cams can be in sync but out of time. Newer Elites (and I am sure others) have timing marks on the cams. Just because they are in time does not mean they are turning over at the same time. Synced cams will be turning and hitting cables or be the same distance from cables at the same time.

 

So is timing the starting position, and sync when the draw stops hit

 

Yes, I believe timing is starting position, but sync is not necessarily when the draw stops hit. On Elites, from what I understand is you want the draw stops set to hit right before the cables hit. (i am not an expert). You want to sync cams before setting draw stops because if a stop is not set right it can impede cam rotation.

 

Nuts and bolts has a good explanation of this.

 

Hello ilhunter997:

Sync means to move together.

So,
let's say we are talking a binary cam bow, with no yoke cables.

We have a 3 piece rigging system.

a) bowstring
b) cable #1
c) cable #2.

Sooooo,
let's make Cable #1 15-inches LONGER than Cable #2.

So,
cuz the cables are SOOOOO mis-matched in length,
then,
ONE cam is going to touch the cable FIRST
and the OTHER cam will have a HUGE gap.

This means,
the cams are not working together,
so the cams are NOT in sync
or
the cams are OUT of sync.

 

Hello ilhunter997:

So,
let's fix up the cables so that both cables are EXACTLY the same length and TENSION.

So, now,
when we re-install the cables,
the TWO cables are EXACTLY the same length,
and now
both cams touch/kiss the cables at the same moment,
when we hit full draw.

But,
this time,
we install a bowstring,
that is 14 INCHES TOO LONG.

So,
even though we have the two cams hitting the cables at the same moment...

cuz the bowstring is SOOOO RIDICULOUSLY LONG,
then,
the cam starting rotation position is WAY out of whack...

so,
the cam TIMING is not correct.

 

This is the TYPICAL Hoyt Spiral X cam starting rotation position or TIMING position,
with the bow at rest.

This is a franken-stein bow that I built,
a Hoyt Alpha Elite with Spiral X cams,
but...

I SEVERELY short strung the bow...the string is WAY SHORT on purpose,
so,
the cam TIMING position is very very different from the standard starting cam rotation position.

So,
I can get the Franken-stein bow to have proper cam sync,
the top cam hitting the draw stop FIRST
and a tiny gap (credit card thickness on the bottom cam at full draw)

with this SEVERELY short strung cam starting rotation position...

and

I can get a Hoyt Spiral X cam bow to have proper cam sync,
the top cam hitting the draw stop FIRST
and a tiny gap (credit card thickness on the bottom cam at full draw).


So,
you can have PROPER cam sync

and
have VERY VERY different cam starting rotation positions.

 

Thanks nuts and bolts! As always great explanation