New fletching popping off

[ScreamingPotato]

New at this aside from just gluing on replacement vanes here and there. I fletched a dozen shafts with 2" blazer vanes, 3 with Gorilla Impact blue top super glue and 9 with Bohning Fletch-Tite Platinum. The Gorilla dried to a crusty mess so scraped it and will redo those. The 9 with Fletch-Tite came out absolutely beautiful nice and clean and look great, toyed with them a bit tugging and flexing with no issues. It's been 48 hours now so was gonna go shoot but now if I give them a little tug at the right angle they just snap right off. Thinking maybe I didn't use enough of the glue so when it fully dried it got brittle? Too much pressure on the jig? I'm gonna pop them all and refletch the whole lot now because I don't trust them. I ordered the Pine Archery adhesive that'll be here tomorrow, unless I can figure out what I did wrong I'll try that instead and see if I get better results. I can't imagine the Fletch-Tite is the issue or nobody would be using it, gotta be something I did.

 

[Marble]

Never had the issue with blazers. The only thing I didn't see is a cleansing of the shafts prior to application. I've used the wipes, acetone, and water. All three seem to work fine. I've heard not to use the acetone, so I don't do that anymore.

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[Jbehredt]

Blazers and bohning platinum have worked for me for as long as I’ve been shooting. My wife has some of her original gold tip arrows laying around. I grabbed one for a craft project and those suckers were STUCK on. At least ten years old. As mentioned, clean shafts could be your variable.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Good catch yall. All brand new components I didn't think to clean them so that may be the missing piece. Ugh... 36 vanes wasted not to mention time. Thanks for the input.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Loctite super glue gel

 

[Yoder]

I had trouble with AAE vanes. I finally broke down and bought their kit. It had cleaning wipes for the shafts and a primer pen to prep the vanes before gluing. The primer from what I can tell is just acetone. I used everything per the directions and the vanes still pulled off. What I found was if you wiped the vane with acetone and left it sit for a few minutes, then glued it, it pulled off. If you wiped it and applied glue as soon as the acetone dried, I couldn't pull them off with pliers. I'm not sure what the difference is, maybe the plastic is soft or it's more porous right after applying the acetone. I don't know if it will work for you, but it's something to try.

 

[Jethro]

Can’t skip the prep work. Clean the shaft and the bottom of the blazer. I use isopropyl 91 and loctite gel. They stick good.

 

[nphunter]

That gorrila glue is great, either too little glue or a dirty shaft. I just fletched up some Max Stealths which are notorious for coming loose using the gorrila glue, fletched them up at 10:00 and was out shooting them at 1:00 and sent a couple through the target, had to pull them all the way out the back of the target and it deformed several fletchings but all held up to a ton of pulling force. It was also 30 deg out side and the targets were pretty stiff.

 

[TheBootBowhunting]

Ive used just about all the archery specific glues and a bunch of the regular super glues. Ive used at least some vanes from every company out there. WIth aae, you have to follow their instructions with prep pen, etc. Most other Ill run alcohol over the base just to be sure - Blazers are true lick and stick though. They need no prep. I wipe the shafts/wraps with 91% alcohol before fletching as well. I also havent used anything else besides loctite professional liquid for a few years and have never had an issue with adhesion.

EXCEPT when the glue is old. And that goes for every glue Ive ever used. Old glue is a surefire way to have issues.

This is the stuff I use. I usually buy 2-3 bottles at a time (I fletch a lot of arrows for people) at home depot. I literally tape the plastic packaging on the cardboard with scotch tape to seal the air off, and put them in a ziploc bag in the fridge until I need them. Might be overkill, but Im telling you, theres no old glue that has been sitting up for a while that works.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

That gorrila glue is great, either too little glue or a dirty shaft. I just fletched up some Max Stealths which are notorious for coming loose using the gorrila glue, fletched them up at 10:00 and was out shooting them at 1:00 and sent a couple through the target, had to pull them all the way out the back of the target and it deformed several fletchings but all held up to a ton of pulling force. It was also 30 deg out side and the targets were pretty stiff.

To be clear, the gorilla blue top was a pain to get off, definitely stuck well, but it was messy and inconsistent it seemed. The sides of the vanes had very uniform bubble/bald spots all the way down both sides. It just looked ugly.

Ive used just about all the archery specific glues and a bunch of the regular super glues. Ive used at least some vanes from every company out there. WIth aae, you have to follow their instructions with prep pen, etc. Most other Ill run alcohol over the base just to be sure - Blazers are true lick and stick though. They need no prep. I wipe the shafts/wraps with 91% alcohol before fletching as well. I also havent used anything else besides loctite professional liquid for a few years and have never had an issue with adhesion.

EXCEPT when the glue is old. And that goes for every glue Ive ever used. Old glue is a surefire way to have issues.

This is the stuff I use. I usually buy 2-3 bottles at a time (I fletch a lot of arrows for people) at home depot. I literally tape the plastic packaging on the cardboard with scotch tape to seal the air off, and put them in a ziploc bag in the fridge until I need them. Might be overkill, but Im telling you, theres no old glue that has been sitting up for a while that works.

Hmmm, this Platinum stuff is from last year some time. It was open as well.

 

[nphunter]

To be clear, the gorilla blue top was a pain to get off, definitely stuck well, but it was messy and inconsistent it seemed. The sides of the vanes had very uniform bubble/bald spots all the way down both sides. It just looked ugly.


Hmmm, this Platinum stuff is from last year some time. It was open as well.

I used the little bottle with the brush and it was awesome. Just wipe the brush and then a couple quick swipes of the brush and you have a perfectly thin even layer of glue on the vane. If they hold up well I will never go back to dabbing glue on again, that little brush is a lifesaver.

 

[gelton]

Jerry from South Shore Archery swears by a 50/50 mix of Vibratite 362 and Team Losi blue label which they use to glue on tires of RC cars. Works for me.

Here is a video of him talking about it but for some reason he doesn't mention the Vibratite -

Edit to Add: Since this thread is about Blazer vanes he does mention that he prefers VibraTite for all bohning products instead of team losi which may be why I heard him recommend a 50/50 mix of Vibratite and Team Losi blue label in the past.

 

[LookinforDirt]

I’ve used the whole AAE system just for their vanes. Worked fine. For Bohning vanes I use the Gorilla Impact glue. Both worked great and I’ve never had a vane come off. If the Gorilla glue was bubbling out the sides it was maybe to much glue. Besides cleaning the shafts, I use a damp alcohol paper towel, you may check you are getting full contact for the vane along the shaft. And give it 10-20 seconds to adhere before moving to the next vane.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I'm just doing them while I'm working so giving probably 15 to 20 minutes in the jig. I also just figured out I may have been clamping too tightly, there's a plastic slider and I was cramming it down pretty hard. The vane contact seems great though, whole vane with the Platinum seems to be nicely tacked down, but when it pops off it's the entire vane and leaves zero residue on the shaft.

 

[mod-it]

Cleaning prep is important, just the oil on your fingers can cause issues.
I wipe the arrow and bottom of vanes with 91% alcohol or denatured alcohol (depending on what I have on hand). I just use a cloth damp with alcohol to wipe the ends of the arrows, and a q-tip dipped into the alcohol to swipe the length of the vane bottoms. I am careful to not touch the fletching end of the arrows or the bottom of the vanes as I go through each of them and place on the jig.

I also always cut a strip of cardboard off an empty box from our recycling bin, something that is printed on one side and has a gloss to it. After I apply glue to the vane, I place the vane on the shiny side of the cardboard, press down, and slide it about 2". Then it gets applied to the arrow. This ensures the whole vane has glue and also removes any excess so i don't have extra glue squeeze out and leave a mess on the arrow. It works really well.
After I have fletched all the arrows, I put a small drop of glue on both the ends of each vane.

 

[Jethro]

I'm just doing them while I'm working so giving probably 15 to 20 minutes in the jig. I also just figured out I may have been clamping too tightly, there's a plastic slider and I was cramming it down pretty hard. The vane contact seems great though, whole vane with the Platinum seems to be nicely tacked down, but when it pops off it's the entire vane and leaves zero residue on the shaft.

That certainly sound like uncleaned shaft problem to me. Age of the glue is a legit point too.

 

[Starfighter]

Clean with acetone for best results and let the shaft sit for a while, I've used just about every glue out there and have found Gorilla Glue with the Blue Top to work well.

My favorite glue is Gohning Blazer Bond. It has not let me down with vanes or feathers. It dries in 10 seconds and you can move on to the next vane. I hold the clamp down for the 10 seconds to insure there is pressure throughout the vane.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Thanks yall. I've got some test batches drying now. I cleaned the shafts and vanes with alcohol and let dry, applied to two arrows with the Platinum and used a bit more pressure on the jig. Then I did another two arrows with the Pine Ridge stuff which I'm pretty sure is just Gorilla blue top, same bottle and same viscosity and everything.

 

[FLYBYU44]

I have tried several different glues and the only one I have had no issues with is gel super glue from the Dollar Store. I buy several tubes at a time and it works great. Tried all kinds of archery specific fetching glue and it all performed like crap and was much more expensive.

 

[Jlwatts]

It sounds to me like a little cleaning of the shafts and using a primer before hand would solve the problem.