spin wings - good or bad??

Ruthy · spin wings - good or bad??

At the moment i put the v max on my arrows, they seem stable enough and they group well.
However i have noticed that some target archers use the spin wings. The question is what (if any) are the advantages/benefits of these? I remember a few years ago they were very popular but it doesn't seem as much now. I don't want to miss out on something if it could improve my shooting some more

So, spin wings good thing or bad thing??

Mjollnir · Re: spin wings - good or bad??

To give them their dues. They are fantastic.

Arrows fitted with them fly nice, straight, and consistant with no real apparent loss of speed.

A large proportion of our club switched to them after the first member tried them, and they all loved them, but that didn't last long.

The problem with them is they are fragile. Just about every member of the club who had fitted them was going home with at least two arrows per session to re-fletch. All the constant re-fletching, caused most the group to switch to quickspins. Far more durable, possibly too much so, but that was their weakness (a different story).

Oh they were also fiddly to fletch.

Jabberwocky

For recurve, I have used spin wings for the last 20 years or so and although I have tried other makes and types of vane over this time I keep coming back to them. I and many others in my club have used them and loosing vanes has never been a problem. The only time I have seen this is with poorly spined arrows, if the arrow shaft has not been cleaned properly or if the 'top and tail' tape has not been used. If they are placed over shaft wrap then they stick even better. I do agree with Mjollnir that they can be fiddly to fletch but as with anything, practice makes perfect, and these days I can fletch a set of arrows with spin wings faster than I can straight vanes. Although pass through's and very tight grouping can damage the fletchings unless they are torn then a simple firm rub to push the crease out works well 90% of the time. They are higher maintenance than straight vanes but the benefits for me far outweigh the disadvantages.

However for compound, and especially field shooting I have found just simple straight vanes as good as anything else, especially if they are placed over shaft wrap. I have tried spin wings and I personally feel that they did not perform as well as straight vanes (although this difference was very slight) and due to the more consistent tight groups at shorter range and the increased chance of pass through's (especially on field courses) I have found them far more resilient to damage.

Chedawan

I agree with the above, they are brilliant, but fiddly, and high maitenance. I find them to be very good when I use them for postal leagues, shooting at our club bosses, and they have tightened my grouping up. However, I have on two occasions attended open target shoots, where the bosses have been flimsy (harder targets having been used for compound shooters) and my arrows have sailed through, and I wander up to find a small pile of yellow vanes just below the target... For this reason I have stuck by my old plastifletch vanes (which will happily go through the boss along with the arrow ten times out of ten, for some unknown reason), my grouping is affected only slightly, though I admit, I may not have given them their fair chance and I'm not that experienced putting them on, so it may be my fault they've fallen off.

segolden

Not sure if I am familiar with "spin vanes" as you all are referring to, but I use these in bows that have a rest:

http://store.rogerssportinggoods.com/servlet/Detail?no=493

These work very well in most jigs, don't wear or distort fast, and stay glued on. Plus, they actually work as advertised.

There are several varieties now, shorter in length or taller.

Mjollnir

Segolden, those are indeed not spine vanes, they are the quickspins I reffered to in my post.

I have found with the quickspins, they work great when new, but they have a habit of going soft over time, and more annoyingly at different rates, this can make one vane work harder than the others, and actually be a detriment to grouping (think about an unbalanced wheel)

I have now gone back to a regular vane with a 4 degree helical. for the most part I can forget about the fletchings then and concentrate on my shooting

Chedawan

These sort of things or at least that's one branding of them, there are a few different brands, but essentially it's the same principal.

Mjollnir

Chedawan

segolden

Okay, that makes things a little clearer, thank you. Not sure how those would work out of a Whisker Biscuit rest, but might try them when the Phoenix comes in. I personally haven't had any problems with the Quick-Spins, at least the shorter length/taller versions now out, but I'm always looking for something better.

Chedawan

I would imagine that a whisker biscuit would be the natural predator of spin wings...

segolden

Ditto, but they might be great on my recurve.

Blackheart

Wow! And I was just wondering the same thing recently....

Judging by the results, I think I will stick to plastifletch for the time being....

Bohning Blazers seem to offer very good steering while being very robust (from what I have read, anyways) - has anyone tried them? I wonder if they would suit field archery

Selwoc

One of the main advantages of spinwings is that they are extremely light. This means that, to achieve the same FOC, you can use a lighter point, giving an overall lighter arrow. This is an advantage in unmarked field because sight marks will be closer.
They are higher maintenance than plastic vanes, but they are much quicker to put on than plastic ones, they can even be put on in the field.

I use them out of a recurve for the above reasons, but I can't see any advantage to using them with a compound.

I'd stick with the plastic ones Ruthy.

Chedawan

Just a quick bump on a semi-old thread... I've just decided to have a whirl at using quick-spins to see if they really are the best of both worlds! Will report back on my results (or lack thereof as soon as they've been tried out!

Blackheart

I would be interested to know the outcome - I use AAE elite vanes (EP-26) and have wondered how much better they would be.

The other ones that have caught my eye are the Bi-delta vanes - only because they look pretty different

has anyone tried them?

Chedawan

Are they the 'shark tooth' branded ones? with the kind of double fletch, two bump affair?

)
I <------- Bit like that?
)

Blackheart

Yep - they are the ones, although there are two main types - the larger ones have a more normal parabolic profile (except doubled up, of course) and the smaller ones are called the sharks tooth as they have a different profile.

Chedawan

Will keep you posted, I've re-fletched my arrows last night, and will hopefully get a new set of sight marks for them this weekend, and I'll be able to tell you in a week or so if they're any good. If not, I might give the Bi-Delta vanes a whirl - Can't hurt.

LongJohn

A better choise are the Bohning Blazers Vane´s, awesome arrowflight and very good grouping!
But better you try out the Spin´s and see how you are going with them!

Long John

Blackheart

Chedawan

Not too worried about changing colours... black and yellow all the way, but I do have a habit of shooting off my fletchings and nocks and get through a fair few, so anything I'd need to mail order from abroad would significantly ramp up the cost for me too!
As I say I'm just looking for something that has the durability of the ep-vanes, and works like a spin wing. My groups are fairly tight anyhow, so hopefully these might just be what I'm looking for.

Barracuda Babe

My son had quickspins on his arrows - he shoots compound. They were a knickers to fletch and came off very easily (I know I'm not an expert fletcher, but the plastifletch vanes stayed put for much much longer).

It was the wee knobbly/sticky out bit that got on my nerves whilst fletching. I've reverted him back to plastifletch for the time being and he can lump it.

Deidre

ps sorry to hijack the thread, but can anyone recommend a good glue, or is superglue ok to use?

Mjollnir

I use http://www.merlinarcherycentre.co...Bohning_Fletch-Tite_Platinum.html as a glue, I find it not quite as brittle as superglue, and hence holds better.

As to the mounting quick-spins, I modified one of our jigs, by taking one of the smallest size cable ties you can get, cutting the large plastic square off the end, and sticking it along the inside edge of one side of the fletching holder. This stops the "kicker" bit of the fletching getting in the way all the time.

Chedawan

Slight update; they're ace, just what I wanted, seem to do the job perfectly. Had one pass through the butt with no ill effects, all fletchings still in place and groovy! Shot one fletching off, but I usually do that anyway. Going to try them again at the weekend, and will give you a definitive verdict.
Not sure I can see any problems with fletching though?!? Mine just went in my normal clamp, kicker and all, as I would plastifletch vanes, and have shown no harm from doing so, the clamp is wide enough at that point to not bend the kicker, so no modifications required at my end.
As for glue, I use the same as suggested by MJ or Saunders Arrowmate NPV though in the past I have been known if I'm at a competition and shooting fletchings off, and not got my tackle box (that's what happens when at university archery clubs you go out drinking the night before a comp!) to nip to the local shop, buy a tube of bostick and use that, and I've never noticed the difference - although it won't stick to carbon arrows for some reason.

Chedawan

Chalk me up as a bona fide convert to Quickspins! Shot them at distance today, including a 'six X end' on a 122cm face at 80yds (that's probably not going to happen again in a hurry

) Was really impressed with how little cast I lost using them, just a couple of marks at 80yds, so they'll be here to stay!

In the parlance of ebay:

A+++++++++++++++++++++++ Recommended to all!

Mjollnir

I have always found them to be great when new.

it is only as they get olderthey get a little soft, then they don't work nearly as well, in fact the opposite, but that is just my findings.

Nice score on the X's mate

Chedawan

Cheers.

I'll keep them on and see what happens if they soften... for the moment I'm extremely pleased. How long do they tend to last for you, before they go floppy?

Mjollnir

I varies, and I still haven't worked out the cause, weather it is sunlight breaking down the plastic, or the way they are stored, or the constant high speed knocking of them in the target, I dunno.

Typically though, about 2 months of shooting twice a week (one evening, and one all day).

It is not that they go very soft, just that some of the fletchings become softer than others on the same arrow. On normal fletchings this is not so important, but because each quickspin feltching produces quite a strong lift force, it can lead the back end of the arrow to be a little erratic. Think of an unbalanced wheel.

Bushy

If looking at switching to spin wings why not look at K vanes which can be put on more accurately as they can be put on with a normal fletching jig against spin wings which I have found to be very tempremental and more easily damaged than k vanes

spin wings - good or bad??

Re: spin wings - good or bad??