# Quick review of AAE Fletch III jig



## williamskg6 (Dec 21, 2008)

My wife got me a AAE Fletch III fletching jig for Christmas and I thought I'd pass along my impressions to everyone.

Here's a link to Lancaster's photo showing the jig to which I'm referring:
http://images.lancasterarchery.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/6ed32bc7ac53e2741987981f55f12f27/1/0/1010009_2.jpg

Construction: surprisingly solid for an all-plastic jig. 
Operation: pretty easy. 
Speed: not fast. 
Repeatability: pretty good. 
Durability: not sure, but for low volume it'd probably hold up fine.

How it works is:
1. insert nock and shaft into nock receiver
2. insert arrow and receiver into jig
3. put vane into clamp, apply glue, and affix vane #1 by sliding the clamp downward, aligning the two posts into the two holes in the jig
4. remove clamp, remove arrow/receiver, rotate 120 degrees, repeat steps 2 & 3 until done

The clamp has two posts on the back side that are inserted into two holes in the jig behind the arrow. The posts allow you to slide the clamp straight down onto the arrow. As long as you've got your arrow in right, gravity and friction hold the clamp more or less in place. (You can see the two holes that the clamp slides into in the photo below.)

There are no adjustments you can make, except that you can take off the arrow support end and choose between the side that works for larger arrows and the side that works for smaller arrows.

So, I was pretty happy with getting this jig until I realized one crucial thing about the nock receiver. Have a look and maybe you can see what the issue is:









There are actually two things about the nock receiver that cause me concern: 1. the nock receiver index is rotated 15 degrees from cock vane up. 2. The receiver is more or less designed to only allow cock vane up. No matter what kind of bow you use, you will have to rotate the nock after you fletch your arrow. You cannot adjust the nock receiver (it's solid molded plastic) and it is not set up for cock vane out (recurve). So, if you have arrows to fletch that have glued-on nocks (Jazz arrows, for instance), you can't use this jig. The only other nock receiver they make is one for crossbow bolts.

Here's a photo of an arrow fresh from the jig with no adjustment made to the nock:









Now, I know what you're thinking - one of those vanes looks fairly close to the right position, so why not just put the cock vane on in the position other than the marked index location? Well, as I said, the index is rotated about 15 degrees clockwise from cock vane up, so no matter which vane position you choose, it'll never be aligned right. Why not try putting the arrow on the string 180 degrees off?

Here's what happens if you take the arrow shown in the previous photo and attach it to the string 180 degrees rotated from the previous photo (nock not adjusted):









Close, but no cigar.

If you shoot arrows that have adjustable nocks, you can spin the nock 75 degrees or so to get it into alignment:









That's all fine, but you're guaranteed that you will have to rotate every nock every time.

Here's a photo with the arrow mounted in the jig with all vanes glued on and the nock left in un-adjusted position. You can see the index vane angle difference fairly well:









So, here's the summary:

If you shoot arrows with glued-on nocks, you don't want to buy this jig. If you shoot arrows with nocks you can spin into place and don't mind having to always rotate your nocks after fletching, it seems like a good, economical jig suitable for infrequent, low-volume fletching jobs. 

Personally, I have kids shooting Jazz arrows and they're shooting recurves, so this jig just won't work for me. I've got a Bearpaw jig on the way. When it arrives, I'll give it a try and post the results.


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## agillator (Sep 11, 2011)

Second Opinion: I fletch Jazz shafts for both my recurve shooting kids using this jig with no problems. I like it very much for its simplicity and stability.


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## caspian (Jan 13, 2009)

not to be a wet blanket, but I bought one once as a curiousity and sold it immediately. the plastic pins on the vane clamp bind in the guide holes and it's non adjustable.

a quality fletching jig like a Bitz isn't expensive at under $100 and it will last literally a lifetime. there's a time to economise, this isn't one. and that's from someone with a $600 fletching jig.


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## DanaC (Mar 27, 2010)

I've made with a few arrows with one of these. Good beginners unit. Finally switched to a Bitz.


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## blackhawk611 (Jul 11, 2013)

i plan to buy one Thursday,and believe i will like the 1 degree rh offset.


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## Bob Furman (May 16, 2012)

I only own a Bitzenberger, but you really can wait on gluing the nock until the last fletching is set. A little push and twist will hold it in place. Worse case place a tiny drop of Fletch Tite on the swedge.


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## Mika Savola (Sep 2, 2008)

williamskg6 said:


> Here's what happens if you take the arrow shown in the previous photo and attach it to the string 180 degrees rotated from the previous photo (nock not adjusted):
> 
> View attachment 1562605
> 
> ...



I always use that kind of setting to get more clearance for bottom vane. No need to get cock vane at 9 o'clock.


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## averageJoe576 (Oct 13, 2014)

I have the same jig, used if for about 4 dozen arrow or so. Yeah the nock situation is annoying, people fletching small easton alums (uni's nocks start at 1716?) with glue-on nocks long term (e.g. for kids) should skip it. It is doable for a starter set of arrows, just have some extra nocks and fletches (since you always have to either renock or completely refletch for a damaged fletch)

When I first opened the package, the clamp was not tight enough. I took some pliers to the metal clips that provide compression and squeezed them together enough to deform them some and that fixed it


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