Heat shrink arrow wraps / cresting. DIY

AndyW

Well-known member
I noticed that a few places have started selling heat shrink tubing as an alternative to wraps. When they came pre fletched I can sort of understand the price premium but now that they have gone as far as selling the tubing at a premium I thought I would post this for the money conscious among us.
Instead of nearly ?10 a set buy AAA battery heat shrink tubing from a well known auction site which is available in a few decent colours. I imported 5 separate colours as 5m rolls for ?1.45 each delivered, the only thing you need to do is cut to length.

It works brilliantly on standard size arrows, shrinking to leave no creases whatsoever. I've made a set up with it and I will be using R,W & B bands to denote arrow order. What I love about it is there's no nasty residue when you need to replace, just slit it with a knife and pull off.

Here's a current listing should you wish to look:

Colorful AAA Battery Sleeve PVC Heat Shrink Tubing Wrap Width 17mm Dia Φ10.8mm


 

albatross

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
I looked at the AAA shrink material. But the minimum diameter is 10mm. Too big for my carbon ACG or ACE shafts. I was wondering how the added weight of this material might affect arrow spine (stiffer)? I think that arrow wraps are made from a much thinner material, but never having used them I do not know. I do like the idea of not having to clean the shaft of residue before re-fletching. Has any one used 'standard' shrink tube as arrow wrap replacement?
 

albatross

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
Thanks for that reply. My ACE's are 5.2mm. so it would have to shrink by <> 40% to get a tight fit on the shaft. I still wonder about increasing the arrow spine.
 

AndyW

Well-known member
The ones that I got from China come in at 1.5gpi which is a little lighter than my standard wrap material.
albatross - standard shrink tube material doesn't work, it's horrid, heavy and much too thick, I bought a few meters of that to try initially. It is however really good for fixing exposed wires on my wifes phone charger.
 

albatross

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
Thanks AndyW.

'The ones that I got from China come in at 1.5gpi which is a little lighter than my standard wrap material.'
 

AndyW

Well-known member
Just search a well known auction site using the title in the original post. No idea who the supplier is just the chappie I ordered from. Postage takes a while, honestly I was surprised when they came as I wouldn't have thought you could even post for that price.
 

LittleSkink

Active member
rather than post a new thread I thought it worth revisiting this one as my question relates, seller I found is fastener-kingdom

I have 2 needs
- wraps for 5/16 wooden arrows, does the 17mm fit? I cant find a smaller size listed on ebay
- using as wraps does Bohning fletching tape work okay in this?

- will this work as a quicker, easier whipping in front of feathers, also on 5/16 - is this tough enough?

thanks
 

malbro

Instinctive Archer
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
rather than post a new thread I thought it worth revisiting this one as my question relates, seller I found is fastener-kingdom

I have 2 needs
- wraps for 5/16 wooden arrows, does the 17mm fit? I cant find a smaller size listed on ebay
- using as wraps does Bohning fletching tape work okay in this?

- will this work as a quicker, easier whipping in front of feathers, also on 5/16 - is this tough enough?

thanks
Yes heat shrink works fine instead of whipping at the front of the feathers, heat shrink comes in sizes from 1.5mm up to 40mm and above, the bigger the diameter the thicker the heat shrink. I use 10mm diameter for the job (its 15mm wide as a flat tube) on standard carbon (6.2mm internal) arrows and smaller size on 4.2mm internal, to finish the front of the fletching. (Try Am........n for plenty of choice).

Bohning fletching tape works fine on the colourful arrow wraps but they are usually just printed self adhesive plastic rather than heat shrink so I can't say it will definitely work.

A 5/16 arrow is 7.9mm diameter, so 17mm heatshrink would need a better than 2:1 reduction to fit
 
Top