Basic Compound Bow Setup
Draw Length:
This may sound simple, but because a compound can (and many people think, should) be shot with a
bent arm, the whole thing can be a little confusing. A very straight arm is bad, so a slightly bent, relaxed
arm is a fairly common starting point...
Shooting with a bent arm gives better control in the wind, it is better for up and down hill slopes for field,
brings the weight of the bow more into the body line and can be more comfortable. As an example
some people can shoot bows with draw lengths from 31 to 25. However within that range there are certain sweet spots.
29 1/2 may work well, or so may 27 3/4, and so may somewhere around 26". The reason for these sweet spots
is that they coincide with the arm muscles all being in the right place. So if you want to try shooting with a bent arm, dont just go down 1/4 or 1/2, go
down 2 or 3.
Bow weight:
Most men shoot between 50 & 60lbs for target archery. FITAs max is 60lbs. Most women shoot between 35 to
45lbs for target archery. There is no particular reason for shooting any particular weight. Most archers
will say that with a certain bow they may choose to shoot at say 55lbs. If the wind the bow up to 58lbs they
will find it difficult to hold steady on the gold. If they go down to 52lbs the same is true, that they find it
harder to hold steady on the gold. Once again there seems to be several sweet spots through the range.
These first two settings come down to you and are found from experimentation. The weight setting may
need to be changed nominally to match the arrow set-up.
Center Shot:
There is only one place for the rest to be set. That is on the true center shot. If you are expecting the
arrow to come out of the bow dead straight, the only way this can happen is if the rest is dead inline with
the travel of the string. On an accurately made bow with no limb twist either at rest or full draw this is a
simple measurement to make. Simply put a bit of masking tape half way up the limbs. Measure from the
side of the limb to the face of the cam and transfer this measurement to a line in the tape. Then with an
arrow in the bow, stand back and line up the string with the line just to the right for a right handed
archer. Because most bows particularly the latest fashion for split limbs do have some limb twist at full
draw, this measured centershot is seldom the precise working center shot, but will be a good starting
point.
Roll over or Cam timing:
Whatever you may read elsewhere the only correct cam/wheel timing is where the cams work precisely
together, coming over the peak together and stopping together. Checking this at rest and fulldraw is a
good starting point. Because you may have one limb that works quicker than the other because one
wheel is a little tighter than the other, because one cable may be a little tighter on the cable slide than the
other one wheel may come over before the other. If the cam/wheel timing is not correct, the leading cam
does NOT stay in the lead all through the shot. What happens is that the lead cam starts first then
overtaken the the other cam continually leading and following through the shot. This causes the nocking
point to rise and fall sometimes the arrow will leave the bow with the nock moving down sometimes with
the nock moving up. Bad cam timing is the major reason for arrow interference through the shot.
Measuring at rest should be done from the string to a constant point on the cam. Do not measure from
the limb as the limb pre-bend can vary top to bottom. The best way the check the rollover at full draw, if
you have draw stops is to put a loop of strong cord around the string where the release would normally
go. Put your foot through the loop in the cord and pulling from the pressure point on the grip, pull the
bow to full draw and check that both cables come to the stops at the same time. If you do not have
stops draw lines at a tangent to the cable cams at a full draw position and use these as you would stops.
This is the starting position...
Nocking points:
Use only a top nock or a top nock and very small bottom nock tied in place using serving thread, if you
are using a rope release. If you are using a caliper release it is a good idea to have a substantial bottom
nock to stop the release from interfering with the arrow. If you are using carbon arrows a good starting
point measured from square to the bottom of the top nock is about 10mm. For
aluminum arrows a figure of 12mm.
This is the starting point.
All through this section I have made it clear that what you have done is to set the basic starting points. In
the next section Basic Tuning we will tune the bow from these basic settings to a tuned bow. This will
take into account your ability to shoot, the way you grip the bow and the way you release. If you are
fairly new to compound shooting, set the bow as above and learn to produce a consistent shot before
trying to fine tune the bow.
Basic Compound Tuning
Continuing our look at compound bow setup, we next turn our attention to Tiller Tuning...
Tiller Tuning: "Tiller tuning is basically a system for tuning the bow to an individual, so there are no such things as standard settings."
First, go through the process of the Basic Compound Setup described above.
You will then need to have a range where you can stand in front of a target at around
20 yards, draw the bow back with an arrow in it with your normal stance and hand position on the bow.
Take note of how much the bow moves relative to the spot and come down - do not shoot the arrow.
Put a 1/4 turn on the top limb and try again to see if the aim is steadier.
Keep doing this in 1/4 turn increments up to a full turn on the top limb.
Wind the top limb back to the starting point and try the same with the bottom limb.
You will then go through the process of going through all the combinations, i.e. 1/4 turn top limb, 1/2 turn
bottom limb until the bow feels steady on the aim.
You do not need to shoot any arrows in this process, but you do need to draw the string back from the
same relative position.
A tape measure dimension from the top axle to the normal release position and you should be able to
maintain this close enough.
Once you have achieved the steadiest aim possible, reset the nock the nocking point and peep positions
and that's you basic tiller tuning done.
To refine the nocking point position, a little bit of group tuning at 50 yards is all you need.