Fletching Help!

[BEN]

Alright, I need some help here guys.......

I've been fletching my own arrows now for about 3 yrs. using a Bitzenburger jig I bought on E-***.
I always see other arrows and pics of arrows with nice helical fletching, no matter if they are carbon, wood, or aluminum.

Problem:  I can't get helical no matter how I fiddle w/ the clamp position. I can get a little----closer to an off-set than a good helical. I am using right-wing fletch and a right-wing jig and usually carbon arrows. But even on my woods I'm stuck with the almost straight fletch......

Help!!!     I want that nice fast spin I see others' arrows getting and that I've gotten when I have bought arrows from various people here on Trad-gang! I may be slow sometimes, but jeesh, this is really stumping me!!     What am I doing wrong?

[Bowspirit]

Is your clamp for the Bitz jig a helical or straight clamp?

[magnus]

Ben. You are using right wing feathers correct? That makes a difference. If you have fletch tape you can put a feather on and readjust as needed I'm not home do I can't give more details. If you still have problems later I'll get a hold if you and we can talk and figure it out. Till then good luck.

Magnus

[stringstretcher]

Ben. Try this.  Loosen the adjustment knobs, screws on your jig.  Turn or push the clamp plate all the way to the right.  Put an arrow into the jig and then start sliding the clamp plate,and feather clamp with a feather in it back to the left until it touches the shaft.  Get the back of the feather as close to the center of the shaft as possible.  Just get the adjustment knobs/screws loose enough so you can move it.  Once the feather is laying flat against the shaft, lock it down.  Take a feather and glue one down and look at the glue lines.  If looking from the nock end of the arrow, the glue is coming out of the left side more than the right, move the clamp over to the left a litte, and vise versa until you have the same amount of glue coming out of both sides.  That is the helical the jig will give you unless you modify it.

[BEN]

Here's a comparison: The yellow barred are ones I bought off a fellow Trad-ganger; the bright, "can't lose me" arrows are my results:

 

Here's another pic of my results:
 

Bowspirit-----all it says is "Right" on the side......??

[stringstretcher]

Ben, can you post a picture of your jig with the clamp sitting on it?  From the rear looking forward?  And by the way, the barred yellow one's in the first picture is left wing.

[BEN]

Dang---you guys are fast!! 3 answers while I was posting the pics!    

Anyway---I am using right-wing feathers.....I've adjusted the clamp and have it set just right of the center-marks near the adjustment screws.

String-stretcher---I'm getting ready for work, but will try what you suggested just to double-check my placement. Yeah---just showing the helical twist on those----

Magnus---I'll be  off work and awake tomorrow afternoon and Monday afternoon. thanks for the offer...

[xtrema312]

Your arrows look right helical to me and more than just offset.  The orange/yellow sheilds look good.  That is about what I get on my Bohning jig.

[Grey Taylor]

Yeah, those orange/yellow feathers look great to me. That's plenty of helical to make them spin like tops.
That angle of the picture on the others doesn't let me see how the helical is.

Guy

[Yellow Dog]

Ben, hope this helps. I shoot LW and my jig is set up for left. Just reverse the setting for right wing. This setup lays them down perfectly on skinny shafts. Your arrows look pretty good to me in your pics.

   

   

   

[BEN]

Yellow-dog:  I've got both top and bottom on the same side of the center hashes; your's are on opposites. I can't seem to get a feather to lay that way (but opposite yours). The pics are great---I'm going to try messing around again with it after looking at those)

Grey Taylor and Extrema---- The pics are of wood arrows and they look alright. I can't seem to get the same results on my carbons.  

Should be getting some more feathers in the mail any day now----going to try this again with everyone's suggestions and usingteh pics above to help me out.

[Red Tailed Hawk]

Ben I had the same issue with my carbons and bitz jig. I was finally able to tweak it enough where the fletching would lay flat on the shaft and with a real decent right wing twist. I could not get it to work with jig offset as much as yellow dogs. I think the carbon shafts are to narrow.

[stringstretcher]

If you can, post a picture of an arrow in the jig with your feather and clamp laying on the shaft???????????

[BEN]

Will these help:

 

 

Sorry it took soooooo long!
Ooops ! forgot the feather!!  I can re-take if needed....

[stringstretcher]

I do believe your back end, nock end needs to come to the left and your front to the right more.  Look right down inbetween the crack in your clamp on ther rear and  adjust that so it is setting in the middle of the shaft, just a little to the right of it maybe..  You should be getting more helical out of that than you are, unless someone has played with the magnet.  That should have a set screw in it also that will give you some adjustment.  Hope this has helped

[BEN]

Thanks stringstretcher, and everyone else!!

It really is great how a simple question can get so many helpfull answers ---and FAST, too    

Soon as my feathers come in----I'll let you know how it goes......