Being thrifty as I am (or try to be), I bought a roll of nice, glossy white vinyl for some DIY wraps on the cheap.

So far, neither Duco nor the drugstore Superglue I have lying around will stick to the danged vinyl…

Any ideas????

Yeah. You need to use a vinyl based glue--Fletch-Tite or NPV.

I make my own wraps out of wally world vinyl. I use blue cap gorilla super glue and have yet to have a feather come off. Btw I do no advance prep on vinyl or feathers. The trick is to use a very thin coating of this glue. I put tiny dots down the length of the quill then drag w the bottle tip.

Is this Oracal 651 or 751 vinyl paper? I use either fletch tite or Gorilla SG in blue cap bottle. Also used Saunders NPV glue. I got a bottle of that branded SG from AAE that works. Wife got a half dozen little tubes of Lock Tite SG off Amazon that works as well.

Good question, Tom — it’s Oracal 651.

Also probably a good point on keeping the coverage to a minimum… I fall far too easily into the “if some is good, more is better” trap on some things, so that may be a major factor here…. Going to fletch up a couple more Legacy Carbons this evening and will try to keep my beads light…..

That vinyl paper is one that I use, I use both 651 and 751. I read where a guy saying he wipes down the paper with DNA. I wonder about that if it would take some of the ink as well? If anyone should have an issue it’s me. I crest using acrylic paints then wipe on water based acrylic to protect the crest. The glues I mentioned work until I get tired of the color scheme and redo the arrows.

Is that short for denatured alcohol??

I had wondered if something like that might do the trick. I have a can of the fuel-grade stuff which won’t leave the oil behind…

I use the same film for my wraps.

DAP Rapidfuse, Gorilla, Loctite, or any other super glue (cyanoacrylate) sticks viciously to them.

The drug store super glue is either old, or you used too much if it doesn't stick extremely well. Less is more.

What about E6000

I bought some FLEX super glue a while back (quite a while).

The stuff is amazing. Haven't found anything it won't stick, and it's what I am using to fletch to wraps with.

Only drawback is - it is very thin, and runny, BUT as mentioned above - less is more where it is concerned.

Rick

Denatured alcohol, yes. I keep a can handy. I wonder if your SG is old? I have read it can have a shelf life. I keep mine in a container in the fridge.

[[[ "I keep mine in a container in the fridge." ]]]

^this^

Rick

Oracle 651 and blue cap gorilla super glue. Works perfect

Is 651 glossy and 751 the matte finish?

I’m trying to recall whether I had just cracked open a new tube of the drugstore CA when I had my failures with this stuff….

Does Duco have a short shelf life once opened?

Why not just use the vinyl scraps from your local sign maker? You can get most colors and there already sticky backed. Usually for free.

Why not just use the vinyl scraps from your local sign maker? You can get most colors and there already sticky backed. Usually for free.

Any one have photos??

Made these for indoor league. White wrap material I crested. I will admit I do buy wraps already made up. In fact I just ordered a dozen Flo yellow/ flo green. Now to find feathers to match.

I have used double face carpet tape in the past with a lot of success. My wrap has held up for 4 years now.

Sounds like some here are not aware that the Oracal is already adhesive-backed?

Cost-wise…. I suppose if you only go through a half dozen or a dozen arrows in a year, it wouldn’t probably be worth it to do DIY wraps… I go through at least a half dozen arrows a month, as a rule, so buying in bulk and doing a little bit of trimming while the glue dries in the fletching jig just seems kind of like a no-brainer.

Gonna take a run at it with a fresh tube of blue-top…. And try to not break any tomorrow ;)

How do most people cut the DYS wraps? I assume one would need to have an actual paper cutter to get a good straight cut?

How do most people cut the DYS wraps? I assume one would need to have an actual paper cutter to get a good straight cut?

I have one of those Fiskers cutters that we bought originally to trim photos. Will do a 12” sheet.

I use a T-square on a cutting mat which has a grid printed on it. Exacto knife.

Also an easy thing to cut a tick-mark on each end to get the desired width and use the straight edge to cut a clean line edge to edge. And it’s not as if they HAVE to be perfect. I’m doing it mainly to reduce lost arrows and make it easier to strip/refletch.

Yep, I have thought about doing it to make my arrows easier to find, on occasion.

X2 on the Fiskars paper cutter. It's slick. I'm surprised at how much I use it for other things now.

Amazing at how much a guy can spend to save money.. :) BigJim

I can get a dozen wraps from a $2 sheet of Oracal if I cut them myself.

The Fiskars tool makes the misses happy with her crafts, and I made her buy it lol.

And I don't have to wait for them to come in the mail, and the shipping costing more than the wraps.

That's a pretty good savings and a huge bump in convenience for me. I'll take it.

So do you cut them for the seam to but up or just overlap? I've not used wraps but am considering trying some.

Steve

Walmart shelf paper $7.38 roll a box of single edge blades $ 4.25 -the roll has 1 inch lines on it on back- I cut 1” x 7” with ruler and wrap .246 arrows with overlap.I glue my cock feather on the overlap —enough for a LONG time —I also use fleching tape with a dab of glue front and back.Only issue is trying to replace just one feather at a time but I just replace everything when it’s time.Works fine and tuff material

Steve P , slight overlap.

Olde style. I leave about 1/16” of tape on back of feather. That way I can pull it up to replace just one feather. No, I don’t do the glue dab on back of feather. My sis in law wears out just one feather on her arrows.

As for “goin’ broke savin’ money”…,

Looks like ready-made wraps run $10-$15 or even $20-plus per dozen, though Big Jim sells them at 9”, so you could probably cut those in half, go with 4 1/2” wraps and get them under 50 cents a pop.

A 12”X5 foot roll of 651 runs about 5 bucks; I split mine into two rolls at 6”X60”. Given 1” width for the wraps, that’s 120 wraps from the 5’ roll, but in round terms, DIYs are about a nickel each.

I noticed that some of the $21/dozen wraps are only 4”… I kinda like the way the 6” look, but if I wanted to, I suppose I could use 4-inchers and get closer to 3 cents each.

They aren’t fancy, but White always pops against a natural background (unless it snows).

Yes I make my own. But I also buy those special ones from One Stringer.

[[[ grizz: "Steve P , slight overlap." ]]]

Same for me. I'd much rather have a lap, than a gap.

Rick

Good to know that a little overlap is a non-fatal error ;)

grizz, Rick, thanks for the tip. I believe I'll try it next time I fletch.

Steve

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here