Anyone ever had to do this? I had a couple of old Bitz jigs with a right and straight clamp that I bought off of an old friend.

Trying to get the clamps, especially the helical, to lie along the length of the shaft evenly was nearly impossible. I had contact on the front and contact on the back of the clamp but there was a bridge in the middle. I took the clamps and held the edges to a flat surface and saw the same "bridge".

What I wound up doing is holding the clamp down on my belt sander and ground off the fronts and backs till I had a straight edge. Its all good now, I am just surprised that these clamps weren't "straight-edged." Fletches fine now.

Never had that problem.

Jim, are you allowing a little over an eighth of an inch of the feather to stick out of the clamp? I think that was on the instructions of my Bitz. I do have a little trouble with the left wing clamps.

Me either. Glue buildup? Good idea checking and sanding square.

Deno

I think that arc that you ground off is necessary in order for the clamp to stay close to the shaft when there is some offset. But if you fletch everything dead straight - no offset, no helical - then your modification would probably give you a good result… but there is no way to keep a straight line close to the surface of a cylinder if the two are not set up parallel.

I am a complete amateur when it comes to fletching, but my results improved quite a bit once I realized that the clamps' job is not to lock the quill down onto the shaft, but simply to hold the feather in the right position while the glue sets up. That's where that 1/8" of feather sticking out the bottom of the clamp will come in handy....

That's all I have figured out so far!

Matt I think you figured it out pretty good so far. Makes sense to me. I use left wing helicals and never had daylight underneath. Jim seems to have solved his problem with sanding. So many individual tweeks for all of us makes the process of making our own arrows challenging and rewarding. Deno

A Bitz has substantial adjustment built into the tool. I adjust the bare clamp until it fits the shaft as closely as possible. Install feather and run my thumb nail along the base for compression room and that takes care of any gaps. Also use a fat bead of Duco. No problems on many hundreds of arrows. Taking a sander to the clamp....this I would not suggest unless every adjustment had been tried.

Never had a problem with my Bitz helical clamps. They're supposed to be set up offset on the shaft to "wrap around" the shaft a little. That's what the top and bottom adjustment knobs are for.

BTW that includes both left and right helical. I don't own the straight clamp.

I ground my left wing clamp flat and it works a whole lot better. In fact, I'm thinking it was at a suggestion from someone on this forum. Agreed, that it does not seem logical that a flat edge would wrap around a cylindrical surface, but the shape of of the Bitz clamp accommodates that. Prove it for yourself. Take your Bitz helical clamp, place it on a flat straight surface to check to see if it's indeed flat, then lay it against one of your arrow shafts. It will lay right down against the shaft for the entire length of the clamp.

Mine has same problem. Things look fine then after some shooting the center of the fletch lifts from the shaft. I bought a cheap plastic clamp from Cabelas that looks similar to the bitz and its flat, no arc. It works way better than the stock clamp. I also thought about grinding the clamp, but havent. Both of the clamps I mentioned are lw helical.

Suggestions above about leaving a bit of feather protrude from the clamp is correct. I was taught by an old timer and was told to run your thumbnail along the quill. That seems to get you just the right amount of projection.

I do not leave a bit a of feather protrude and have never had a problem with bitz jigs...using JoJan jigs is a different story for me.

That is usually due to glue build-up on the two ends of the clamp. Just slide a knife blade along the closed clamp edge to remove the glue. The result will be a nice clean and flat clamp that will receive a feather well and seat that feather edge against the arrow for the entire length of the feather. If this is the issue, try using a little less glue when applying your feathers.

My left wing clamp is sanded. It is something I learned from the late Lamont Granger of the Footed Shaft out of Minnesota. He would trade your clamp for a sanded one. Does it make a difference? Yes it does especially when you are a stickler for perfect adhesion of the feather. I learned arrow building from one of the best and I still run my nail along the clamp and between the feather. Flint

Good suggestion from Budly. BTW, there's also a tape available to tape the clamp edges to prevent glue build up on them.

My clamp issue is not from glue. Admittedly I have always run the feather in up to the quill. Seems leaving it out an 1/8" may solve the problem. Guess that's how the manufacturer avoids having to make the clamps perfect.

1320: A helical clamp is made to wrap around the shaft. If you try to do just a little offset, it won't work. Need to adjust the front and rear knobs to get the proper helical. Do that, and the feathers fit perfectly snug to the shaft the entire length of the clamp. If you want just a little offset, use a straight clamp. That's not what a helical clamp is designed for.

Why is there different nock indexers for left/right/straight? I bought the jig with straight clamp, do i need a new indexer to use left clamp?

A tip I learned from Rick inNevada. He keeps straight pins next to his Bitz jigs. When he places a fletch on the shaft, he looks for any gaps. He just pushes a pin in the fletch at that point and the feather adheres properly. I use a knife on build up, but never ground one. The pins work really well

Great suggestions all, but there was no other problems with the clamp like glue build up. I've got a few hundred shafts fletched up over my 40+ years of archery. I always leave the 1/8th inch or so, the problem was that the "arc" was so pronounced that the middle of the feather was really walking to the side. I was fletching up some carbons so my hat pins wouldn't work here...lol. This particular clamp was just not flat along the gluing edge. I did notice that it was a an aftermarket Bitz knock-off so that may be the problem. It lays the feathers on the shaft just fine now. I just thought it unusual that it was that flawed.

I confess to taking a file to a 2" section of my Bitz clamp to increase feather-shaft contact due to max helical, carbon shafts, and very thin quills.

Run some bees wax along edge of clamp, glue and feather will not stick to clamp.

What BOX CALL said,I build a bunch of arrows on my 18 Bitz jigs Terry

kenn1320...yes, you need a different index insert for each clamp in a Bitz.

I paid the extra dinero and got the Bitz upgrade kit from 60x string. Well, it was Zenith back when I got them...I believe I ordered one of his first runs of the product. Anyways, it's primarily for carbon shafts, but it does include one excellent piece of kit that is good for ALL shafts(just use the nock receiver of your choice).

There's an adjustment plate that you install to the front of the bitz that your arrow rides in. It perfectly aligns your arrow shaft with the nock receiver so everything is on the same plane. What this also does is change the mating surfaces of the arrow shaft to the clamps that have feathers in them, aligning them to fit much better.

A pic is below.

I ground off a bitz clamp once, ruined it, I went back to the standard clamps, adjusted them properly and haven't had a problem since.

Anyone have any questions about Bitz jigs, give them a call. They are as friendly as can be and will help you out as much as possible. I would call before taking a grinder to the clamp.

If there is a hump in the middle you need to adjust it with more helical until it lies correctly. No sanding or leaving the feather hanging out

I have had to true up a couple of my Bitz's clamps, but I have had most of them be okay with the factory grind.When filing or grinding, go slow and check fit often,

What Jon Stewart said. I have called them and they were very helpful.

:bubba sights the base of his helical clamp: "Now whut the hell? This ain't flat. Damn them Bitz idiots is stupid. Imma grind this here clamp flat to make it work good." lol

I think a Bitz helical clamp has some arc along its length intentionally,because it also twists along its length to wrap the feather around the shaft.It has to have some arc to hit the shaft in the middle of the clamp,because of the wrap. .You probably just made your helical clamp into a straight offset clamp.That being said,I also think the arc in a helical jig fits a larger diameter shaft better than a thin carbon.(remember,there were no thin carbon shafts when a Bitz helical jig was designed.)

I think a Bitz helical clamp has some arc along its length intentionally,because it also twists along its length to wrap the feather around the shaft.It has to have some arc to hit the shaft in the middle of the clamp,because of the wrap. .You probably just made your helical clamp into a straight offset clamp.That being said,I also think the arc in a helical jig fits a larger diameter shaft better than a thin carbon.(remember,there were no thin carbon shafts when a Bitz helical jig was designed.)

My Bitz. jig is a 1960's era model. The same nock indexer works for left helix, right helix, and straight fletched arrows. I did use a round file on the indexer or receiver to slightly enlarge the nock hole to accomodate different width nocks. But, using the adjusting knobs (with an Allen wrench) all wooden, aluminum, and today's skinny carbons can be easily fletched.

Good one Bob, that is funny!

I think we identified the problem, a knock off Bitz clamp (probably Chinese) combined with user error.

It might be twisted a bit too much

I had the problem of feather with a good seal for and aft, but not in the center. Mine is probably over 60 years old. Here's a pretty simple solution that works for mine.

Bowmania

This should make things clearer.

Bowmania

some of you guys work really hard at this - I would just buy completed arrows if I had all this fuss!

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