[raisins]

This is just basic physics at work. You get more leverage the taller the vane, and the shorter length provides a higher coefficient of lift

Interesting. So, if you have 2 vanes, both 0.5 inches tall let's say, but one is 2" long and another 3" long, then the 2" long one is better? I've always thought that the greater surface area of the 3", even if length doesn't totally compensate for shortness, would help. Especially with a helical because it would catch more air.

 

[Jasonsnightmare]

Interesting. So, if you have 2 vanes, both 0.5 inches tall let's say, but one is 2" long and another 3" long, then the 2" long one is better? I've always thought that the greater surface area of the 3", even if length doesn't totally compensate for shortness, would help. Especially with a helical because it would catch more air.

Not really. It's more like a strength to weight ratio. The shorter length vane will produce much less drag, but the longer vane will still produce more lift. It's just the ratio that changes

 

[Alaska at heart]

Last night shortly before sunset, the rain and wind had moved on and I got a narrow window of quiet before dark. Again I shot at 40 yards with the Atlas fletched arrow, but after a couple warm-up shots, I changed the field point out for the G5 BMP...the practice point for Deadmeat BH's. Most of my shots were accurate, but form had to be very precise at that distance. 7 out of 10 were in a 3.5" circle, but a couple were not as pretty. With less vane height, they were a bit more critical of front end 'competition'. Going to keep this going a few more sessions and continue to stretch out the distance...plus test a fixed BH or two instead of the faux mechanical profile.

 

[archer8030]

I love to tinker with arrows/wraps/vanes and I've been kicking around the idea of trying either the Alpha or the Atlas vanes but not sure which one to try first. I prefer to fletch with a helical (I use the E-Z Fletch MiniMax) and I see where the Alpha vanes are stiffer than the Atlas vanes. Would one be more applicable than the other when fletching helical? For reference, I've been using the AAE Max Stealth vanes.

 

[Dafis]

I love to tinker with arrows/wraps/vanes and I've been kicking around the idea of trying either the Alpha or the Atlas vanes but not sure which one to try first. I prefer to fletch with a helical (I use the E-Z Fletch MiniMax) and I see where the Alpha vanes are stiffer than the Atlas vanes. Would one be more applicable than the other when fletching helical? For reference, I've been using the AAE Max Stealth vanes.

Bohning recommend's 1 degree of helical on both vanes. my mini-max is to much, so I put the long arms on and they are 1-2 degrees, both vanes flew the same out to 40 yards.

Atlas bases are more flexable so would be easier to put more helical on them

 

[archer8030]

Bohning recommend's 1 degree of helical on both vanes. my mini-max is to much, so I put the long arms on and they are 1-2 degrees, both vanes flew the same out to 40 yards.

Good to know.

Yeah, the MiniMax would be a no-go on these vanes then. Thanks for the heads up.

I've been contemplating getting the new jig from OMP. I fletch most of the arrows for my hunting buddies and some of them prefer a straight of slight offset over a helical. I have an old JoJann but I have issues with vane/shaft contact on smaller diameter arrows. I've heard good things about the OMP, and I like what I've read about it, but it's always out of stock everywhere. I know this is sacrilegious, but I've never been a fan of Bitz and all of the "buy their jig but then buy this nock receiver" crap. Just seems too involved. I'm fletching/building hunting arrows, not arrows for the world competitive stage. Lol!

 

[MattS304]

Bohning recommend's 1 degree of helical on both vanes. my mini-max is to much, so I put the long arms on and they are 1-2 degrees, both vanes flew the same out to 40 yards.

I wonder if that’s to lessen the odds of adhesion issues for the atlas vane that’s not out of the new stiffer material. In other words more of an attempt to minimize user complaints than about performance, especially if the higher degree of helical doesn’t change things much anyways.

 

[ID357]

I fletched two dozen HLRs with the Alphas using my AZ EZ fletch mini max left helical. I didn't have any adhesion issues.

 

[UncleRic]

FWIW, I just did 2 dozen arrows with Alphas on Oracal 6510 (Fluorescent Orange) wraps using Mold Z UV CA and primer. The only adhesion problems I had were problems I caused with too little glue on a few vanes. I've come to really like using the UV curing glue. The glue sets up enough on it's own to hold the vanes in place as I remove the vane clamp (using an LCA Vane Master Pro), after a typical wait time of a few seconds, but any excess glue can be wiped off until you hit it with a UV light. The glue bottle gives really easy to control flow, without having to squeeze a hard bottle. Nice for my arthritic hands. I started out using the light with each vane, but after a while found that everything stayed in place well enough to wait until all 3 vanes were glued before I used the UV light. Been shooting the arrows a bunch without any problems.

 

[archer8030]

I wonder if that’s to lessen the odds of adhesion issues for the atlas vane that’s not out of the new stiffer material. In other words more of an attempt to minimize user complaints than about performance, especially if the higher degree of helical doesn’t change things much anyways.

I would think the stiffer vane (in this case, the Alpha) would be the one to have an issue with helical.

 

[scottnhogan]

I did my Alphas on a 3 degree left helical on a blitz jig, zero adhesion issues I used are max bond glue, this was done a wrapped arrow. Can not pull them off.