# Beiter plunger questions regarding contents of package



## Dusty Lee (Jan 11, 2015)

I'm still in the beginning of the learning curve in archery and recently purchased my first Olympic style takedown riser and limbs from Lancaster Archery (both Hoyt) and I decided on the Beiter plunger because of it's great reviews. I've been researching everything I could about tuning the bow and was feeling pretty confident about most everything. Except for the plunger. :mg::mg: The directions were pretty sketchy so I figured I should be able to find more information online. 

I spent a few hours on Google, Youtube, and the archery forums looking for information on the Beiter plunger and all information sent me to the Beiter main web page. There I did learn about the settings and the springs and pins along with the all spare parts I could order and glowing words telling me how durable it was. This was helpful of course, but it didn't answer a few of my main questions and I could not find any reference to these questions anywhere! A) How to open plunger to change springs and pins and B) what in the heck do I do with the red and yellow plastic spanners that came with the plunger? I spent an entire evening looking for answers and by now I'm both annoyed and amused with the lack of information. 

I then wrote an email to Beiter asking them my two questions and in a week I still haven't heard back from them. Plan B was that I emailed Lancaster Archery with my two questions regarding the spanners and how to open plunger. In the past I have always had complete, helpful answers to my questions within a day. It took two days before I saw the answering email from Lancaster. I was overjoyed thinking I would finally know the meaning of the spanners! This is what they said "Thank you for choosing Lancaster Archery Supply for your archery needs. The orange is just a little heavier one then the yellow. To take the plunge apart you just unscrew it from the base".... Now I want to be clear that I have nothing but respect and gratitude for Lancaster archery and I will always be a loyal customer, but, this answer does not help me at all. First of all the spanners are completely different looking, and one being heavier than the other does not seem to cover any of the differences. One has one closed end, one open end and two small holes along the handle, and on the other spanner both ends are open. Therefore telling me that one is "heavier than the other " without any more details than that is not helpful :zip: and even if this was true, and the only difference between them, I STILL haven't a clue about what to do with them.  On the good side I now can open the plunger and change the spring and pin, and I did wave the two spanners over them just for good measure. :darkbeer: 

Can anyone here tell me what they are for? Even if I don't need them, I'm still obsessing over why they were included in package and why there is not a bit of info on them.


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## bobnikon (Jun 10, 2012)

Have a look at the indentations on the locking nut (the thin ring that sits below the main body of the plunger - towards the tip). Note the indentations on the locking nut, now note the notches in the spanner ends. You use these to tighten the plunger into the riser bushing. As for the closed end... I have never used it, but can only presume it is for maintenance purposes when working on the plunger as it only fits over the end that inserts through the riser bushing.

Something to start with at least.

Cheers


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## JasonMcKittrick (Oct 28, 2003)

The yellow one is the original wrench or spanner. If you screw the adjustment down to tighten the spring tension you will get to a point where the spanner won't fit anymore. They started making the orange one so that it would fit around the peice with the #s on it (the cylinder) , allowing you to use it when the spring is tightened. I just tried it, the orange spanner fits over it even when the cylinder is tight against the nut.


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## archerynooblol (Nov 6, 2010)

Here's some instructions I threw together: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7wndjzy8hkftnk7/Beiter Plunger Instructions.pdf?dl=0. Not pretty or complete, but this should get you going.

Hope they're useful in some way. Feel free to ask any other questions if you have them. If people find it useful somehow or it's unclear, I can clean it up.

The nice thing about the Beiter Plunger is that they're solidly well made and sturdy, so you'd have to actually try to damage it. 

Feel free to just pull it entirely apart to see how it works. Just make sure to be careful not to lose the little bits.

(Edit: Credit to JasonMcKittrick, never noticed that feature about the orange spanner. Good point).

AN


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## Dusty Lee (Jan 11, 2015)

Thank you *bobnikon*, *Jason McKittrick*, great information that finally shows me what they are meant for. Now I can look at those spanners with something other than complete confusion. 

*Archerynooblol *great instructions, thank you! I bookmarked the page and will use it for reference. So now I'm pretty clear on the plunger spring and pin settings and how to adjust them, but the lock nut settings are still something of a mystery. When I took my plunger apart I changed the factory setting on the lock nut so now I have to reset the correct position but am not sure what I'm looking for. I read somewhere that once you have it set you can leave it alone, but what is the goal here?. I mean the lock nut is meant for a screw in depth, right? So how do you know what depth you need? To be just barely touching the arrow I would imagine, but am asking because I'm not sure. Sorry for being so completely ignorant about this. 

I'm enjoying learning the tuning and workings of a bow, but I had no idea it would be this complicated!. Once I have the plunger figured out, then it's time to figure out the sight.


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## jaredjms (Oct 24, 2007)

archerynooblol said:


> Here's some instructions I threw together: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7wndjzy8hkftnk7/Beiter Plunger Instructions.pdf?dl=0. Not pretty or complete, but this should get you going.
> 
> Hope they're useful in some way. Feel free to ask any other questions if you have them. If people find it useful somehow or it's unclear, I can clean it up.
> 
> ...


Wow, nice job


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## ThomVis (Feb 21, 2012)

archerynooblol said:


> Here's some instructions I threw together: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7wndjzy8hkftnk7/Beiter Plunger Instructions.pdf?dl=0. Not pretty or complete, but this should get you going.


Nice one!


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## Cephas (Sep 7, 2010)

The depth is determined by your centershot. Set it so that when you stand behind the bow the end of the arrow (just before the point) is just left of the string. The Easton tuning guide explains this better than I can though.


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## ArrowCrazy (Feb 25, 2011)

Wow! I sure could have used this when I set my Beiter up. Thank you. Maybe you could send a link to the company, lol. 



archerynooblol said:


> Here's some instructions I threw together: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7wndjzy8hkftnk7/Beiter Plunger Instructions.pdf?dl=0. Not pretty or complete, but this should get you going.
> 
> Hope they're useful in some way. Feel free to ask any other questions if you have them. If people find it useful somehow or it's unclear, I can clean it up.
> 
> ...


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## ArrowCrazy (Feb 25, 2011)

For adjusting Center Shot and getting things tuned up: http://www.texasarchery.org/BoardMembers/RickStonebrakerPages/TuningForTens/TuningForTens.html


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## Dusty Lee (Jan 11, 2015)

Thanks for the link *ArrowCrazy* That's a good one.


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## steve morley (Dec 24, 2005)

archerynooblol said:


> Here's some instructions I threw together: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7wndjzy8hkftnk7/Beiter Plunger Instructions.pdf?dl=0. Not pretty or complete, but this should get you going.
> 
> AN


Great info, thanks

I just got a Beiter plunger, I've been very happy with the DX button for last couple of years, the Beiter is just easier to setup (specially for Stringwalking) and seems more precise in it's range of movement.

Anybody know what spring it comes with, I assume med tension. I haven't changed the spring as yet I seem to have got a good tune for indoors, when the warmer weather arrives I can experiment a little more at longer distances.


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## Cephas (Sep 7, 2010)

Beiter should come with two each of med/heavy and light springs. The manual is nice because it shows at what setting each spring overlaps the others in their force curves.


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## limbwalker (Sep 26, 2003)

The last Beiter plunger I bought came with six springs. Two each of three sizes. It also came with 6 plunger tips, plus tools and spare set screws. When you consider the quality of the plunger and then all the spare parts you get, it really isn't that expensive of an investment compared to arrows, etc.


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## Dusty Lee (Jan 11, 2015)

*steve morley* "Anybody know what spring it comes with, I assume med tension"

This is what it says on the Beiter site. "Beiter Plunger with an installed hard spring
(0.60)"


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## TER (Jul 5, 2003)

steve morley said:


> Anybody know what spring it comes with, I assume med tension. I haven't changed the spring as yet I seem to have got a good tune for indoors, when the warmer weather arrives I can experiment a little more at longer distances.





Dusty Lee said:


> *steve morley* "Anybody know what spring it comes with, I assume med tension"
> 
> This is what it says on the Beiter site. "Beiter Plunger with an installed hard spring
> (0.60)"


And Beiter calls their springs Soft (0.45), Hard (0.60), and Extra Hard (0.70). So it comes with the Hard/medium spring installed.


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## Joe T (Apr 5, 2003)

You can tell which spring is which just by looking at them placed side by side and checking the thickness of the wire. Widest = heaviest spring, Thinnest = weakest spring and no prizes for guessing what the middle spring is.


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## limbwalker (Sep 26, 2003)

Joe, do you know any setups that would require that stiffest spring? It's like rock hard when that is installed. I've never tuned a single arrow with that stiffest spring. Always medium or light springs.


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## Joe T (Apr 5, 2003)

limbwalker said:


> Joe, do you know any setups that would require that stiffest spring? It's like rock hard when that is installed. I've never tuned a single arrow with that stiffest spring. Always medium or light springs.


No. I've used medium and soft but pretty much at a similar tension setting. Used to have English bowmen pulling 180# longbows. If one of those took up a modern recurve they might need a stiff spring (though might have a problem getting hold of a pair of limbs  ).


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## Dusty Lee (Jan 11, 2015)

I see that the instructions from jaredjms are no longer available from the link he provided. I did take a screenshot of them but am not sure if he's okay with me posting them here. Anyway I have them.


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## archerynooblol (Nov 6, 2010)

You mean, my instructions :wink:

Here's another link to it again: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7wndjzy8hkftnk7/Beiter Plunger Instructions.pdf?dl=0

Do whatever you want with them. Just give credit where credit is due.

-AN


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## Dusty Lee (Jan 11, 2015)

I most certainly will give you credit, it was, and still is a huge help. :smile:


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## jaredjms (Oct 24, 2007)

And I'm quite proud that you thought I was capable of such fine work!


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## Bob Furman (May 16, 2012)

In regards to the plunger button, you will notice that they ship with two black and two white ones. I always thought it was just a cosmetic thing until I did a side by side comparison:









When in the plunger body it also sticks out less than the black one does.

Any ideas why?


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## archerynooblol (Nov 6, 2010)

They're different lengths intentionally.

The great thing about Beiters, aside from the all around design, is that almost every part has multiple variations in lengths.

You can swap parts out to make the plunger shorter or longer to better match your configuration. 

Here's a small table with some combinations:








Source: http://www.wernerbeiter.com/en/informations/datasheets/Plunger_GB.pdf


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## archerynooblol (Nov 6, 2010)

Here are some pictures better detailing what sorts of options are available:

*Thread barrel*










*Lock Nut*










*Spring tips.*







(Last picture from here: http://tradtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40987)


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## TER (Jul 5, 2003)

archerynooblol said:


> Here's some instructions I threw together: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7wndjzy8hkftnk7/Beiter Plunger Instructions.pdf?dl=0. Not pretty or complete, but this should get you going.
> 
> Hope they're useful in some way. Feel free to ask any other questions if you have them. If people find it useful somehow or it's unclear, I can clean it up.
> 
> ...


These instructions mention locking down the Notching Scale Cylinder (Beiter's terminology.) But I'm not so sure Mr. Beiter intended using the Spring Ball Mechanism to lock down the Notching Scale Cylinder. Locking it down may be a commonly held myth. I'd like to hear the opinions of others; especially Andreas Lorenz.


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