# Tuning



## hrtlnd164 (Mar 22, 2008)

https://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5823161
The search function is a useful tool...


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Jarrett151 said:


> Hi
> What’s the first thing you should start tuning and order of all tuning procedures.
> Rest sight?? All from beginning to end


K. First thing, install the sight onto the bow. The sight mount has two screw holes, and you feed the two screws through the sight mount holes into the matching holes on the riser.
Now, insert the sight into the sight mount.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Jarrett151 said:


> Hi
> What’s the first thing you should start tuning and order of all tuning procedures.
> Rest sight?? All from beginning to end


So, you will need to purchase an arrow rest. If this is a recurve bow, you need to install a recurve arrow rest. Yes, the recurve arrow rest is different than the compound bow style arrow rest.
If you have a compound bow, then, you need to purchase and install a compound bow arrow rest. The compound bow has wheels (pulleys) at the top and bottom of the bow. The recurve bow does not have any pulleys. For the arrow rest, you will have a primary bolt, that goes through the arrow rest into a matching hole on the riser, above the grip area. The grip area is where you put your hand on the bow. LEFT hand goes onto the grip area, for a right handed shooter. The left hand is the bow hand. The right hand is the release hand, and the release attaches to the bowstring d-loop.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Jarrett151 said:


> Hi
> What’s the first thing you should start tuning and order of all tuning procedures.
> Rest sight?? All from beginning to end


The compound bow will have the handle, upper limbs, and lower limbs, upper pulley and lower pulley. The compound bow TYPICALLY has a bowstring, and two cables. So, the bowstring needs two parts added to it. You need a squeezing device (bow press) to squeeze the limb tips, and when you squeeze the limb tips, the bowstring and the cables will relax. Relax means the string and the cables goto lower tension. If the bowstring on your compound bow has two colors, then, when the bow is in the bow press, where the bow press is squeezing the limb tips together a little bit (say 1/4-inch less than standard axle to axle) then, the bowstring colors can be separated apart. You separate the two colors of the bowstring, to have enough room to insert a peep sight.

A peep sight is a round plastic or metal donut ring, that you use to align your aiming eyeball. MOST right handed shooters use the right eyeball for aiming. You look through the plastic or metal donut ring, with your aiming eyeball, when you look at your target. The plastic or metal donut ring will have angled grooves (groove on the left, and groove on the right), where you place the two colors of the bowstring. ONE color of the bowstring goes into the LEFT angled groove. Other color of the bowstring goes into the RIGHT angled groove of the plastic or metal donut.

This plastic or metal donut MUST be tied onto the bowstring, for obvious safety reasons.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Sorry, only have a 1 color rope.



Side view.



Pretend that the paracord is serving thread.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Make an "X" with the serving thread. That means you wrap the serving thread around the perimeter groove, you wrap the serving thread two times around the perimeter groove in the peep sight.
Now, pick up the two strands of serving thread, and LIFT up the X.



Grab one end of the serving thread and go around again, a 3rd time around the perimeter groove of the peep sight, UNDER the "X".


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Grab both ends of the serving thread and pull tight.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Closeup photo for you.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Take one end of the serving thread, and drop it through the lower triangle.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Make a knot, with the serving thread around the leg of the lower triangle.



Yup, finish the knot INSIDE the perimeter groove of the peep sight.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Take an end of the serving thread, and drop it through the UPPER triangle.



Yup, you guessed correctly. Make another knot around the leg of the upper triangle.



Finish the 2nd knot INSIDE the perimeter groove of the peep sight.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

The PEEP is now safely connected to the bowstring. The PEEP cannot pop out of the bowstring, even if you dry fire your compound bow. Dry Fire means to fire the compound bow, with no arrow loaded. BAD things happen when you mistakenly fire a compound bow, with no arrow....including a peep that was NOT tied onto the bowstring, the peep flies OUT of the bowstring, hits the riser or upper limb, and rebounds and embeds into your eyeball. No lie. This happened, and the injured shooter sued everybody, the string maker, the compound bow manufacturer, etc.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Now that your peep is safely attached to the bowstring, now you have to adjust the height of the peep sight. You FIND your anchor (position of the release hand) with EYES CLOSED, by touch, and after you have your release hand positioned PROPERLY on your face/head, with bow arm dead LEVEL, with backbone nice and tall (vertical), with head LEVEL (neck not tilting back, neck not tilting forwards)....THEN, you open your eyes
and you ask yourself....can you see through the middle of the hole in the peep sight. If the peep is too high or too low, you go back to the bow press, and SQUEEZE the limb tips, and you move the peep up or down.

PROPER anchor looks like this.







The "anchor" is NOT the same for the wrist strap release versus the handle release.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

When you have the peep sight adjusted to the PROPER height on the bowstring, so that the hole in the peep sight LINES up with your pupil of your aiming eyeball, CUZ the bowstring has twists in it,
you PROBABLY will notice that the peep is pointing CROOKED. AAAAARGH. It took SOOOOOOOOOOOOO many trips to the bow press, to get the peep height correct, and now the bloody peep is CROOKED.

Now what? How do you fix a CROOKED peep sight, the peep is pointing CROOKED at brace height, and the peep also TWISTS like crazy, going from brace to full draw? WHAT now?
This is two separate problems. Let's tackle the FIRST problem. We want the peep pointing STRAIGHT when the bow is at brace height.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

That's not a peep sight. Yup. So, why do you have a "string" stuck in between the two colors of the bowstring? Cuz, that's how custom strings usually arrive at your door step. A short strand of string material is stuck between the two colors of the bowstring. Makes it SUPER easy to separate the two colors of the bowstring. So, again, why you showing us a pic of the crooked length of string separator. Cuz, I adjusted the separator to the PERFECT height in the bowstring, that matches the height of my pupil, for my aiming eyeball.

Ok. I get it. So, the string is CROOKED, to demonstrate that if you install the PEEP, the peep is going to point CROOKED LEFT. Yup, you got it.



So, I pressed the bow, and make extra twists in the bowstring up top, and now look what I did. The peep (string separator) is now pointing CROOKED RIGHT. Aaaaaargh. Can't win. Now, hold on a second. EVERYTIME you put the bow into the bow press, you GOTS to fire a dozen shots, to shock the bowstring, and see which direction the peep (bowstring separator) REALLY is pointing.



There. After firing a dozen shots, now we see that the peep is REALLY pointing dead straight ahead, with the bow at brace height. You added JUST enough half twists to the top of the bowstring. Wait a second. I only need to add 1/2 twist is all? No, you added JUST ENOUGH twists, to get the peep pointing DEAD straight ahead, after you fire a dozen shots, EACH time you come out of the bow press. WHEW. That's gonna take a SUPER DUPER long time. Yup.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

So, photo of the peep DEAD straight ahead, with the bow at brace height.



Bow at brace height, the peep is facing downhill. This is cuz the grooves are angled on the sides of the peep sight. The peep will swing up to vertical, when you get to full draw.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Side view of the peep sight at full draw.



Hey, wait a sec. MY PEEP don't do that! I got my peep to point straight ahead, at brace height...whew, that was a lot of work. BUT, when I get to full draw, my peep is SUPER CROOKED. How come my peep is straight at brace height, and that darn peep is CROOKED at full draw?

I told you installing a peep is a TWO part process. Gotta get the peep straight at brace height, and then, PART 2....gotta get the peep to do ZERO rotation.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

A bowstring is not just a SIMPLE rope. A bowstring has end serving way up at the top, a bowstring has center serving, a bowstring has end serving way down at the bottom. A bowstring has twists from top to bottom, and the twists are trapped under each section of serving. Soooo, when you ADD twists to the TOP of the bowstring, that has ZERO effect on the twist pressure at the BOTTOM of the bowstring. To get ZERO peep rotation, we have to balance the tug of war...meaning the twist pressure trapped in the upper part of the bowstring, has to balance out with the twist pressure trapped in the lower part of the bowstring. So, since you got the peep to point STRAIGHT ahead at brace height...., to get to ZERO peep rotation, you have to ADD enough, just enough twists to the BOTTOM of the bowstring. When you reach BALANCE, you will get ZERO peep rotation...even in an OLD, beat up custom string, like mine.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

What is that PINK paracord thing doing? It's a cheater, and you can slide it up or down the bowstring, and TUNE the peep pointing direction.



INFINITELY adjustable.







You can be as PICKY as you want, and point the peep in the TINIEST amount left or right, at brace. If you don't care about peep rotation, you can make the peep JUST enough crooked at brace height, so that the peep is dead square to your eyeball, at full draw.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Now that you got your peep finally installed JUST perfect for you, now you bolt on the arrow rest.







Now that the arrow is level, while the bow riser is held vertical,
now we tie on the d-loop.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)




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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)




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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)




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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Use needlenose pliers and shove into the short d-loop. Now, pull apart the handles to STRETCH the d-loop material. D-loop cord is very stretchy, so you gotta tie the d-loop short and then STRETCH the cord material to the size of d-loop you want. The knots also get tighter when you stretch the d-loop.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Now, we need to adjust the arrow rest you installed. The idea is to point the arrow rest centerline, in the same direction as the push of the bowstring. Let's ASSUME you have your bow tuned, so that the bowstring pushes STRAIGHT, let's ASSUME that your bowstring does not push crooked. BUT, I haven't tuned anything on the bow yet. That's correct. So, let's point the arrow DEAD straight ahead.

You will need TWO arrows for this. WHY? CUZ, we are going to rubber band the 2nd arrow to the wall of the riser.







MAke the two arrows as parallel as you can. Then, fold a slip of paper that just barely fits between the nock end of both arrows. Then, test the same slip of paper near the pointy end of the two arrows.
If the same slip of paper barely fits between the two ends of the arrows, then the two arrows are parallel. Move the arrow rest sideways, until both arrows are parallel.

Why go through all this trouble? Just use a laser. Just use a tape measure. Well, this gets your arrow NO questions asked, running dead straight ahead. If you want to use a tape measure, go right ahead.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Peep is installed.
Sight is bolted on.
Arrow rest is bolted on.
Arrow rest is adjusted for horizontal and for vertical.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

IF your bow has yoke legs on the top axle, then, we need to set the pre-lean. The WHAT?
Pre-lean. If your bow has a cable guard, then, you need pre-lean. What is PRE-lean? That means we set the yoke leg twists, to make the top cam crooked, just a little crooked left.



PINCH an arrow tight to the LEFT side of the top cam, if you have a right handed bow (that means you hold the release with your RIGHT hand).
Slide the arrow up or down, until the point of the arrow is at the same height as the middle of the d-loop you installed.



BUT, the point of the arrow is just to the RIGHT of the RIGHT edge of the center serving. Exactly.
BUT, that means my top cam is CROOKED. THis couldn't be correct.
It IS correct, and that means you added JUST enough twists to both yoke legs. The yoke legs NEED to be un-equally twisted.



RED and white pinstripe cable. The LEFT side yoke leg will ALWAYS have very very little twists.
The RIGHT side yoke leg will ALWAYS be super duper twisted up, for a right handed bow.

Top cam leaning a tiny tiny bit left, means the top axle has room to rotate clockwise, at full draw. What? The cables get SUPER tight at full draw, and the cable guard pulls down on the right end of the top axle,
so the top axle ALWAYS rotates clockwise, at full draw. We want the top cam dead vertical, at full draw. Why? So the bowstring can feed straight into a vertical top cam. WHo cares if the cam is vertical at full draw or not? When the top axle is NOT level at full draw, when the top cam is tilting left at full draw, the cam will twist the bowstring and arrows will miss LEFT. When the top cam is tilting right at full draw, the cam will twist the bowstring and arrows will miss RIGHT. THiS is called YOKE tuning.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

K. NOW what? Now we shoot some arrows at 20 yards.



Shoulder high target. Horizontal strip of masking tape. Aim a the top edge. I can't hit the TOP EDGE of masking tape at 20yards. Not a chance. 
K. Shoot 10 yards, and aim at the top edge of the masking tape.

One fletched and one bareshaft. NO tape at the back end. We want CLEAN aerodynamic air flow at the back end. That's the WHOLE purpose of shooting a bareshaft. BUT BUT BUT, the missing extra weight.
The bareshaft is lighter weight, by 18 grains, so the bareshaft is going to hit HIGH. You are only shooting 10 yards, so time of flight is hundredths of a second faster for the bareshaft, and the difference in drop from gravity, is going to be thousandths of an inch. Don't worry about time of flight, and a slight increase in impact height.

BUT, the dynamic spine is gonna be different. The bareshaft has less weight at the back end, 18 grains lighter, so that means the bareshaft gonna shoot WEAK. It's 10 yards. THis is a VERTICAL control test, so dynamic spine will not have ANY impact on height. Not at 10 yards, or 20 yards.

K. So, when I do this fletched-bareshaft test, ONE arrow hit higher and ONE arrow hit lower. NOW what?
You go back to the bow press and you PICK one cable (pick just one and work on only ONE cable) and tweak the twists by half a twist. JUST half a twist? Yup. WHICH direction? Try both directions and see if adding or if removing a half twist, gets you closer to THIS result.



BUT, how many twists and what direction? You try both directions, and when you find the "CORRECT" direction, keep adding another half twist, until you get THIS result.



Won't take many half twists.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Now, that you messed with ONE cable, you now have level nock travel. That means your vertical miss pattern is tuned to the best of your shooting skill level.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

K. Vertical tuning is done for now. Sooooo, how about the horizontal tuning? Yup, vertical tuning is the easier to take care of, and that's why we do the vertical tuning first.
Now, the horizontal tuning is next. Horizontal tuning is harder to fix, cuz there are soooooo many areas we need to check. Let's assume your FORM is spot on, and we ONLY need to tweak the bow,
cuz you were "measured"...or....you just KNOW what your draw length is....or....your buddy says your FORM is just SPOT on....or....you just KNOW it's the bow, and not you. K. 

Let's tweak the bow for horizontal control...best results.

20 yards. Shoot three fletched arrows.



Sucky group at 20 yards. You think you could do BETTER. So, let's check. Fire a bareshaft at 20 yards, aiming at the same x-ring.



Whooaaaa. That's bad. U sure you aimed at the bullseye? Yup. Bow is in spec at 29-inches of draw length.



Well, I heard that the bareshaft missing LEFT means the arrow spine is just ALL wrong, and is TOO STIFF. Only for fingers shooters.
BUT your spine is all wrong man, like you need heavier field points. I'm using target points. They are glued in. Well, then, you need new arrows, longer arrows, or more bendy arrows. Nope.
BUT, the easton guide says your spine is all wrong, dude. Nope. Read more closely. Easton guide only says that for CF shooters, for COMPOUND FINGERS shooters. Easton guide has another paragraph for CR shooters, for compound RELEASE shooters.

Bareshaft missing LEFT for a RIGHT handed shooter, is a draw length issue. I'll show ya. Let's boost the brace height 1/16th inch longer. BUT, that means my bow will be OUT of SPEC. Yup, on purpose.
What does brace height have to do with anything? Huh? Grow the brace height 1/16th inch longer, and the draw length also grows 1/16th inch LONGER.



Did it twice for the bareshaft. BUT, when I try this, and twist up both cables, to grow the brace height 1/16th inch longer, I get the same bareshaft miss, 8-inches left. How come?
Well, when you GROW the brace height, and the draw length grows 1/16th inch LONGER, you anchor 1/16th inch FARTHER BACK on your head. BUT, you are missing PART 2.

*You GOTS to swing your right elbow MORE clockwise behind your head.*



1/8th inch longer draw length, and I swing my right elbow even MORE clockwise behind my head. 



1/4-inch longer brace, 1/4-inch longer draw length, and I can swing my right elbow even FURTHER clockwise behind my head.

BEFORE and AFTER groups.



Tuning at 20 yards, don't bother shimming cams, don't bother with yoke tuning, don't shove your arrow rest crooked left or crooked right. Mess with draw length, or if U lazy, grow the d-loop LONGER, to anchor further back, and CRANK your release elbow (right elbow) MORE clockwise behind your head, and get the bareshaft to land INSIdE your 20 yd fletched group. Fletched groups will be TIGHTER with the better release forearm alignment.

Horizontal tuning.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Like the ROCK says....just DO it.


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## Gearjockey (May 3, 2019)

Holy cow! Great writeup on setup. Thanks!


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## Thwapman (Apr 2, 2012)

I’m saving my money to ask nuts&bolts to come live at my house for a few weeks.


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## Jarrett151 (Nov 3, 2019)

Great write up on setting up the bow very useful 
Thanks appreciate the help 

Thanks nuts&bolts


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## Sleepyhollow (Jan 15, 2018)

Tagged


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

Thwapman said:


> I’m saving my money to ask nuts&bolts to come live at my house for a few weeks.


When the vaccine comes out for Corona Virus, come visit for a week. Can get a lot done in a week.


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## Rangerrich (Oct 9, 2017)

This was awesome and super helpful


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## cloquet (Jan 12, 2004)

Fantastic. Thank you. Please comment on the Mathews HTR. What is the same, what is done different? Thanks, Tom.


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## Pikemen (May 27, 2020)

youtube nock on bow tunning from start to finish.


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## mhertwig (Mar 19, 2011)

Quick question. Increasing brace height. How is that achieved? The only way I can think of is adding twists to the string, wouldn't that decrease DL? Or can backing off limbs work?


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## JDRealty (May 9, 2020)

Thumbs Up!


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## JDRealty (May 9, 2020)

Now this is some info! Thanks


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

mhertwig said:


> Quick question. Increasing brace height. How is that achieved? The only way I can think of is adding twists to the string, wouldn't that decrease DL? Or can backing off limbs work?


Leave string alone. Just shorten all cables (add twists).


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

mhertwig said:


> Quick question. Increasing brace height. How is that achieved? The only way I can think of is adding twists to the string, wouldn't that decrease DL? Or can backing off limbs work?


You have it backwards. Shortening (adding twists) to the bowstring, will decrease brace. Want to add twists to the cables, shrink the ATA, and the brace height will grow longer.


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## mhertwig (Mar 19, 2011)

nuts&bolts said:


> mhertwig said:
> 
> 
> > Quick question. Increasing brace height. How is that achieved? The only way I can think of is adding twists to the string, wouldn't that decrease DL? Or can backing off limbs work?
> ...


Thank you sir. Not sure what I was thinking haha


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