Do arrows spin in flight?
Lonnie Hannah
Howdy,
Recently a co-worker and I, both avid bowhunters, got into a debate over this
question. And if an arrow does spin in flight what is the pupose?
I know what my response would be. But I'd like to hear from you.
TIA
-lon
Donny Lewis
Lonnie Hannah <lonnie...@medtronic.com> wrote:
>Howdy,
>-lon
Arrows do spin in flight provided you have helical fletching on your
shafts. There are two primary configurations, Right and Left helical.
Direction of rotation being relative to the pattern of fletching.
The purpose of this is to stabilize the arrow faster as it comes off
of the bow. A well tuned bow shooting field points requires hardley
any fletching possessing no helical twist at all. The less tuned the
bow, the more twist it will require to stabilize the arrow upon
release. On the other hand, shooting broadheads is a little different
story. Helical fletch is, in my opinion, a necessity and anything less
than 4 inches long will not work in most cases. When you screw a
broadhead on the front of an arrow, you in effect attach another set
of fletching to the front of the arrow. This tends to reduce the
efficiency of the feathers or veins on the rear of the shaft.
Hope I helped,
Donny Lewis
Hulme Sptg Goods Staff Shooter
Gareth Bull
>Recently a co-worker and I, both avid bowhunters, got into a debate over this
>question. And if an arrow does spin in flight what is the pupose?
>I know what my response would be. But I'd like to hear from you.
>TIA
Most shafts will spin in flight. The spin makes the arrow more stable
(this is why gun barrels have the circular grooves (rifling) along the
inside, to make the bullets spin in flight), making it fly straighter.
There are even special fletches called "spin wings" that deliberately
add more spin. It's also not uncommon for plastic fletches to be set
at an angle on the shaft to add extra spin (my fletching jig at home
has a slight angle to set the fletches like this).
This is of more benefit at longer distances and more widespread among
competition target shooters than hunters, although I've seen shafts
set up for hunting with relatively extreme angles set on the fletches.
The more angle (often called helical) you have your fletches set to,
the more important the fletch clearance on the rest becomes. I've seen
fletching jigs where the clamp that holds the fletch is shaped to
curve around the shaft and cannot be used to lay a straight fletch.
Gareth Bull
Garet...@CC.Monash.edu.au
I'm just a jaywalker on the Information-Cul de sac
Angus Duggan
In article <4var8d$l...@gazette.medtronic.com> Lonnie Hannah <lonnie...@medtronic.com> writes:
>
>Recently a co-worker and I, both avid bowhunters, got into a debate over this
>question. And if an arrow does spin in flight what is the pupose?
>I know what my response would be. But I'd like to hear from you.
>TIA
Yes, arrows (especially from target bows) do spin in flight. The purpose is
for extra directional stability; minor differences in the drag from different
fletches could otherwise affect the path of the arrow. By purpose, I
assume you mean the purpose of making arrows *intentionally* spin :-)
a.
--
Angus Duggan, Harlequin Ltd., Barrington Hall | 40lb 68" Hoyt Radian, 30.25"
Barrington, Cambridge CB2 5RG, U.K. | ACE 470, ACE UHR rod & twins,
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/ajcd/archery/ | J-bar, Buchanan Gizmos,
http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~ajcd/archery/ | AGF sight, 20 str Fastflite
FF OB
How does that affect porpoising and fishtailing?
Hywel Owen
Q: Do arrows spin in flight?
A: Yes, if the fletchings impart a torque to the arrow, i.e.
if the are attached at an angle to the long axis of the arrow.
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
---+
| Hywel Owen Tel :+44 1925 603120
|
| Accelerator Physics Group Fax :+44 1925 603124
|
| Daresbury Laboratory mailto://h.o...@dl.ac.uk
|
| Warrington WA4 4AD, UK
http://accfiles.dl.ac.uk/staff/owen.html |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
---+
James A. Mitchell
The spin on an arrow is important for developing as much "gyroscopic"
effect as possible. It makes a poor gyro since the arrow has so little
mass and is so skinny and spins so slow. The fletching induced spin
distributes any diviation from a strait line 360 degrees nullifing the
error, which is exactly what a gyro does. The faster the spin the
quicker the error is nullified -the trade off being ++drag and ++noise.
With a slower spin the arrow will "roll" around the actual line of
flight.
Perry A. Ratcliff
Arrows definitely spin in flight. We fletch different ways depending on
how much spin we would like to see in our arrows.
For maximum spin you would select long helical fletch with feathers. This
configuration prevents broadheads from planing on the way to the target.
It is nearly impossible to attach a broadhead perfectly true on a shaft.
Without spin, the offset in the broadhead would cause the arrow to plane
(i.e. curve) on the way to the target.
You might ask why not always try for maximum spin (and thus stability).
When you increase spin you also increase arrow drag. This slows your arrow
down and introduces two different problems. A slow arrow will drift more
in the wind and makes accurate range estimation more important.
You generally want a long helical fletching for hunting and short straight
(with an offset, for some spin stabilization) fletching for field shooting.
Good Shooting!
Perry
Fishrmn655
The spinn of an arrow causes an artifical lift like what makes airplanes
fly. Because of its spinning, it is moving air over the vanes faster than
if it wasn't spinning.
I really like science.
Kevin Power
E-mail: fishr...@aol.com
blevins_gap_outdoors
Lonnie Hannah <lonnie...@medtronic.com> wrote:
>Howdy,
>Recently a co-worker and I, both avid bowhunters, got into a debate over this
>question. And if an arrow does spin in flight what is the pupose?
>I know what my response would be. But I'd like to hear from you.
>TIA
>-lon
It would all depend on if the arrow had any helical in the veins.
The still may twist a little without it but more excessive with some
helical. The reason they spin is to help stabalize the shaft. It
does slow the arrow down though. Those are at least my thoughts,
whether they are correct or not who knows.
Bobby The Great...
Tom
On Aug 25, 1996 19:44:16 in article <Re: Do arrows spin in flight?>,
then the arrow will spin in flight. This will stabilize the flight of the
arrow increasing accuracy, especially when tipped with broadheads. It does,
however, tend to slow the arrow in flight. You can have either "left" or
"right" angle placed in the fletching of the shafts.
In archery everything is a compromise. If your bow is tuned perfectly, the
arrows you shoot are properly matched to your bow, your arrows are
perfectly straight AND balanced, and there is no variation what-so-ever in
your form, then you probably won't need helical fletching. But if you are
like me, never quite perfect in every mode, ( heh heh heh) helical feathers
or vanes will enhance the overall accuracy, and allow your release a little
more forgiveness.
Tom
Mark W. Thurm
>>>question. And if an arrow does spin in flight what is the pupose?
>>>I know what my response would be. But I'd like to hear from you.
>>>TIA
>>
>>>-lon
>>
>>It would all depend on if the arrow had any helical in the veins.
>>The still may twist a little without it but more excessive with some
>>helical. The reason they spin is to help stabalize the shaft. It
>>does slow the arrow down though. Those are at least my thoughts,
>>whether they are correct or not who knows.
>>
>
>If the feathers or vanes are installed in a helical pattern on the shaft,
>then the arrow will spin in flight. This will stabilize the flight of the
>arrow increasing accuracy, especially when tipped with broadheads. It does,
>however, tend to slow the arrow in flight. You can have either "left" or
>"right" angle placed in the fletching of the shafts.
>In archery everything is a compromise. If your bow is tuned perfectly, the
>arrows you shoot are properly matched to your bow, your arrows are
>perfectly straight AND balanced, and there is no variation what-so-ever in
>your form, then you probably won't need helical fletching. But if you are
>like me, never quite perfect in every mode, ( heh heh heh) helical feathers
>or vanes will enhance the overall accuracy, and allow your release a little
>more forgiveness.
>Tom
>
Arrows do not spin as a bullet does. The fletching on an arrow steers
the front end much as the fins on a missile do. The arrow will *slowly*
rotate when a correction is required.
A properly spined bare shaft will shoot accurately, add a broadhead to
the tip and the broadhead will tend to steer the arrow. The arrow must be
stabilized with fletching how much fletching and what degree of helical
is needed is product of how well the arrow is matched to the bow, the bow's
setup, and the aerodynamic qualities of the broadhead/arrow.
Target archers can use very small fletching because their arrows are more
aerodynamic and their setups are usually finely tuned. Bowhunters need large
fletching to overcome the effects of the broadhead and to deal with various
wind situations.
MT
--
It's not the bible that's filled with contradictions,
It's our brains that are filled with them.
J. Vernon McGee
