weed whacker line for arrow weight - HELP

[smokin joe]

I am experimenting with arrow weighting for my hog arrows. I get about 50 grains of weight per length of weed whacker line I put inside my carbon shafts. But I get a slight rattle noise from my arrow when I shake them or hit them on the side -- the noise is clearly the weed whacker line hitting the inside of the shaft.

Now my quest is to get rid of that noise. Have any of you conquered the rattle?

I thought that maybe I could cut the line a bit too long and then the extra line being jammed inside the shaft might keep it from moving and making noise. Or maybe I could stuff part of a cotton ball into the shaft to be a cushion?????

I need to learn tricks from those who have solved this already.

[Russ Clagett]

I did this once and had the same problem...if you cut the line too long when the arrow hits your nock will fly out....no go.

I wanted to add serious weight so I took two lengths of line and wrapped them in duct tape...this did two things:

The weight increased alot. That's with two lengths, you could do the same thing with one and not have as much weight....or you could used 3 lengths for a really heavy arrow....

And...the noise went away totally. The key is to wrap it every few inches...another weight adding feature...

Try it and see.

[Matty]

Joe I have been using weed whacker line for a few years now. The way I got rid of the rattle was to take masking tape and cover about 4 small portions with masking tape throughout the length of the line.. Works like a charm and I can add or subtract tape to get my grain weight closely matched.
I can take pictures and post them if you're not sure what I mean. I also leave the length too long on the inside of the shaft and the compression seems to help as well.

[Whip]

I tried the weed line at one time myself and ran into those same problems.  Didn't like the rattle or my nocks popping out if I hit something hard while stumpshooting.  I suppose I could have solved it with some of the solutions recommended above, but decided to work on increasing my point weight to get the desired total.  There are some well documented studies of the increased penetration benefits of high front of center, and that seems to be working out better for me than weighting the entire length of the shaft.
YMMV

[Archie]

If it would add enough weight, it seems like using a chain of rubber bands, or a length of thin bungee-cord material from the fabric store, would be pretty silent, and wouldn't pop nocks off.

[pinky]

I recently tried some weed wacker line and had the same rattle. No good.   I now have some parachute cord in my shafts. I cut the cord 1" + longer than the shaft length to reduce some internal movement.  The parachute cord i believe is about 2.5 gr /inch,  which adds another 60-70+ gr to your arrow weight.  So far so good, it seems to be working well and no extra rattles.

[Dave Lay]

Originally posted by pinky:
I recently tried some weed wacker line and had the same rattle. No good.   I now have some parachute cord in my shafts. I cut the cord 1" + longer than the shaft length to reduce some internal movement.  The parachute cord i believe is about 2.5 gr /inch,  which adds another 60-70+ gr to your arrow weight.  So far so good, it seems to be working well and no extra rattles.

I also went to using nylon cord instead of whacker line, its dead silent and available in all different diameters

[Doc Nock]

Wow...what a blast from the past...  

May have even been prior to TG being borne, but this thread reminds me of others!

"Back in the day" I used .095 weedeater, doubled...jammed the bent part (equal parts a touch longer then shaft into the nock hole (mine had hollow tubes back then, now most are solid.

Some guys were reporting using Aquarium tubing, parachute chord, oregano and pepper (no lie) and any type of thing imaginable. Those with the condiments were teased they could always use their arrow contents to cook up a few delicious steaks!    :rolleyes:        

Now, shafts weigh more then I personally want and I seek out the lighter weight GPI of target shafts, overfoot them with alum shafts cut and chamfered to provide some improved strength, and personally want my weight more "up front" without getting a rebar weight arrow in the end.

I used the .095 weedeater doubled for years! WEight Tubes changed spine for me... others didn't notice. Go figure!  but having it too long, I could shove the insert in, tap the arrow and if it rattled it wasn't long enough...if it pushed the insert back out or the nock, I'd snip off a tiny bit till it didn't rattle and all went together well.

I do NOT remember any nocks popping off.

Then I went to the GT Weight system with the 8-32 all thread into the rear of the alum adapters and there were 20 gr. brass weights the threaded onto the all thread.

Then there were stacking weights that screwed into one another and the rear of the threaded insert...

Now I just use the brass inserts and load up the point weight as I wish to get what I want.

But that whole approach isn't for everyone...

Thanks for the walk down memory lane...

[sheepdogreno]

I've been curious about trying this myself to gain another 40-50 grains. Do most experience a spine change?

[Russ Clagett]

ahhh....parachute cord....

[JimB]

Originally posted by sheepdogreno:
I've been curious about trying this myself to gain another 40-50 grains. Do most experience a spine change?

Any time you add a full length internal weight to a shaft,you stiffen the spine,sometimes dramatically.

The reason is,your balance point is always forward of center,so say you add 100 grs.40 of that is forward of the balance point and 60 is behind it.Weight in the rear stiffens.Weight behind the balance point has more influence than an equal amount in front.

Your balance point will also shift.If you were tuned before internal weight and you shift that balance point-you are now out of tune.That balance point has to stay the same.

You can add the weight and tune from there but if you internal weight after tuning,you will have to keep adding front end weight to get back to tune.This makes it very hard to predict your final,overall arrow weight.

I spent a few years playing with this stuff and I will no longer use a full length,internal weight.It doesn't matter how flexible the material is.I even experimented with various powders.It due to the fact that more of the weight is behind the balance point.That stiffens and drastically changes the tune.

These days,I want all the weight added to the front and tune for that.

[Bill Carlsen]

All I ever did was kink it every few inches so it fits into the shaft snugly.

[old_goat2]

Here is a video from one of the sponsors, if you want to add total arrow weight this works, BUT as he points out in the video, it will reduce your FOC as alluded in the replies above also. So you need to be at EFOC before you start in my opinion and experience!!! I did just like in the video but with paracord and it worked perfectly except it basically made my calculated FOC almost zero because I probably was only add 8% or so anyways. Arrow looked like a snake on its way to the target! Weight up front is what you want!
 http://tbwpodcast.com/making-carbon-arrows-heavy/

[LB_hntr]

I have tried everything there is to stuff in a shaft to add weight. Rope is best bit you want a rope as close to shaft diameter as possible and you have to pack it tight for good flight.
I shot rope stuffed shafts for over 10 years and won quite a few 3d shoots with them. But for last year and a half I ditched the stuff shafts and went to ultra efoc arrows with 30% weight up front. Best flying arrows I have ever used.
As said in post above. Front loaded weight is best. But if you just want to add some weight to your shafts for a specific hunt or for adjustability adding rope to your shaft is a good effective way with very little spine changes.

[jess stuart]

I have had great luck with nylon rope as well.

[indianalongbowshooter]

why not just use broad head insert and brass arrow insert, you can get 250 gr. of weight this way and not have to worry about all the hassle of using weedeater line, rope etc..get right spine shafts and front load the heck out of them.

[Stump73]

I used 3/16 poly rope. I ended up with a bout 10 extra inches of rope longer than my shaft. Whch bumped mine up 150gr with out changing spine. Plus I already had around 30% efoc. I just needed to add weight for my hog setup.

[JimB]

If your arrow is already tuned,you can't change FOC of THAT same arrow without changing tune.

[smokin joe]

Thanks for all of the ideas, guys. I am trying an experiment with a carbon 340 that I will shoot on Friday. If it tunes well, I will have a new hog arrow with about 20% FOC. If it doesn't work, I have my older hog arrow to use that uses a 2117 aluminum shaft-- lower FOC but still a very good arrow. I'm just trying to make something a bit better.

[CoachBGriff]

I'm with LB_hntr on this one.

I tried weight tubes and a few other things, but I get my best results from just shooting a stiffer shaft with tons of weight up front.  

I basically just went to a stiffer shaft and started adding weight until they flew the way I wanted them to again.  I ended up with about 550 grains, and that's plenty for me!