What the heck? I can’t wait to hear what caused this when u find out
Have u checked for any rough spots on your shafts that may have taken a chunk out when being launched?

 

What the heck? I can’t wait to hear what caused this when u find out

This may just be the ongoing theme that I could break an anvil with a rubber mallet in a padded room.

 

The only thing I can think of is if you have a nock collar or bushing on the back of your arrow that sticks out a bit and your rest either isn't dropping or rebounding back up into your arrow.

I've seen uneven wear on the launcher but nothing even close to this.

The biggest mistake I see people make with a Hamskea is not having the cord tight enough or the cord stretches and they don't realize it. This usually only causes some vane contact.

 

Im running no no knock collar or bushing. Smooth straight off the back of the arrow.

It was tightened ~20-30 arrows ago. I learned what you were talking about at a 3D match, got a short lesson from a guy there about keeping it snug.

 

What do your vanes look like?

 

I didn’t think to check that.

I’m running TAC driver 2.25s for the moment, and all of them have a scuff on the bottom right vane. Most of that may be from my previous not knowing about the launcher creeping up on me. But one has a bit of curl and looks gnarly.

We may of found our culprit.

 

That’s odd-the wear itself is unfortunately normal with those launchers (all of mine have done it and if you search it’s a known thing.) yours is kinda f’d up since it’s just on one side; like your arrow is running close to the riser vs and has extra pressure against one side of the blade. If you nock an arrow and let it sit in that little cradle behind the blade, does it run straight through the limb bolts, or is it running right of your stabilizer?

As far as fixing this after you resolve any tune/contact stuff happening, get the g-flex launcher, add a little uhmw or medical tape, and never worry about launcher wear again.

 

I’m thinking it was a one shot event due to the sudden POI shift and moving from 1-2” groups to 4-5” groups.

I’m getting a new string next week so I was trying to get the thing torque tuned and my stabilizer set up more solid. But that seems to be shot in the foot for today.

 

Looking back in your youth did you by any chance make a habit of kicking puppies?

On a more serious note, let us know what you discover. For me, after thousands of arrows through a dozen different Hamskea rests, I’ve personally never seen anything like that.

 

No kicking puppies.

But I have friends who won’t let me run their equipment. 3x the work done by a normal operator and 7x the wear and tear. 😂😂😂

 

You should consider addressing: 1. rest timing (up for around 50% of power stroke), 2. rest angle (more upright the more wear), and 3. arrow tune.

It is routine to cover any rest, both for silence but also to prevent wear (if the rest material is capable of wear). Also, clean your arrows periodically.

You have an arrow moving very quickly across rubber. The Epsilon, especially first version, is known for wear if not covered. I believe this is because their launcher angle is bit more upright than other Hamskeas and also the launcher overmold softer (versus my Trinity is a hard plastic, which I also cover).

The asymmetry in the wear pattern makes me think that either it got started in a certain direction and the initial wear pattern perpetuated itself and/or your bow is not tuned and your rest is causing side pressure.

Limb driven dropaways are simple, but need to be timed and setup properly.

 

Bow is likely out of tune. It’s new, I’ve been struggling to perform with it and I’ve had some pretty serious string stretch and peep twist problems. Wasnt worried about fixing it because I’ve got a new string on the way and didn’t feel like duplicating effort.

It’s just very odd to me I had the very dramatic shift in POI and Group size from one arrow to the next.

 

I'm glad I saw this. I've always used QAD but have had two of them become sticky and difficult to raise from the lowered position. I've been looking at epsilon but now I'm thinking twice.

 

Too many others have good luck with the Epsilon. He didn't cover the rest and shot an untuned bow. You'll be fine.

 

I love my epsilon. Thousands of arrows through it. Odd that this happened. Especially to this extent.

 

Ive seen lots of wear on those launchers. The fix for me is the gflex launcher. If you get noise with it, just use the felt that hamskea provides with their rests. This has been a rock solid set up for me.

 

This likely happens more than it gets posted about, though I haven’t seen or experienced that extent of wear before. The felt padding helps in reducing the issue, though if your ocd getting the felt cut ‘right’ is a challenge.

As others mentioned the tune will impact the wear rate. Also consider nock pinch and/or your nock set/loop setup causing too much downward pressure on the launcher.

As others have mentioned timing can be off too. I’ve kept mine between the 50-70% Hamskea recommendation, leaning closer to 50% per their recommendation with faster hunting bows. I have not personally tested down range results within that range variance to see how much it impacts results either way. I’ve assumed it’s such a fine detail that my ability is below the variance level anyway.

 

No to hi jack this thread but has anyone used the total peep rest shield for the hamskeas if so do you like it or not?

 

Welcome

 

There is a very easy and permanent fix for this. Buy a Vaportail Gen 7, VX, or PXI. problem solved and the launcher won't smack your riser.

 

Completely unnecessary and actually nothing more than a permanent downgrade.

 

So you absolutely need to fix the tune issue on your bow - which is really bad! You should never shoot a high volume of arrows through your bow until you get it properly tuned.

Second, don’t use that over-molded launcher. I think they are commercially attractive to the average Joe that doesn’t know better but I NEVER use them and I’ve been shooting Hamskea rests for more years that I can remember (have owned easily over 10 of them). For many years I used the stainless launchers blade and for the last few the g-flex (which is even better but either will work). You then cover blade edges with tape. I’ve used medical tape for many years and it works great. This past year I’ve been using the tape Raisins mentions above and it’s great too. Both are silent and essentially don’t wear out. No matter how out of tune your bow is you’ll never have happen to you what did with the overmolded rest - but again, you MUST properly tune that bow.

 

 

I just replaced my QAD with an epsilon yesterday and also got the g-flex launcher. It tuned up very easily and it certainly feels like an upgrade! Do you put tape on the launcher for quietness or to prevent wear? The material seems pretty robust.

 

That g-flex blade has a LOT of shots through it. Can’t even tell. That tape simply doesn’t wear out.

 

Does anyone have a section of tape i can purchase? If not name and where to purchase. thanks in advance.

 

mine did the same, bow was as tuned as any bow could be

this is a known issue on the whale tails, I'd just order a different launcher save yourself some money and headache

 

What's your tuning process like? Do you paier tears by using the rest? How about walk back or bareshaft tuning? These launchers wear and need to be replaced, but yours seems like the the power stroke of your bow is angled tail left from the string.

 

My Trinity Hunter Pro launcher blade had a groove after 6 months of hard shooting. Replaced the laucher blade and re-tuned. Used low friction tape instead of the factory felt. Problem solved.

 

The problem you're experiencing would be gradual if it were the launcher. Launcher wear wouldn't happen all of a sudden.

 

How far past the launcher does your arrow sit at full draw?

If your arrows are really short, I could see an insert or collar catching on the launcher and knocking a nice chunk out of it suddenly. Especially if you say you've had issues with the string stretching.

I'm trying to get my head wrapped around another possibility as to why it got that bad, suddenly and not over time.

 

The end of the carbon sits an inch to an inch and a quarter past the blade. It should see nothing but carbon.

I think this is one of those gradual failures that didn’t show results until it was fully manifest. Kinda like a bad ball joint on a car. There might be warning signs, but to most people the only sign of failure is 100% failure. Hence why they think a 150,000 mile car is “high mileage”

I think the groove got worn in, and didn’t manifest a POI shift until it wore down into the area where the arrow rests at full draw.

 

Also, once you put the tape on the forks, you will need to lower rest slightly. Don't worry about getting it into the very bottom of the "V" so that Tape on both forks touch, The bottom of arrow should not contact it, but get it close. I buy it wide enough to fit all the way up the fork with no seam so arrow has no place to hang up.
Ches.

 

I do the same. I don't want a pouch for the arrow to sit on. However, for my last Hamskea install, I laid one piece of tape down the middle, then cut it back in the center using cuticle scissors, and then folded those 2 flaps over. Similar concept though. You can't treat this stuff like fleece because it does not stretch at all and will not conform to the rest except by careful application.

 

Sorry it took me so long to respond to this thread, but I haven't been on in a few days. I'll do my best to answer the questions posed in this thread along with some or recommendations/solutions.

Launcher Wear

• All of our launchers will have a little bit of wear due to the softer material. We chose to use the softer material as it would be quiet on the draw with or without the felt. We even have found that the felt placed over the over mold will be quieter than the felt placed directly on a metal launcher. Picking an overmold material is tricky as you have to balance good wear properties and dampening properties. The softer materials may be more quiet, but they will show increased amounts of wear. For this reason we picked a material that we believed would be most beneficial to the average archer. With that said, it is meant to be useful under the shooting conditions experienced by most of the bow hunters and isn't designed for high volume shooting of most target shooters. If you plan to shoot a high volume of arrows, I recommend using the Full Containment G-Flex Launcher as it will not wear over time and will be very consistent. The nice thing about having the different launcher options, is it allows archers to set up the rest to fit their specific needs. I shoot my hunting bow sparingly, so I use the overmold launcher with felt and have never warn one down to the point of needing replacement.
• There are other external factors that affect the amount of wear the launcher will experience. A bow that is properly tuned will experience much less wear than a bow that is out of tune. This is very similar to driving a car without having the alignment correct. You may be able to go down the road, but you'll never get the same amount of tire life compared to having a proper alignment.
• The timing of your arrow rest will also impact the amount of wear experienced. If you attach the cord too close to the end of the limb, you'll get more than the recommended amount of guidance and it will increase the amount of wear experienced.

Launcher Wear Off Center
- The reason the wear pattern will typically be slightly off center is due to static to full draw shift/torque of a bow when it is at full draw. Since the bow twists in your hand, the rest and launcher will no longer be square to the arrow. This puts more pressure on one side of the launcher compared to the other and will cause it to wear unevenly.

Changes in tune
- Since the launcher wears, it will slowly affect the bow tune just like strings stretching over time. These changes are very gradual and usually go completely unnoticed except over long periods of time. Most people can notice that the launcher has a wear spot, but wouldn't be able to tell a difference when shooting through paper and some of the more advanced tuning methods. If an archer experiences a major point of impact shift between arrows or between shooting sessions, it is due to another factor.


Hopefully this helps to to answer some of the confusion/questions.

 

Sorry it took me so long to respond to this thread, but I haven't been on in a few days. I'll do my best to answer the questions posed in this thread along with some or recommendations/solutions.

Launcher Wear

• All of our launchers will have a little bit of wear due to the softer material. We chose to use the softer material as it would be quiet on the draw with or without the felt. We even have found that the felt placed over the over mold will be quieter than the felt placed directly on a metal launcher. Picking an overmold material is tricky as you have to balance good wear properties and dampening properties. The softer materials may be more quiet, but they will show increased amounts of wear. For this reason we picked a material that we believed would be most beneficial to the average archer. With that said, it is meant to be useful under the shooting conditions experienced by most of the bow hunters and isn't designed for high volume shooting of most target shooters. If you plan to shoot a high volume of arrows, I recommend using the Full Containment G-Flex Launcher as it will not wear over time and will be very consistent. The nice thing about having the different launcher options, is it allows archers to set up the rest to fit their specific needs. I shoot my hunting bow sparingly, so I use the overmold launcher with felt and have never warn one down to the point of needing replacement.
• There are other external factors that affect the amount of wear the launcher will experience. A bow that is properly tuned will experience much less wear than a bow that is out of tune. This is very similar to driving a car without having the alignment correct. You may be able to go down the road, but you'll never get the same amount of tire life compared to having a proper alignment.
• The timing of your arrow rest will also impact the amount of wear experienced. If you attach the cord too close to the end of the limb, you'll get more than the recommended amount of guidance and it will increase the amount of wear experienced.

Launcher Wear Off Center
- The reason the wear pattern will typically be slightly off center is due to static to full draw shift/torque of a bow when it is at full draw. Since the bow twists in your hand, the rest and launcher will no longer be square to the arrow. This puts more pressure on one side of the launcher compared to the other and will cause it to wear unevenly.

Changes in tune
- Since the launcher wears, it will slowly affect the bow tune just like strings stretching over time. These changes are very gradual and usually go completely unnoticed except over long periods of time. Most people can notice that the launcher has a wear spot, but wouldn't be able to tell a difference when shooting through paper and some of the more advanced tuning methods. If an archer experiences a major point of impact shift between arrows or between shooting sessions, it is due to another factor.


Hopefully this helps to to answer some of the confusion/questions.

Devin, you guys should look into offering pre-cut UHMW (ultrahigh molecular weight) tape for the various launcher shapes. As I've stated upstream, it is slicker than teflon and tougher than kevlar. It is basically dyneema, which is not only what bow strings are largely made of, but also the best and most expensive cut resistant gloves.

 

Interesting thread, I see similar wear on the same side of the launcher, just not so dramatic. This would be over ~2yrs of shooting 3 days a week.
My solution has just to add UHU tape over both legs of the launcher and then just replacing the tape when needed.

I guess I will need to look over my setup

 

I’m guessing center shot is off along with rest timing.