AAE Max Stealth Vane Primers

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Nov 29, 2017
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SE Idaho
I was getting ready to refletch some arrows and realized that my AAE primer pen was just about dried out. So because I'm curious and enjoy running little experiments every so often, I decided to try a few different alternatives to the Maxweld pen that I usually use.

I dug around my archery box and found an Easton pen that still had some primer left in it, so that was one alternative that I went with even though I imagine it's not much different than the AAE version. I've also read up a lot and found that some people had claimed one of the other pens had a main ingredient of heptane, so I ordered some of that to try out as another option. I kept seeing 3M primer 94 pop up regarding its use in adhesion promotion for vinyl wrapping on cars, so I grabbed some small sticks of it as well.

Both wraps used were Oracal 651, which were cleaning with isopropyll alcohol after installing. I used cyanoacrylate gel glue, with 5 dots spread out across each vane and then spread in a thin layer. Each vane was them attached on a 2 degree helical on a Goat Tuff fetching jig held in place for 15 seconds. Then, they were left to sit for about 15 minutes.

During the first run, I didn't do anything to the vanes other than apply acetone, the Easton primer, heptane, and primer 94 individually to the 4 vanes. I let them flash off, then applied the cyanoacrylate glue and clamped them for 15 seconds. After drying for 15 minutes, I tried pulling each vane off by hand. The results were kind of surprising.

I expected the acetone cleaned vane to adhere just fine, but maybe not as well as the primer pen. That didn't happen. I also assumed the heptane would work as well as the acetone since it's a fairly powerful solvent. It was the worst. Primer 94 knocked it out of the park. It took some effort to pull it off, and it pulled off the vinyl wrap instead of separating easily. The primer pen worked pretty much how I expected even though it tore the vinyl a little easier.

I did this again just to make sure the acetone wasn't a fluke, but then I also cleaned the other 3 vanes with acetone before individually treating with the Easton primer, heptane, and primer 94. Cleaned bases, same results. I attached a photo of the things I used, as well as a photo of the first and second runs (first run on the left of the photo, second on the right).

So moral of the story- 3M primer 94 works just as good if not better than the Easton primer pen, and realistically just as good if not better than the AAE Maxweld pen from what I can tell. And it's cheaper than dirt and really easy to get your hands on.

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Read1t48

WKR
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May 18, 2017
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Oregon
That’s cool. Nice test and thanks for sharing. Would be curious to know if others have done the same and experienced similar success with the 3M Primer 94.
 
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jlaner0408
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Nov 29, 2017
Messages
505
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SE Idaho
I can tell you the purple pvc primer works just as well but doesn’t look great!
Ha! I was actually going to try that on the second run since I still have some from installing my sprinkler system, but I decided against it because I figured it would be too harsh. Oatey makes clear primer too, so I wonder if that would work.

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MattB

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Sep 29, 2012
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Great information, thanks. I just bought some 3M 94 Primer on Walmart.com.
 

Luked

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Apr 3, 2014
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You can get a 10 pcs of the 3M 94 pens on Amazon for less than $18
 
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jlaner0408
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Nov 29, 2017
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505
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SE Idaho
So- I just got done fletching a dozen arrows using the primer 94. With one of the little sticks, I was able to get all 48 vanes primed before it evaporated.

And my goodness, the CA glue/primer 94 combination is the stickiest combination that I've ever used or seen. If you get it on anything, it's going to fuse to whatever you touch next. I had numerous times where I had my nitrile gloved fingers sticking to each other, my fletching jig, the wood on my bench top, other arrow shafts, etc, so be careful when you guys use it.

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Ehiggins

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Dec 15, 2014
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I use acetone and a q tip, never had any issues.


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Last edited:

bow puller

Lil-Rokslider
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Jun 6, 2019
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idaho
Acetone as well here. Key is don't wipe all vanes at once. Wipe one then glue as soon as wetness evaps.
 

87TT

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Mar 13, 2019
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I'm confused. Was the acetone by itself better? From top to bottom which is which.
 
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jlaner0408
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Nov 29, 2017
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SE Idaho
Acetone by itself then the CA glue was second worst (or third best depending on how you look at it). The primers both excelled better than acetone regardless of if they were cleaned with acetone before priming or not.

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Ehiggins

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Dec 15, 2014
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Acetone as well here. Key is don't wipe all vanes at once. Wipe one then glue as soon as wetness evaps.

Same here. Clean one, as soon as it flashes off put gorilla super glue on.

I haven’t done any formal testing but the wraps rip off the arrows before the vane pulls from the wrap.


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