More tuning woes

[Zac]

Thinking of this.

is there a downside to tuning out of center shot or is that just a reference point? I guess some part of me feels like this a bandaid and leaving performance on the table.

Recommended center shot is only for clearance of vanes and for optimal sight position.

 

[LCsmith]

Wouldn’t putting the thicker top hat on the left push the cam right towards the riser on a right hand bow?

Yes it would. FWIW I haven't had to purchase new shims for any Mathews I've worked on yet, just flip them and make the minor adjustments to the rest. I don't sweat being a little off 13/16" center though.

 

[fatlander]

If your broadheads and field tips group together at the ranges you’re going to shoot them, you won. Go hunting.

Those CC cam bows like a weaker spine. I’m pretty sure you’re over spined, but again, if your broadheads and field tips group, you won. You’re not shooting bareshafts at game.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

You need to get that cam AWAY from your riser.

Take a look at your top hats. Make sure the thicker one is on the left side of your cam (Top and bottom) looking at the bow like you're going to shoot it......

If the thick ones are not on the left, move them to the left, if they already are on the left take your bow to the shop and have them swap out for a different set of top hats (they are sold in a set) to move your cams AWAY from your riser.

Sometimes bows tune in funky ways, but conventional wisdom is to move cams to the right (toward the riser for a right-handed shooter) to correct a left broadhead/nock right paper tear.

Always keep your arrow at centershot 13/16 and switch your top hats. This gives you maximum velocity.

I can't imagine a bow tuned at 13/16" centershot shooting measurably faster than a bow tuned at something other than 13/16". But I would love to be proven wrong...if you have chrono data showing a speed difference, please share it.

 

[Will_m]

Swapped my bottom top hats and broadheads and bareshafts started drifting left again. Just to see what would happen I moved my rest right and I’ll be damned if my broadheads aren’t with my fps now even though my bareshafts aren’t. Im now back in center shot plus or minus 1/16”. I’m getting some low flyers but with all the the screwing around I’ve been doing who knows how much is me and my grip which I don’t feel is consistent.

Can’t wait until tomorrow to see which way I’m going to move everything all over again. This thing is getting be f’d up like a football bat. Damn the potential for endless tinkering.

 

[Zac]

Swapped my bottom top hats and broadheads and bareshafts started drifting left again. Just to see what would happen I moved my rest right and I’ll be damned if my broadheads aren’t with my fps now even though my bareshafts aren’t. Im now back in center shot plus or minus 1/16”. I’m getting some low flyers but with all the the screwing around I’ve been doing who knows how much is me and my grip which I don’t feel is consistent.

Can’t wait until tomorrow to see which way I’m going to move everything all over again. This thing is getting be f’d up like a football bat. Damn the potential for endless tinkering.

Why is it so difficult to just get a Top Hat kit? People seem to resist it like the plague when that is exactly how the bow is supposed to be tuned.

 

[Billy Goat]

Why is it so difficult to just get a Top Hat kit? People seem to resist it like the plague when that is exactly how the bow is supposed to be tuned.

Because they don't include them with the bow.

Shame really, but fits the bill of having a dealer do the work. New top hat sizes are coming out, instead of being included with the Title, probably be another $125.

 

[Zac]

Because they don't include them with the bow.

Shame really, but fits the bill of having a dealer do the work. New top hat sizes are coming out, instead of being included with the Title, probably be another $125.

It just blows my mind that people purchase Mathews and then are dumbfounded when they find out that they have to shim the cams. Prime, PSE, Hoyt, and probably others are no different, yet we never seem to hear about those companies.

 

[Billy Goat]

It just blows my mind that people purchase Mathews and then are dumbfounded when they find out that they have to shim the cams. Prime, PSE, Hoyt, and probably others are no different, yet we never seem to hear about those companies.

Well plenty of people think you just buy a broadhead that flies like a field point. So I can say some of it is marketing.

I like Mathew’s, definitely a few things I'd change, but a good bow. Some of the guys who purchase them are obnoxious tho, don't know bows, and are more in line with x-bow guys, I feel like the Mathew’s Marketing Machine attracts that type. Don't understand that a bow actually needs to be tuned to a shooter, heck I know some very high level shooters that refuse to shim a cam, they say if they need to shim a cam the bow was manufactured incorrectly. It should shoot without shimming. Really an old mindset anymore, once bows went split limb, deflections need to be evened out. Then take into account everyone has a difficult release.


It can be a factor of the popularity of the bow too. The Mathews SW bows have gotten really popular, partly because it's into what, year 5? Then a few years of top hats previous to that. So it can just be a fact they have a larger part of the market with that type of tuning versus any other system. Might not be that many people, just a fact of market share.

 

[Will_m]

I need to order the kit for sure but with what seems like a near certainty that shimming will be required, you’d think they’d be included.

Nickel and dimeing me to death.

 

[Billy Goat]

I need to order the kit for sure but with what seems like a near certainty that shimming will be required, you’d think they’d be included.

Nickel and dimeing me to death.

I don't know of a bow company that includes shims. I forget now what the Hoyt system costs. Pse probably the friendliest to their clients on price.


Of course, Bowtech and Elite don't need a shim system now, but they got more moving parts for something that a simple shim does. Just depends on what you are comfortable with.

 

[doc holiday13]

Shims for a Hoyt are fairly inexpensive. If you have a mini bench top lathe you could make shims for real cheap.
I bought a set of shims for $20 but I could make like 50 sets of them for like $10. Shims are likely made out of delrin and you can but it in round stock near the OD and then center drill on a lathe to fit the axle