Introduction to Bow Technician Questions
This time, we step into the world of beginner DIY bow technician questions! Getting into the world of at home DIY archery is a big jump with an even bigger learning curve, and we are here to help!
How to get rid of high or low paper tear when paper tuning?
If you have a high or low tear and moving your arrow rest isn’t doing much, your bow is probably out of time. If your tear is low, it means that your bottom cam is coming to a full stop before your top cam. In other words, your top cam is firing a microsecond before your bottom cam, propelling the top of your arrow faster than the bottom.
This leads to a tail low tear that will be impossible to get rid of by moving your nock point or arrow rest. The same logic applies to a tail high tear, but vice versa. You will be shocked at how quickly your paper tear is solved when you time your bow!
What is cam timing in archery?
Cam timing is the process of adjusting the length of your bows cables to ensure that the cams are rotating in perfect synchronization with each other. If your cams are out of sync, one cam will be firing slightly ahead of the other, which causes nock travel.
Shop All Broadheads
What happens if cam timing is off?
If your top cam is firing even a millisecond before your bottom cam, then your bow is trying to push the top of the arrow out of the bow before the bottom of the arrow. While this sounds like an advanced and abstract concept, it is very simple when you see it with your own eyes, and it makes a huge difference in your bow's accuracy.
What is nock travel?
Nock travel is any horizontal or lateral movement that the nock side of your arrow has during the shot process. In a perfect world, you want zero nock travel – meaning that the arrow moves only forward in a perfect line without any discrepancy. Nock travel is easiest to assess through paper tuning.
How to check cam timing on a bow?
To check your bows cam timing, you will need a draw board. A draw board is a tool which allows you to securely draw your bow using a winch and lock it in at full draw so you can examine the cams rotation and position at full draw on your own.
Experienced archers can often feel cam timing errors just by drawing the bow and feeling the back wall, but this only works for large discrepancies in cam synchronization. A draw board is needed to accurately assess and perfectly correct cam timing issues.
What is involved in tuning a bow?
Tuning a bow requires timing the cams, adjusting the tiller bolts, setting the arrow rest to center shot and paper tuning to then adjust the string position to true center.
What do you need to tune a bow?
Basic bow tuning can be done using just an archery levelling kit and a bow vice, but a full tune will require a draw board, a bow press, and a paper tuning setup.
Shop All Broadheads
How often do bows need to be tuned?
Generally, a bows tune should be checked two or three times per year, but if your bow was setup well and your strings are high quality then no additional tuning should need to be done for at least a year after the initial setup.
How do you know if your bow needs to be tuned?
If your broadheads do not fly with your field points, your bow likely needs to be tuned. Shooting your bow through paper is the quickest way to tell if your bow needs to be tuned. Anything other than a perfect bullet hole means your bow has a tuning issue which needs to be backtracked.
Can someone else tune your bow?
Yes, but paper tuning is something that should be done with you as the shooter. If your bow tech says he or she will paper tune your bow for you, ask if you can be the shooter while they make the adjustments.
Your hand position and form will have a tremendous impact on how your bow shoots through paper. However, if your tech is an experienced archer with perfect form then you may want to let them paper tune for you. If you shoot the bow differently, it will indicate that you need to correct your form in some way. In my shop, I paper tune everyone’s bow for them and work with them to correct form issues so that we shoot the same way.
Shop All Broadheads
Why are my arrows fishtailing?
Your bow needs to be paper tuned. If your arrow rest is not set to center shot, or your string is not in the true center of your bow, you will experience fishtailing arrow flight. If your arrows are still fish tailing after this, then you either have a spine issue in your arrows or your form is causing the fish tailing.
How important is archery form?
Consistent and perfect form is extremely important. If your hand position is off even a small amount, your arrow can fishtail and fly erratically even if your bow is tuned perfectly and your arrows spine is perfect. Consistent form is the most important component of accuracy in archery.
Why are my arrows not flying straight?
If your arrows are flying erratically, it could be that your bow needs to be paper tuned, your arrows spine is incorrectly matched with your bow, your arrow ends are not squared properly, or most commonly – your form is causing the erratic flight.
Shop All Broadheads
If you have any questions or would like to discuss the topic further, please feel free to reach out to us at sales@toothofthearrowbroadheads.com
If you liked this article, make sure to subscribe below to receive more helpful bowhunting tips, hunting news, and product releases.
