Please tell me your preferred method for installing metal screw-in inserts into 1916 XX75 aluminum shafts.

Epoxy? What brand? how many minutes? Hot glue sticks like those used for points?

Tell me your prep (alcohol wipe, wire brush rough-up?. Give me the whole "shebang".

Thanks in advance for your input. Shoot 'em straight and safe.

Regards, WMM

I rough up the inside of the shaft with either the point of a small round file or rifle brush, clean with acetone. I scuff the insert with sandpaper and clean with acetone. I use two part slow cure epoxy, don't know brand. They never come out.

Cut arrow to length with tubing cutter...remove burr with round file...wipe inside with 99% alcohol.

Use ferrule tite hot melt. Heat glue and wipe on insert...screw a field point onto the insert and hold with vice grips. Heat arrow end with an alcohol lamp and push insert in and twist as glue melts.

Very simple. Put the insert in about 3/16 in , heat the insert with a small torch or alchahol burner. Dont over heat,,,,,, just enough to let the ferrel tite glue stick me l t when touched to the ibsert. Once hot enough stick the glue to the insert allowing it to melt and coat the insert. Push the insert in by placing it against a piece of wood or whatever. I keep a damp rag close to wipe the excess glue off. Wala..... done.

5 minute devcon or WEST epoxy. If I was going after something that bit back I wouldn't use inserts, but if I did, I might upgrade the a better epoxy, like golf club shafting epoxy. 5 minute is reversible, usually, and when I use it, I don't go to heroic extremes to make it even stronger than it is, as it is already overkill, but for best quality arrows I use it. I might wipe the inserts with alcohol, though epoxy is so strong I am not trying to make it bond even stronger.

I lay out dots of resin and hardener on something plastic and stiff like marg. containers upside down. If you lay out enough for several mixes it goes faster. You will soon learn how many inserts you can do with one mix, and you have to gauge that along with waste that sticks to things when mixing. Mix has to be very thorough the product is only as strong as the materials are well mixed. I use club sandwich flat wooden toothpicks. Mix well, roll the TP in the resin, scrape it, make sure every surface is well mixed. Sometimes you can mix two drops of epoxy on the ends of two TPs, and sorta spin them like making taffy. That works well.

I use a 1/8th inch rod to apply the glue, I roll up the epoxy along about the same amount of rod as the insert contact surfaces. You just roll the rod inside the tube, and around the insert. Only go about 1/2 way into the tube. You want a thin coat on both surfaces but no more than you need to cover them. Excess will detach and rattle or make you weight inconsistent. I press the insert all the way in and let it rest overnight. If I want it super strong, I put the aeeows so the insert ends rest on one of those little coffee cup warming hotplates. You can do that when they fully cure, or once they set to make it go even faster.

Same basic method works with wooden arrows and tapered points.

Ferultite (calling it FT from here on in) is a premium hot glue, better in every way than the soft hot melts, and even with them, the "high strength" versions are harder, just not as hard as FT. Yeah it is more expensive, but not so bad compared to everything else, and a little bit goes a long way. No reason to use the crap alternatives, except they obviously work OK for lots of people. But OK is not what I am after.

I hold the insert in a handle I made by gluing a point into a piece of wood. Since the insert is going to be hot, a handle makes it go easier. I heat the glue in a very low set propane torch, the flame should be about the length of a dime, or an alcohol lamp. Once I see the end go liquid, I roll the arrow in it until a little string is on the inside of the lip of the arrow. Then I reheat the glue and dab a little glue over insert. So I get a distribution of sticky bits over the insert, but not heavy or all over. I then heat them both and press them together. Usually there is a tiny doughnut that squeezes you can tack that to the end of the glue stick and reuse.

If you don't have a holder, or maybe easier anyway is to press the cold insert into the glue you got on the inside of the arrow mouth. It will freeze the insert so that hardly any gets inside the arrow, then dab the insert, heat both together, press hard against something solid to seat the insert.

----------------------------------------

Avoid acetone for cleaning as it contains trace oil and stuff will occasionally fail when bonded to surfaces prepped with acetone. If you had to use it to disolve something on the shaft, and normally a knife is all you need to clean a shaft of residue, clean afterwards with alcohol to remove the oil.

---------------------------------------------

There is a myth that hard glues are brittle, this is not the case. FT is tested in the use for which it is intended, craft glues aren't. High load glues for bonding Al in aircraft and such, are the high durometer reading glues (hard to the rest of us) In the bond they are foil thin and pliable, but with lower tendency to creep or fail. In materials hardness is often associated with toughness. Same with people, soft and tough, are not synonymous.

Hot melt and a torch. Then again thats how I do everything.

Me too longbeauman. Even carbons. If you know what your doing. If not then you can burn the carbons and mess them up. Seen that happen. Not me so eone else. Juyst takes a little common sense huh bud?

I started using the low temp, craft store glue about five or six years ago. They actually stick better with that and are easy to replace without high heat. I've even shot them into stumps and had to pry them out with no losses. Most problems with hot melt is using too much and creating air bubbles/pockets.

I agree with George!!

Put a tip in the insert. heat with torch until rolling the insert on the glue will melt the glue off the stick. Roll it a little to get some glue on it. Heat the shaft SLIGHTLY. Hit the glue with a little heat again and push into the shaft.

Hot melt if I might take them out, JB Weld if I want them permanent.

Ferule tite with a propane torch and pliers for me.

glue called Kimsha I believe get it from the Nocking Point sorta looks like a candle, best hot melt glue Ive ever used.. last forever just takes a tiny dab.

Ferule tite with a propane torch and pliers for me. X2- super easy with not one issue in 30 yrs.

I used Ferule Tite for years doing many dozs of aluminums. It works fine but after a few years it becomes brittle and the inserts may come out especially if you hit a hard object. If your absolutely not wanting to change them out or really worried about one coming out use the golf shaft epoxy. It is a 24 hour cure so plan ahead. Aluminums don’t need all the fuss about prep. I use lacquer thinner. I know some guys can’t hack the odor but it works.

I use the low temp stuff like George. Started using it after he mentioned it. Works just fine, and I can get it locally.

Gun cleaning brush and Ferule Tite. It has never failed on deer, hogs, or bears for me. >>>----> Ken

Actually the same with carbon. I am very careful with the heat on both. I heat the insert and glue. Put glue on it, then push in and twist. I do put aluminium close to the burner and let it warm. Use a threaded rod to hold insert in heat. Kitchen stove is all I have ever used. >>>----> Ken

All I've ever used is hot melt for aluminum arrows for installing inserts,never had one come out.Never seen the need to epoxy them in an aluminum arrow,might want to remove it and change the length of my arrow.Hot melt is quick and easy,never lost one and still shoot aluminum arrows these days out of some of my bows.

strshotx x2, hot glue on inserts and directly in BHs on swaged tips, both aluminum and wood swaged. They don't budge, and a bent BH or insert that needs to be replaced is easily removed with propane torch. Bent alum arrow tips, can cut off bend, and re-glue. Easy with hot glue. I prefer wood, and the hot glue works fine with them.

You have the best bond if you score the inside of the shaft like reddog suggests. I even brush up the insert with a brass brush. I clean all surfaces with acetone. I heard that alcohol leave a residue. Bowlim maybe correct, it's just what I heard.

Bowmania

No offense, but I’ve literally inserted thousands of aluminum arrows as I worked in bow shops all through college. We always wiped the inside of the arrows with acetone before inserting and used acetone to wipe down before fletching to...I’ve used gallons upon gallons of it. If it leaves trace oils, it is not enough to cause adhesion problems. Acetone with definately help to clean and prep properly

Lots of ways of doing it, but you certainly don't need epoxy. That's too dang permanent for simple bushings. Think coatings in the shaft and on the insert will keep the glue in the shaft and on the insert. If you just put it on the insert, you can lose much of it when inserting. Again...not much glue at all. Too much creates issues.

Ditto George I use it for everything.

Rifle brush on a handle and Bohning Ferrule Tite. I've used many sticks of Ferrule Tite and never had points or inserts come out. as Matt M stated, Acetone does not have oils. Rubbing alcohol and mineral spirits do. Acetone, 99% alcohol and denatured alcohol does not. I have always used acetone to prep shafts and never had one fail to bond.

Acetone is good but some people may not want to breath the fumes so denatured alcohol would be a good substitute. But acetone will clean and degrease anything.

Zero prep.

Super Glue around the end of the insert and get it started. Hold the shaft with both hands and ram it in pushing down on your work bench.

Done.

Cut to length with arrow saw. With a fine file, clean up O.D. of face . With a small round course file, score th inside where insert will sit. Using a de-burring tool remove the sharp inside edge and leave a small radius so the insert will seat against the face of the arrow. Clean both the insert and inside the arrow shaft with acetone. Using JB weld, apply it to both the insert and arrow shaft and install the insert. I then install a field point that I know spins true and spin the arrow on my arrow spinner to be sure it spins true and adjust accordingly. Then I stand the arrow up with the point “up” as closed to plumb as possible with the arrow not leaning on the point, but on the shaft. Leave it for 24 hours to cure the JB weld, then check it again on the spinner. I do the same procedure with carbon arrows

To be sure the field point doesn’t get epoxied in, you can smear a little Vaseline on the threads of the field point before you install it into the insert.

That’s how I do it,.....Lloyd

I always used feriltite but the last batch of alum. I used big Jim's, works great and easy to use.

Big Jims and watch his how to videos.

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here