Removing Carbon Arrow Inserts

[The_Count]

Hi, all.  I just wanted to pass on a quick tip that may help someone else out.  I have been trying to find the right arrow for my bow.  I've been shooting full length carbons to narrow the spine range down.  Now that I have some that are flying really well I want to cut them down a little to fine tune.  I tried to remove the glued in inserts with the old drill bit in the arrow trick, but that didn't work at all.  While cleaning the garage I found a slide hammer. I inserted an 8-32 machine screw into it, and screwed it into the insert.  One tap of the slide and the insert popped right out.  Now I can continue to fine tune the arrows.

You can rent a slide hammer for a few dollars, or purchase one for less than $20.00.  All in all a good investment for the arrows alone, but has tons of other uses.  

Chip

[eminart]

Thanks for the tip. Harbor freight sells cheap slide hammers. I have one somewhere.

[KOOK68]

How did you hold the arrow?

[JamesKerr]

Or you can just use a hot melt glue while tuning and once you find the length you want the arrows to be at you can either epoxy them in or use insert iron which has become my favorite glue.

[The_Count]

I have a bench vise with rubber inserts.  I put it in that.  I didn't tighten it up too much, just snugged it up.  You could do the same thing with clamps on a table or workbench. I'd bet you could even do it with someone holding onto it.  I was surprised how easily the added mass of the slide pulled it out. What lead me down that path is the damage done to the insert by the drill bit routine.  Typically not a problem, I suppose, but I was trying to add a little weight to the insert via lengths of brass screws.

I though hot-melt would be the trick, but after dripping glue all over the kitchen table trying to get one insert glued in I gave up.  It was a lot easier to drop a little instant glue on the insert and push it in. Seems to hold really well also.

[bsoper]

THanks for the tip. I was just pondering this myself.