HALO serving material . . .test.

kev · Post by **kev** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 3:11 am

This must be a record for serving life

. Some real good info here, thank's for the testing.

sumner4991 · Post by **sumner4991** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 10:59 am

398 . . .yep, she's still holding together. I thought I had hit 400, but, according to the log, it's only 398! Honestly, at 300 shots, I thought this serving would have died by now. Once the other servings got a little frayed, they quickly lost accuracy and broke. Not this HALO serving, it's still shooting very accurate. The appearance hasn't changed much since the 350 shot reporting.

kev and Boo . . .thanks for the kindness in your posts. I find this information very interesting and beneficial for us all. I enjoy doing the shooting . . .why not share the information? I know a lot of guys here just don't have the time to shoot everyday. I also know a lot of guys that shoot a lot more than I do and this information is probably old news to them, then again maybe not. New material is coming to market all the time. Anyway, I hope that at least some of you are interested in the outcome. Any office pools going on out there? If so, don't tell me until the serving breaks.

Here is a picture at 398 . . .

kev · Post by **kev** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 5:12 pm

I've never came close to that many shots on a serving, not even with a Vixen with a well maintained serving.

Sean McKenty · Post by **Sean McKenty** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:58 pm

Finally got the camera working, and figured out how to put a picture on this site-so an hour later and here's the pictures.

This serving is after 1300 shots as of today.

Matthias72 · Post by **Matthias72** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:44 am

Sean probably using your serving on a Exomax FF string, you could shoot 200/250 arrows maximum. It is very different the wear between a Exomax and a Horton HD 175. When the arrow is cocked, your string sustains 87 lbs, and when you relase the string, it moves forward only for 14". The Exomax is 225 lbs and 16.5", and rememeber that the consumption increases with the force square, so Exomax cocking consumption is 6.6 times your and moving consumption is 1.4 times Horton. I hope that this calculation you could you help to understand why to obtain 400 shoots with a Exomax is so amazing.

Regards

Matthias

kev · Post by **kev** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:24 am

Sean that seems to be a real good serving material also.

Matthias72 is right the big Exomax puts some serious strain on servings and this halo material seems to be well worth the little added costs.

I wonder how long a halo serving would last on the little Vixen

Boo · Post by **Boo** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 6:31 am

Kev, Crown is a good serving. Both Halo and Crown are both 100% Spectra. Don't know what the difference in denier is but Crown looks a tiny bit higher. Other than that the biggest difference is that Halo really wants to lay flatter on the string than Crown which is what you want.

Sean McKenty · Post by **Sean McKenty** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 5:02 pm

I have a very full understanding of how a crossbow works,having owned several including Excals. The pressure applied to the string serving by a recurve design is what it is but the latch design plays a much higher role. On the Excals I had I simply took the trigger apart and angled and polished the latch which increase the serving life 4 fold when using standard FF serving. Having tested both Halo and Crown on the same set up showed me that the Crown#26 was a clear winner,not saying Halo is bad it is certianly much better than most, either way having options to try out is a benifite for every set up since each Xbow has its own characteristics.

I have a Legacy 225 comming and will do the same test with it as well

Boo · Post by **Boo** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:30 pm

Matthias, how did that string that had a gray (Crown) serving over another serving do?

sumner4991 · Post by **sumner4991** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 10:13 pm

Sean . . .doesn't even look like your serving has been used, that's awesome for 1300 shots! There is no way any material would be able to hold that form in the teeth of the Exomax. No way. As far as taking the trigger apart . . .I'm not willing to test that. I just don't have the skills. I would rather replace the serving 10 times than take the chance of ruining the trigger . . which is what I would probably accomplish.

Anyway, your serving wear is terrific.

Sean McKenty · Post by **Sean McKenty** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 6:42 am

I wasn't expecting it to last this long as well, it has worn the anodization of the deck before the serving started showing any wear. I shoot a few Fita's each week with it. I am looking to see what the Legacy will show. I am going to see how long I can get it to last.

Taking the Excal trigger apart is rather easy,its a very solid and simple design. I have redone to many to count but it really helps and makes shooting them much more enjoyable

Matthias72 · Post by **Matthias72** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 6:48 am

Don, if you remeber, we tried a small string with a bigger serving (two layers). Not advantages, because the major serving weight decreased the arrow speed. And the two hooks penetrated inside the two layers after some shoots. So I erased this solution.
If this crown is so good as Sean tells, could be interesting test it on a Exomax.

regards

Matthias

wabi · Post by **wabi** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 7:42 am

Sean,
I find your comments on the latch design very interesting and informative. Not sure I want to tackle the task of modifying mine, but I'm sure it has a huge impact on serving life.
Not to take away from the effort put into testing various serving materials, but I feel the latch probably has more of an impact on serving life than the material used for most of us. Even if we shoot identical models from the same manufacturer chances are good we won't get the same serving life because of the slight variations in the latches themselves.
If I test material "A" "B" and "C" on my Phoenix and say I get 500 shots from "C", but only 400 from "A" and 200 from "B" it might indicate "C" is superior serving material, but it doesn't mean you are going to get 500 shots with your Phoenix. There are just too many variables that enter the equasion.

I would be interested in learning more about the modifications you made to the latch and how you did it.

Sean McKenty · Post by **Sean McKenty** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 8:11 am

The modifications I did to many were not anything that to intensive. I just saw a wear point that could easily be taken out. With the claw down latch the claw actually lifts the string off the deck before it slides off. What I did was angle the latch forward and polish it. The Excal trigger is very sturdy so don't worry about being delicate with it. The only watch point is to ensure you polish both sides the same.

I suspect that Bill would frown on after market alterations but I have never had any sort of issue for the ones I did for others

sumner4991 · Post by **sumner4991** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 2:07 pm

431 shots . . .I'm calling it a dead serving unless anyone can persuade me to continue. The Halo serving hasn't broke, however, the string is exposed at the trigger claws. Therefore, the serving has served it's useful purpose.

Here is the picture at 431 shots . . .

What really impressed me about this serving material . . .

1. The total number of shots
2. It did not break
3. It stayed accurate to the end, the last shot I took was a dead center bullseye at 30 yards.

This picture doesn't show it very well, but, the string is completely exposed at the trigger claws. The gold toned colors you see is actually the light brown string.

Here is the recorded data on the serving . .

1. 431 shots
2. 17 turns of the string to reposition the side of the string pressing against the trigger claws
3. 22.5 turns of the string to keep the string at my desired brace height
4. Oddly enough, exactly 30 days on the bow.

This is best option for the serving I have tested thus far. Very durable and very accurate.

Hope you guys are having a great weekend and gearing up for the coming season. Here in Georgia, the season starts Sept. 8 and it's going to be HOT! It's cooling down to the low 90's this week with scattered thunderstorms. I welcome the relief from the 100 degree temps and no rain we have been enduring the last few weeks.

Scott