Jojan Fletching Jig Gap

[Camp Creek]

My old Jojan fletching jig has a gap between the fletching clamp and the shaft in the middle of the clamp no matter what shifting or adjustments I try, even if the fore and aft ends make good contact.  The shafts are 11/32" douglas fir tapered to 5/16" at the nock, so if anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.

Thanks

[McDave]

Have you tried putting the clamp on a flat surface, like a piece of glass?  If there is no gap between the bare clamp and the flat surface, then it's not the clamp's fault.  In that case, most likely you're catching part of the quill in the clamp.  Try starting with the quill well exposed outside the clamp, so that you're pushing a little bit of the feather back into the clamp as you press the clamp and feather down on the shaft.

[arrow30]

thats for the helical to go around the shaft

[Orion]

What Arrow said.  If it's a straight clamp, you pretty much have to run it straight on the shaft, but if it's a right or left wing clamp, you have to set the clamp at an offset so the clamp kind of twists around the shaft.  Also good to follow McDave's advice.  I.e., leave the feather a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch or so proud of the clamp so you push it back into the clamp when you mount it against the shaft.   

[M60gunner]

Have a similar issue sometimes with my Blitz jigs. I run my xacto knife blade down the quill after I set the clamp in the jig.

[Hud]

Jojan makes a single and a multi fletching jig. Which one do you have? Is it a straight clamp or Helical. If it is straight, it can accept either left or right wing feathers. Follow what McDave said.  If it is Helical the left can be used with left wing feathers and the curve needs to match the shaft. Set the bottom slightly to the right of the index on the nock, and the top slightly to the left. Just the opposite for RT wing jigs. If nothing seems to work, check the instructions you have, or available online. If you were using wood shafts the setting will be different than for the smaller graphite shafts. If you wood shafts are parallel and you switch to a tapered, it may need to be reset.

[Camp Creek]

Thanks for the advice.  I'm afraid at this point it's the incompatibility of the geometry of the tapered shaft with that of the clamp.  I'll try running the back of a blade down the quill to get it to set properly and see if that works.  I tried calling Jojan the past two days and got not only "Press 1 for English", but afterwards my only option was to press 1 for a Walmart gift card which then sent me to some giant call center filled with people who didn't know a thing about making arrows 

[M60gunner]

JoJan isn't in business anymore. Haven't been for more than a few years. I am surprised site is still up. Probably because of that call center situation you experienced. Might want to clear your computer of recent visits.

[BigStriper]

I have a couple of them and they work fine.   Kurt