Cresting chuck from three rivers

[Biggamefish]

Does anybody use this with a sewing machine motor shaft.  I made a crester and have some terrible wobble in my wooden arrows

[M60gunner]

Try using a carbon or alum shaft first. May be the wood shafts.
Is there a tight fit between the shaft and chuck? If I remember right there is a set screw that holds the chuck to the shaft? Or is one of those plastic ones? If it is the metal one and the fit is loose. tighting the screw will tweak the chuck. If it is a press fit on to the shaft then the shaft may not be spinning true. In that case get another motor.
But I would check those wood shafts first.

[L. Harris]

Will crooked arrow shafts cause this? I made some up for my nephew and a couple wern't as straight as they probably should have been and they didn't stripe as cleanly as the straighter ones did.

[ChuckC]

anything that is not perfect will cause the wobble.  the faster you turn, the more the wobble shows. Crooked shafts, not a perfectly symetrical chuck, too long of a tube (if tubing is used) causing a bounce effect, not straight arrow.  

One thing that could maybe fix all of that is for one of us to put together a means of rollers so that the arrow is not merely suspended and touching one or two supports, but is actually held in place, top and bottom, in a couple locations, such as near the nock and just past the area where you will crest.  That should at least keep that portion from vibrating very much,  unless of course the arrow is REALLY warped in that location.

Oh, if you do this. . .please post pix and share

ChuckC

[Keefer]

Matt,
 I bought one for a homemade crester I made back in the 90's and it worked great but like others have already said Wooden shafts must be as straight as possible or you tend to get  some wobble... Making a block to hold your arrow with a "V" cut down the center to rest your arrow in will help stop some wobble and I cut some felt and glued to my block so the shaft will run smoothly when spinning...My crester looks very much like a Bohning but heavier aluminium channel and I made two more for friends as well...Not sure the shaft size but I thought that the rubber one from three river's just slid tightly on my motor shaft without a set screw...I have a coller my brother machined for mine when I built it with a set screw that worked quite nice and I used a rubber washer that fit inside the coller where he had cut a groove on a machine lathe to fit the washer into...I think you will like the holder three rivers sells cause I do and it works pretty good...  

[Keefer]

Forgot to mention Matt that my wooden block slides between my crester channel so I can find a spot that seems to keep wobble down to a minimum on each shaft...Kind of reminds you of that little v block that is on the cheaper model Bohning crester if you ever seen one...

[M60gunner]

Keefer, you have the right idea with the moveable wood block. If you check out the "Spinrite Crestor " you can see the rollers are adjustable. The more expensive cresting machines have some way of driving the shaft from above and have moveable shaft rests.

[German Dog]

Originally posted by Biggamefish:
Does anybody use this with a sewing machine motor shaft.  I made a crester and have some terrible wobble in my wooden arrows

Yep thats where I got mine for my sewing machine motor. works great but yeah the shafts need to be straight. Also try moving your cresting arrow rest around some, think mine is about 3/4's down the shaft from nock point.

[Biggamefish]

Thanks guys,
  I am just using the rubber surgical tubing to hold the arrows on and i am trying to get as much wobble out.  So next order I will get a chuck I think.

[Keefer]

Surgical Tubing
   That may explain all the wobble...You will be really glad when you try that chuck from 3 rivers  

[D]

My sewing machine motor has a small pully on the end of the shaft (like most do).  I took four of five rubber washers and superglued them together in a stack and then used two sided foam tape and taped them to the end of the pully.  Getting it centered was a little bit tricky but didn't take long.  I got the washers with the hole just a little smaller than the size of my carbon shaft.  I just push the shaft inside the stack of washers.  It works great.

[German Dog]

The other thing is you need to be able to control the speed of the motor.  I wired in a dimmer switch to use as speed control. There will be a "sweet spot" as far as the speed goes that allows good paint coverage and yet keeps arrow under control.

[Walkingstick]

Three items of importance I see from my homemade one from a sewing machine motor

speed control with a dimmer switch
sliding block
V shape on block with felt padding

I used a chuck from three rivers and have had this homemade crester for over 15 years...works like a gem