A First-timer's Bow Setup and Tuning Thread

Brewskis

Senior Member
OK, thanks for the suggestion. Should I add the one full twist to the control cable at the top cam or the bottom cam?
 

Soybean

Senior Member
Good thread. All my bows are single cam so i dont worry about cam sync, just timing for me. I did come across a really good dvd set called "The Self-Reliant Bowhunter" by Michael Braden. I havent had a chance to watch it yet but it was highly recommended by folks on AT. $30 bucks from Lancasters. It supposed to have very detailed video instruction on bow setup and tuning. Good luck with your setup, its addicting.
 

Kris87

Senior Member
I do all the control cable adjustments at the top. Much easier to deal with there than at the bottom. Cycle it once or twice after u make an adjustment. Also, I don't like to do half turn adjustments to keep the serving from separating. If I absolutely need to make a half turn adjustment, then I use the yokes to do it.
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
Good thread. All my bows are single cam so i dont worry about cam sync, just timing for me. I did come across a really good dvd set called "The Self-Reliant Bowhunter" by Michael Braden. I havent had a chance to watch it yet but it was highly recommended by folks on AT. $30 bucks from Lancasters. It supposed to have very detailed video instruction on bow setup and tuning. Good luck with your setup, its addicting.

Thanks, Soybean. I agree it's addicting. It's definitely helping me deal with the off-season doldrums.

BTW, your posts here in the DIY Archery forum were helpful to me when I was setting up my bench and draw board. I'm hoping others are able to benefit from this forum as much as I am.
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
OK, I put the Bowmaster press (with split limb adapters) to work for the first time. I'm not going to lie. I was a little nervous cranking it down the first time. However, everything went great. I just took my time, and double-checked everything as I did it.

(please disregard the 'camo' pattern on the cushion I used to lay the bow on.. :huh:)

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I removed the control cable off the top cam and added one full twist (twisted clockwise).

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After doing that, I made sure the cables and string were in the appropriate tracks, and slowly started letting off the press.

I then drew back the bow a couple times, and put it on the ceiling hook. That one twist definitely closed that gap up.

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The top and bottom draw stops are now hitting exactly at the same time. Should I worry about getting a 1/16" gap there, or should I just proceed to the nock now?
 

Kris87

Senior Member
Just proceed with the nock point now. If anything, you'll have to take that twist back out but at least you'll be starting with the cams in proper sync. I would start with the nock point above level, maybe 1/16-1/8" high.
 

Kris87

Senior Member
Also, keep in mind, when u finally get to shooting through paper, and if u need to change the cam lean, u are going to have sync changes possibly by making adjustments there. That's why its not critical yet to have the cams exactly where u want them. Once u start shooting, it'll get a lot clearer.
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
On to nock point...

I made sure that the bow was sitting straight up by putting a level on the string (note: since it wasn't attached to the thicker serving, I had to make sure I held it up tight to the the string when verifying level - not sure how these levels are used on the center serving since you can't attach a nock and the level at the same time :confused:).

I then nocked an arrow, and placed a level on it.

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I then measured 1/16" above the top of the nock, and started tying my soft nock there.

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For the top nock, I tied four or five overhand knots on alternating sides of the string, and then burned the ends.

For the bottom nock, I measured 1/16" below the bottom of the nock and started tying there. I tied seven or eight overhand knots on alternating sides of the string, and again burned the ends.

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Brewskis

Senior Member
I said in the first post that I'd probably ask a lot of 'dumb' questions. This may be one of them..

I tied my soft nocks as shown above. It seemed to me that the gap between the nocks was bigger than the gap on my other bow. I was wondering if I had made it too big. However, then I thought about how I use Nockturnal nocks on my hunting arrows, so I attached one of those. As you can see, whereas there was quite a gap with the Easton nock, there is almost no gap with the Nockturnal.

Easton nock:

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Nockturnal nock:

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Any problem with this before I proceed to tying my D-loop?
 

Kris87

Senior Member
Go on. When u tie the loops, it will close the gap a little more.
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
Had to quit early last night. I'll be back at it this evening.

Still don't quite have the 'cats fought on my bench' look referenced here, but I'm working on it:

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Also, since I'm getting close to putting it on the draw board, any recommendations from anyone for what I should put on the metal post to protect the bow grip? I'm guessing that foam pipe insulation I had would result in a false DL reading? The only other thing I could think of is wrapping the post with electrical or duct tape..
 

Kris87

Senior Member
Just use the foam. It compresses so much, if it does make any difference, its negligible.
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
OK, back at it. Almost forgot about centershot.

The Hoyt manual says to set the centershot at 13/16" or .8125". I initially did this, but then went back and looked at my notes. Kris had mentioned setting the centershot on JT's bow at 3/4". I also read online where a lot of other guys were finding that the centershot set at 3/4" was working out best on Hoyts. So I moved it in to 3/4". Right move?

I used calipers to measure from the riser, and not the rubber 'Silent Shelf' (I gotta say, although I like how it protects against unwanted noise in the field, that thing is a real pain when setting up a bow).

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Brewskis

Senior Member
Also almost forgot about finishing the rest installation. The Limbdriver Pro V is limb-driven :smash:, so I still needed to attach it to the limb.

The rest comes with a little spikey-looking rubber limb pad for attaching to the limb and tying the cord around. However, it also comes with another little stick-on doohickey which I believe is typically used on the arrow shelf for arrow retention (?).

I actually decided to use this one on the limb instead of the other limb pad for a few reasons. First, that's how my Faktor 34 is set up, and I had zero issues with it during almost 40 hunts in a variety of weather this past season. Second, I noticed that the double-sided tape on it was much thicker than what was on the other one; again hopefully helping keep it in place even in hot weather. Third, I couldn't use it on the arrow shelf anyways due to that ol' rubber Silent Shelf.

I placed it on the limb on the same side as the rest, and right about where the front of the cam meets the gap between the limbs.

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I then tied the cord around it using a D-loop knot (half hitch knot), and ran the cord down to the rest making sure it was taut just enough to hold the launcher arm down.

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I'm leaving the cord at the length it is at the rest until I know for sure that I'm done adjusting the rest.
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
Back to the D-loop. Been looking forward to this step because once it's done I can finally shoot this thing for the first time (right?)

A lot of y'all can probably tie these in your sleep. Having never done it before, I seriously anticipated burning through all the D-loop material I bought while figuring out how to tie one. It actually went pretty well the first time. I watched the T-bone video 'How to Tie A D-loop' on YouTube several times before attempting it (for some reason I couldn't embed the video in this thread). I noticed at first that it wanted to spin around on the serving so I tightened it some more, by using needle nose pliers to spread it.

My only question regarding this step is did my D-loop turn out too long?

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Kris87

Senior Member
D-loop length is more personal preference. If u like where it puts your anchor point, and the position of your release arm, its fine. When I first started I'd retie my loops a couple times to get the length I wanted. After a lot of practice, I don't really have to anymore. I like mine short, but again, if it feels good to you, go with it.
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
Gotcha. I can't say I noticed any change in anchor point or form, but I didn't feel unusually different the handful of times I drew the bow back. It's maybe a quarter inch longer than the loop on my other bow.

For those of you who are new to this like me, and might be following along, here's a couple things I forgot to add about the D-loop.

Sure enough, it seems the gap between my soft nocks closed up a bit after tying the loop around them, and drawing the bow several times.

Also, being a right-handed shooter, I made sure to tie the loop so that it looked like this \ across the string. T-bone mentions it in the video I referenced, but I recalled this thread when I was doing it. Before that, I didn't know it mattered.

One other thing related to what I mentioned earlier about the loop starting to turn on the string after being shot. Like I said, I tightened them some more, but I read somewhere that putting string wax on the loop material will help hold the knots tighter. Any truth to that? Also, is there such a thing as making the knots for the soft nocks and the D-loop so tight that it damages or splits the center serving?
 

Kris87

Senior Member
I always wax the ends of my loops. It will really cinch them down tight. Doesn't take a lot either. If u really cinch the knots down tight It can separate the servings. I don't worry about it a whole lot. I just get it tight enough so it move on the string. I tend to tie mine tighter than a lot I work on. Mine won't move.
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
I always wax the ends of my loops. It will really cinch them down tight. Doesn't take a lot either. If u really cinch the knots down tight It can separate the servings. I don't worry about it a whole lot. I just get it tight enough so it move on the string. I tend to tie mine tighter than a lot I work on. Mine won't move.

I noticed that the loop only moves now if I really try to turn it with my fingers, but at least it isn't turning on it's own after a shot. I'll try wax on the next loop I tie.
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
According to my notes, I'm at the point where I should make sure all the bow specs are close. First, I downloaded the tune chart from Hoyt's website.

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Axle-to-axle: I measured this from the center of one axle to the center of the other axle. It was pretty much right on at 34.25".

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Brace height: I measured this on a 90 degree angle to the string from the deepest part of the grip to the string. Again, it was pretty close at a hair over 6.75".

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Draw weight: I went back to the scale, and pulled down until I felt the bow entering the valley. It was showing 55 lbs. before peaking right at 56 lbs.

However, I have a question. I never checked the draw weight with the limb bolts tightened all the way down. Should I have? Or is the fact that it took two full turns to reach 55 lbs., and Hoyt confirms that each full turn equals 2.5 lbs indicate everything is within spec?

Draw length: Finally put the draw board to use (let me know if anything looks alarming about it in use...)

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It was kind of hard to tell for sure, but it appeared to be right around 29.5" (again, there's that slight bit of compressed foam wrapped around the post holding the bow).

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