DIY Spine Tester! 

I thought distance for sure tests are supposed to be 28", you say 26". I've seen conflicting info in this dimension.

Thank you! This is immensely helpful. I’m looking at using bamboo shafts but the major deterrent has been the cost of a spine tester.

Honorable Gentleman Thank you very much from İstanbul Türkiye. I really benefited. My prayers with you

Great job, loved the simple design and the video. Thank you so much. I'm not sure I will build a spine tester myself but I enjoyed the whole thing nonetheless. Instructive and fun!

Copied your design, three hours later it's telling me my arrows are between 50-51lbs. Thanks for the upload....

great job

Great video! I especially like the charts, thanks! One small nit-picky thing; the measurement device you used is a digital caliper, not a micrometer. A micrometer looks vaguely like a "C" clamp.

Nice little build. I'm definitely going to make one, but without the threaded bar on the weight. The OCD in me says that jiggedy jaggeding against those eye bolts is just too wrong ha ha

Great. Super cheap and easy and simple. Most difficult is the weight. But one can also have some cup and fill it with rice and weigh it with kitchen scale. Great project after i made my own shaft cutting tool from an old drill and some boards. Thanks. I subbed 😊 👍

Love the use of common equipment to make an elegantly simple spine tester, mighty appreciated!

I've heard good feedback about the Woodglut plans.

Kev, I can feel that you are doing the stuff you do with a passion! Keep up the good work man!

I loved the video, wanted to build one for myself but the links go to a domain that is for sale. Where might I find them?

Hi, I came over your video three or four days ago and was really impressed by the simplicity of the diy spine tester. So I tried for myself to build it, had some trial-and-errors for placing the caliper upwards. By that trials I recogniced a special thing, concerning may be all of us who buy (have bought) a cheap digital caliper, mine was LIDL "PARKSIDE": the Vernier of (at least mine) caliper does not slide smoothly/evenly on the scale.. .it is sometimes a little bit tricky to measure even hard materials (like screw or metal profiles). So, what's the point: to get it sliding down the scale, mine Vernier needs something around 230 gramm starting-weight!!! And of course, that weight you have to ADD TO THE OFFICIAL 2#AMO (880g ASTM), otherwise your measured deflection/bending can not be compared to the " official" spine-charts, as it is bending lesser! (If not added, these 230g needed to slide the Varnier are SUBSTRACTED from DRAGGING THE ARROW!) So, don't buy a cheap digital caliper, but a "serious" one - or, even better (cheaper then), build the spine tester with the dial gauge, see RHA's Video! Regards, Dierk

thank you very much . very simple and very instructive.

Many Thanks Robin Hood Archery..

Enjoyed your video. I like the build and plan to build my own as well. Thank you for the charts!!

Great. Inspired me to make one. Had to go for a hanging weight though. Thanks for the charts too.

I enjoyed this immensely, thanks very much! I am somewhat leery though, of opening the links to the spine tester charts. It gave me a warning on each to “go back.” Did everyone also receive this? I do wish to open them and have the charts copied for my use. Thanks for your time lads!😊🍃🍂

This is brilliant! Thank you!

Hi can you send me the link to download the charts please

Você tem a tabela de conversão para flechas de carbono?

Great and simple design. Very nice. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for the instructions

Hi.is the 26 inch from the pin centres or inside measurement? How long has this device been used?since medieval times?

great job sir.very informative

Thanks for the vid. Just finished one ... HA ! Brill. The biggest problem I found was the 2 Lb weight. FIND your nearest SASH WINDOW WEIGHT supplier and go get yourself 2 Lb of LEAD to start your project. Don't try drilling it as the lead gets very hot and grips the drill bit. Use a wood chisel to trim the sides to get to the weight you'll need with the actuating rod and nuts. For those in West London Go to the industrial estate in North Acton --- 50 mm diameter .... £3 .... sorted. Off to measure all my arrows.

Another great video, have now subscribed. It was well shot and absolutely crystal clear and what its supposed to show. Question: Can you check the spine of completed arrows on this set up? (I've been given a load of unknown spine arrows and need to work my way through them to see what I've got, so I can pass on the ones that are no good for me) Thanks, Peter

Thanks. Great video. Gonna build one soon. 🖒

Thank You. This Helps

Thank you for sharing your build on the spine reader. I have 14 recurve bows, and i shoot all of them. I recently bought 14 spiral . to log information on each one. One thing that is important information is the spine of each arrow. With your device i will be able to have this information for a few pennies. Thank you very much. Ken. Keep them straight andvon target.

that's work with bamboo shaft ?

Nice tech 👌👍

Great video,this video is immensely helpful thanks... where can i get the pdfs?

Very easy plan thank you. Alan

quick dumb question, ¿isn't the AMO standard for spine 28"?, so ¿why are you putting the end 26" apart?

This is really helpful, thanks.

Thanks! I'll make one. On a tight budget and need to make arrows for the whole family.

Thank you for the video. Have a similar design at home ( thanks to your video) and planing to do testing today. Simple to use, affordable, great with wooden shafts. Greetings from Helsinki.

Thank you very much, I was looking for a DIY spine meter for so long ! Great video, clear and efficient.

For wood shafts, page five: www.outlab.it/doc/amostd.pdf

Love it!! I was just looking for a DIY one so I can check my carbon arrows for the stiff side for cock feather placemment. This is great! And the O rings... Bloody brilliant!

I would turn th arrow 90 degrees and make the fletchin opposite the bow on that side

Very interesting , and a useful tool that most can build. Great presentation Thanks.

Hi my friend really I enjoy so much when I see your videos. Q: What about the carbon shaft ..? I mean can I use this method to check the carbon arrow shaft …? Please if there is any clarification or chart work good with method , put the link down for benefit . Thank you very much Good bless you

Nice!

thank you it is so good

I was wondering how the weight was constructed. I can see the result quit good. But how is the bolt held in de weight (inside the pipe length). How did you melt the lead in the pipe?

nice :-)

Nice! I like how you explain the process.

Awesome, love the design, about to make myself one, thank you!

very helpful and thanks for the charts

Show how spine deflection changes when you index the grain differently.

Very good! Just to know, how do you know if the shaft is 400 /500 / 600 spine? thanks

A fair estimate considering you cannot measure thousandths of an inch with a pine board, I would eliminate the threads on the weight, AMO became ATA sixteen years ago, those charts are fourty year old estimates. If you want to save more pick up a digital tire tread depth gauge from ebay.

Liked your idea very much thank you

there was drawings on the wood but while you were drilling I couldnt see any. I can not imagine the exact drill points right now. is it 26 inches from the center of the cut shafts or is it 26 inchs between the cut shafts ?

Well done! That is sheer elegance in its simplicity.

Simple?...Brilliant!

Hi, does the caliper have to be digital? Or can it be vernier and still zeroed ?

Heyy I have a question. On the chart you can see a "pounds" value for a certain deflection rate. Does this value correspond with the drawweight of the bow for which that spine rate is suitable? If so, don't you need to take into account the width of the bowhandle and the weight of the arrowhead to determine the right spine? Very useful video anyway, thank you for sharing this!

Great tutorial and also great that you've linked the chart into metric too, way easier then making the conversion myself!

Beautiful and easy to use design👍

I have been meaning to make something similar myself. Just to raise a couple of point though...that is not a "micrometer" it's a "vernier gauge". Also, the old AMO standards are only used for wooden arrows these days, the arrow rests being 26" apart and a 2 lb weight being used. However your spine reader would have been even better if you made removable arrow supports so they could be moved to 28" and a weight of 1.94 lbs (with an additional 0.6 lb weight that could be added ....as this is the AMO measuring requirement for carbon shafts. PS, you should also mention the importance placing the shaft in the correct orientation ie the growth pattern of the wood being in the vertical plain when measuring spine.

Brilliant

excellent!