# Balancing a target compound bow without using Dead Centre's Pro Balancer



## Brown Hornet (Aug 8, 2002)

As far as I am concerned a bow balancer is a waste of time....I could care less how my balances at rest. I want it to balance in my hand and at full draw. Not on a machine at rest. Just because the bow is balanced sitting there doesn't mean that it is correct for the shooter. But once your bow is balanced for you at full draw....it will be balanced at rest or very close to it. 


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## SpiritArcher (Aug 18, 2011)

Thanks for the input Brown Hornet.


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## keyman (Mar 22, 2003)

I agree with Brown Hornet. I want it to aim well at full draw. I don't care how it sets at rest.


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## trapper.robi (Jul 9, 2011)

Agreed with Brown hornet. Unless your shooting it from the machine it just makes sense to make it hold level when YOU hold it at full draw.


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## ron w (Jan 5, 2013)

a bow doesn't/shouldn't, "balance", at rest. the term balancing your bow has been mis-understood by many on here. you add weight to your stabilizer to make it settle down at full draw and give you as steady a sight picture as you can. the amount of weight depends on your preference, holding weight physical weight of the bow and your own physiology, ie....how strong you are or how well developed your archery muscles are.
the term balancing the bow comes from the need to put some back weight on a side bar to counter act the weight needed to steady the bow with the weight on the stab. as letoffs got higher and holding weights decreased, people started using sidebars, because there wasn't enough holding weight in the bow to to pull the stab weight up, but the stab weight allowed people to get a really still sight picture, with the low holding weights, so people added a side bar and put a little back weight against the stabilizer weight. usually, enough weight is put on the stab that the bow will fall slightly forward after the shot. the weight on the end of the stab is there to counter act the bow's holding weight at full draw and to some extent your shaking, swaying, etc. and to afford a stationary launch when the arrow looses. balancing a bow to sit level on a "balance point" at the grip in a static mannor is useless. the stabilizer,weights and back bars are dynamically associated to the bow's stored energy, not the bow's static disposition at rest..... that doesn't matter for nothin'.


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## Rick! (Aug 10, 2008)

*Torqued On...*

Here's how I interpret balancing my rig. There are three major torques, or moments, at work at full draw that are applied on the bow about your grip point. One is clockwise and its contribution is L1 x Ffstab. (If you are counting all the details, the sight also creates a torque, albeit small compared to the other three.) The other two work in the counter clockwise direction: Draw Weight x L3 and Frstab x L2. When the moment created by the front stab (and sight) equals the draw weight and rear stab moments, then a static balance is achieved. Since we are human and can't hold perfectly still, tinkering with stab weights allows you to slightly add (or decrease to just the draw weight) holding weight to help create a steady float. I'm pretty sure my bow won't balance perfectly if I just grip it and hold it in front of me but it does a pretty decent job at full draw. Almost forgot to say I add weight on the rear stabs until the sight ring is fairly steady and then play with small weights on the front stab until I find the sweet spot. YMMV.


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## lc12 (Jul 30, 2009)

What the Pro Balancer has done for me is to provide a NEUTRAL point to begin the process of balancing my bow.
I don't have to waste time in screwing and unscrewing, and adding or removing bars and weights to finally arrive at a balance point.
Personally I like the idea that once all of the bow's accessories, and the bow itself, has been balanced I can then go to full draw and see how the pins hold on sight.
I believe that this is what the product was developed for. NOT to balance YOUR bow to YOUR hold.
JMO.


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## wolf44 (Mar 31, 2009)

I tune my stabs by what my sight picture is doing while aiming and at the shot, not at brace


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## keyman (Mar 22, 2003)

wolf44 said:


> I tune my stabs by what my sight picture is doing while aiming and at the shot, not at brace


Amen Wolf!! That is what Doinker Man does. He asks you what you see when you are aiming and then adjusts your weights and such for what you are seeing while aiming.


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## j_hammerhead (Aug 31, 2012)

I totally agree. I think the balancer give you a better starting point. That makes it easier to fine tune your setup to best fit your needs.


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## Praeger (Jan 7, 2011)

> What the Pro Balancer has done for me is to provide a NEUTRAL point to begin the process of balancing my bow.
> I don't have to waste time in screwing and unscrewing, and adding or removing bars and weights to finally arrive at a balance point.
> Personally I like the idea that once all of the bow's accessories, and the bow itself, has been balanced I can then go to full draw and see how the pins hold on sight.
> I believe that this is what the product was developed for. NOT to balance YOUR bow to YOUR hold.
> JMO.


That's a lot of money to do what you can simply do with your hand. You're not using a triple beam balance. Start with one of the rough ratios of front to back weight and hold your bow with an open grip. You should be able to feel when the bow is "neutral". A couple degrees forward or back won't matter once you begin to tailor to suit yourself at full draw. Bow balance is by far the most individual aspect of bow set up in archery.


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## bigHUN (Feb 5, 2006)

*a cheap alternative to start with*









This is the DST-40, it have no cable rod and it can be shoot left or right handed, so I am calling this bow "neutral torque"
hang the bow on a string and adjust the L-R sidebars until sits neutral
start shooting groups, at least half dozen groups and watch the pattern, 
elaborating further will step out from OP


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