bigger diameter than my arrows are.

I'll get some of the hot melt next time.

rraming, are you just tuning with bareshafts only to do this.  Paper tuning?

I just use a smaller amount of hot melt than usual, and then hold the tip in boiling water to soften the glue so the tip and insert can be pulled out.  The boiling water softens the hot melt, but isn't hot enough to damage the carbon shaft.

Where can we get this Super 735? Bob

Bob, we just added it to our website a couple of weeks ago but I've been using it for about a year.  You'll find it here:


  Link - "AMG Super 735"

Brandon - I do that with one shaft and bareshaft it into a foam block. I got tired of loosing a 1 dollar weighted insert into the block and just glue it in. Once I find the length that works by cutting it from the back, I cut the rest from the front and install inserts. Any paper tuning I do is with fletched arrows. I fletch my own so this is the process I use when I purchase a set of carbons which I don't know the length I need. I have not tried the hot melt but that would be the other method I would use just never cared if one shaft had the label further back than the others. Hope that helps.