Before my arrow saw I used electrical tape and a steak knife...worked like a charm

 

I built an arrow saw out of woodworking shop scrap that uses a dremel to make the cuts, but I modeled and 3D printed some of the parts. It could certainly be done without 3D printing anything if you dont have access to one.

 

That’s pretty expensive if you have to give up your dremel

 

Dremel and a sanding disk.

Then clamp some sandpaper between two pieces of 2x4 with a hole drilled through the top peice just big enough to fit your shaft, twist and sand flush.

Tip.. mark your cut and then cut the shaft bout 1/8 to 1/4 inch short of it, that way when you cut your mark you can cut it more evenly.

 

I have cut DOZENS of arrows down with a small tubing cutter. It’s slow but it works.

 

Same
I use a pipe cutter. Gives a clean and parallel cut

 

Unfortunately, the arrow cutoff saw is one of those tools that you may as well just turn around, bend over, and pay the shocking price for the good commercial purpose-built tool from the get-go. Reason being, even going the DIY route with the Dremel or chop saw from Harbor Freight, etc., you end up having to get the good purpose-made saw at the end of the day anyway.

Don't ask me why I know this.

Even the super cheap Chinese saw from Weston, etc., will last a year or maybe even two before the crappy motor burns out. But it does work if you have a squaring tool already. So in the long run, you'll be ahead financially in the number of shafts that you don't ruin with the Dremel tool/parts around the garage deal.

I'm facing the same temptation once again, after my cheap Chinese saw burned up a few weeks ago too. But I know not to do the Dremel tool/chop saw from Harbor Freight thing, having tried that before I got the cheap Chinese saw. While it worked, it never ruined a shaft, so the extra $50 or whatever for it more than paid for itself over the Dremel, which did chew up at least that amount of shafts in dollars.

I may end up just getting the pricey Last Chance saw, so I'll never have to deal with this crapola again....

lee.

 

Nope. Can build a DIY arrow saw.
I used an angle grinder, with a stainless steel cutoff wheel (extra thin abrasive wheel).
Spend some time to build a frame to hold the angle grinder wheel DEAD vertical.
Spend more time building arrow supports (match cut on the mitre saw) so all arrow supports are the exact same height.

 

Cordless dremel, no issues. Have a squaring device so not too concerned how square the cut is.

 

I cut them on my 10" Delta cabinet saw with a 90 tooth carbide blade. Its got a large dust collector on it and does a fine job. If lazy and using a 40 tooth blade I just ROTATE the carbon shafts slower. All cuts are done by rotating the shaft around and doing a very slow finishing cut to the inside of the arrow.

I pre-mark all the shafts....often cutting some shaft from each end to get the straightest possible arrow out of the carbon blank. I use an old aluminum arrow straightener that has a dial indicator over the center with the rollers on 12" centers to check shafts for straightness. I definitely believe in putting the straightest end at the nock...old wood arrow trick from wan back.

Works very well for me, basically with any of the 3 table saws I've had over the years. The first two were old cheapies and nothing special but worked fine for this duty.

 

I made mine from scrape wood ,a drawer slide and a dremill tool I got off amazon for about 20 dollars. I just run a silver marker around the end of the cut arrow and a coupe of turns on my arrow squaring tool and a nice square cut . I cut about 3 dozen shafts a year and I've run this set up about 5 years with no issue

 

Been using this one i made over 10 years now works great i did a few upgrades to it

 

Aluminum arrows and a tubing cutter from the plumbing section of lowes.

 

IDIY myself down to the shop and pay a few bucks to have it done... They have a nice arrow saw and I don't mind giving them $6/doz for their time and tools. just

 

Yes sir, take it slow. Works great.

 

I've got 3 Dremels and aren't used for chopping off arrows.

You want to do a DIY arrow, make sure you know what you're doing and then use old arrows for test cuts. The best cut is having the blade just get through the paper of the arrow and turn arrow for complete cut. Done well you don't need to square arrow ends.

If wanting square arrow ends then buy a quality arrow squaring tool. The G5 is good. Look up ruffme - Bill's AT name. I think he has one that's a tad better. Stay away from the 3D Printer squares.

Weston arrow saws are pretty decent - $185 for and $220 for the other in Lancaster catalog.
The T-Bird arrow saw has been noted here on AT and around the same price as the Weston.
Either of these will pay for themselves. Got friends that need arrows cut? Got a saw and you'll have friends.
Ask for a $1 or $2 for cutting a dozen.

The saw blade above, Apple. I'm still using the same Apple blade that came with the saw in 2008 - 13 years of use and still going.. Used it at the archery shop for 5 years and then bought out the shop when owner closed the doors to look after his main business - can't blame him there - yeah, mulit 100K dollar contracts over a pain in the azzzz.

The Last Chance arrow saw is just plain stupid in price - $575.00

Look at bottom shelf. Yep, my Apple arrow saw is portable - mounted on doubled up piano boards - say super flat and super hard. I've got 110 in my truck - so I can take it to archery events. My draw board and bow press are also portable. Got a picnic table - hang it on the edge like shown...

 

I've got 3 Dremels and aren't used for chopping off arrows.

You want to do a DIY arrow, make sure you know what you're doing and then use old arrows for test cuts. The best cut is having the blade just get through the paper of the arrow and turn arrow for complete cut. Done well you don't need to square arrow ends.

If wanting square arrow ends then buy a quality arrow squaring tool. The G5 is good. Look up ruffme - Bill's AT name. I think he has one that's a tad better. Stay away from the 3D Printer squares.

Weston arrow saws are pretty decent - $185 for and $220 for the other in Lancaster catalog.
The T-Bird arrow saw has been noted here on AT and around the same price as the Weston.
Either of these will pay for themselves. Got friends that need arrows cut? Got a saw and you'll have friends.
Ask for a $1 or $2 for cutting a dozen.

The saw blade above, Apple. I'm still using the same Apple blade that came with the saw in 2008 - 13 years of use and still going.. Used it at the archery shop for 5 years and then bought out the shop when owner closed the doors to look after his main business - can't blame him there - yeah, mulit 100K dollar contracts over a pain in the azzzz.

The Last Chance arrow saw is just plain stupid in price - $575.00

Look at bottom shelf. Yep, my Apple arrow saw is portable - mounted on doubled up piano boards - say super flat and super hard. I've got 110 in my truck - so I can take it to archery events. My draw board and bow press are also portable. Got a picnic table - hang it on the edge like shown...

View attachment 7454243

I just checked, the saw I had that burnt up due to the super crappy motor was a Weston piece o' cheeayt saw of unknown origin. Maybe I should learn my lesson.

The Last Chance saw appears to be the only one you can actually buy now. It's in stock at lancaster probably because nobody can afford it. And the El Cheapo saws are out of stock because they were the only ones anybody could.....

OTOH, if I got one of those, I could cut arrows for locals in our club too, and hopefully contribute a little to our archery community.

Frank Thomas at TAMU always taught that the most important piece of kit in your archery setup was the arrow. And so if you really need to throw money at your gear for the purposes of safety as well as shooting the best, the arrow is where it ought to go.

That's the justification I'm attempting in my mind right now to get the Last Chance. Apart from the fact that I just desperately need a saw for various reasons, that make going back and forth to a shop impractical... We'll see if that mental trick pries the credit card out of the wallet......

But I'm slowly sliding thataway. And it would be nice for someone in our community to have access to a good saw that won't burn up on a friday night before shooting the next day.....

lee.

 

I've used a miter saw with a high tooth count blade. I put a block of wood to butt my arrow against. It helps me get a consistent length. Then I slowly cut the arrow while twisting it. I've cut my VF TKO arrows and the lengths are really consistent. A small amount of carbon chips at the end but you wouldn't be able to see it just looking at the shaft. No special jig and no expensive tools (assuming you have a miter saw).

 

We charge a whopping $.50 a cut if you didn't buy your arrows from us. $6.00 a dozen. If you screw up ONE arrow with a Dremel, you are behind the game.

 

People like to tinker with their stuff, buy arrows secondhand, from classified etc. It’s not just for new arrows from known builds.

 

How do you mess up cutting an arrow? I mean it is about as simple as anything can be! Hell I free hand lopped off a couple shafts I had that were splintered after hard impacts, ran them through my squaring tool and by some miracle they came out the same as any other.

No place with 75 miles with a saw and I already had a dremel. When I get some new arrows I will build a jig for cutting them, for now I just clamp the dremel down and go.

 

Hey if I can mess it up, anyone can..

But seriously, it's actually not that simple. Cutting an arrow shaft isn't like cutting a piece of water pipe - arrows are shot out of 70+ lb bows at 300fps+ and slammed into hard targets 100's and potentially even 1000's of times over their useful lifetimes. It's similar to how you treat cutting/bending/bonding metal parts in an aircraft wing vs. on a building, etc. Extra care against unannounced fatigue failure later has to be taken in the aircraft wing case, even if the materials used and methods are the same.

So the truth is, anything less than the cleanest cut you can afford on the ends of your shafts, can cause stress risers, splits, etc., in the material that can in turn lead to quite dangerous failures over the long term. This is especially true of carbon shafts, which are far more prone to the splintering failure mode than an aluminum shaft.

In other words, you can kind of get away with corner cutting (literally), but at some point down the line, it can catch up with you. And the consequences can otherwise make the initial investment in doing it the right way worth it.

I'm not saying don't DIY, but definitely DIY it so you can cut your shafts the right way, if you do decide to DIY it....

lee.

 

2 in. Mini Benchtop Cut-Off Saw

Amazing deals on this 2In Mini Bench Top Cut-Off Saw at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

I gently chuck my arrow shafts in my metal lathe to cut them and they are square.

 

Seems like they use to sell a motor and the back bracket that would hold the knock and you could build the rest. I "thought" I bought a partial kit? It's been about 30 years so I'm not real sure. I'll look at it and take a pic when I can.

 

I like the innovators that use other standard shop tools (plus typically some means to ensure precise length) cut the shafts, whether angle grinders, miter saws, table saws, lathes, or even Dremel tools. You sure don't need a $600 or even $200 arrow saw to cut off a carbon, wood or aluminum arrow shaft that might only get used a time or two a year in many cases. Plus its fun to innovate if you have that gene.

 

I use my Dremel with a heavy duty blade and it cuts just as good as an arrow saw.

 

The "Dremel" works, if you already have one. I use it for my setup. Just rig up something to hold your arrow in place and at your specific length.

 

Been using a standard chop saw with a steel or masonry blade for decades.

 

it doesn't splinter them?

 

I bought a 2" cutoff saw from Harbor Freight and built one similar to this YouTube video: diy arrow saw on youtube - Yahoo Video Search Results

I replaced to blade that came with the saw with a cutoff blade. Also, make sure you rotate your arrow while cutting it. Don't just cut all the way through.

Before this, I used a pipe cutter. It worked, I thought. However, one hit against a target frame would splinter it. I know, I should have it my target instead. I have not had a splintered arrow since using the cutoff saw.

 

I bought a 2" cutoff saw from Harbor Freight and built one similar to this YouTube video: diy arrow saw on youtube - Yahoo Video Search Results

I replaced to blade that came with the saw with a cutoff blade. Also, make sure you rotate your arrow while cutting it. Don't just cut all the way through.

Before this, I used a pipe cutter. It worked, I thought. However, one hit against a target frame would splinter it. I know, I should have it my target instead. I have not had a splintered arrow since using the cutoff saw.

Does the pipe cutter make little cracks?

 

Here's an arrow-cutoff saw I just made. Part that holds arrow is hinged and swings down onto cutter-wheel for a perfectly square cut. Good enough for me...