Fletching TAC Vanes on FMJ, or Aluminum Shafts

Thank you for giving TAC Vanes a shot!

Unfortunately, having aluminum on the outside of the shafts not pairing well with our vanes. Carbon shafts have a ground surface, so there’s a good bit of texture and pores for the glue to penetrate. With aluminum shafts, it’s just too smooth to get great adhesion because there’s no texture and no pores for the glue to root into.

We know not everyone likes them, but an arrow wrap is the quickest and best solution for fletching TAC Vanes on aluminum shafts. We always recommend wrapping any hunting arrow with a white wrap, because with a white wrap you can identify exactly what type of blood you’ve got, before tracking an animal. See our Topo wraps for unique arrow sizes, or our Solid wraps for standard diameter hunting arrows.

If you are not interested in using a wrap on those arrows, the only other option is to scuff the shafts with some +/- 180 grit sand paper. We recommend just a few scuffs to the section the vanes are getting glued to, making sure you don’t accidentally bevel the nock-end of the shafts. Clean them with acetone, followed by regular tap water. That should get enough texture for the vanes to stick properly. You should not be scuffing them so much that you remove the anodization on the aluminum shafts, otherwise you’re scuffing too hard. When you scuff these shafts a bit, they shouldn’t look any different than un-scuffed once they’re cleaned.