A little background on myself - I grew up in a small suburb of Atlanta, in a county that was and is archery only for deer. My dad and two older brothers were big hunters, and I remember growing up watching them shoot their bows in the backyard, waiting an eternity until I was old enough to have a bow of my own like theirs. Sure, I had my own "toy" bows, but of course they were not the same.
When I was around 12, I was riding in the car with my mom and saw a sign on the side of the road that said "Bow for sale $100". Immediately, I got excited and pointed it out to my mom, who, unfortunately, didn't know an archery bow from a hair bow. When we got home, I went and checked my stash of money and saw that I had enough and then convinced my mom to take me back over there. We met the man selling the bow, and found out that it was a left-handed bow (hey! - I'm left handed!). I paid the man and got myself a "real" bow - a Bear, probably older than me - a handfull of arrows, a three-finger thumb release, and an armguard. Unfortunately, I found out VERY quickly that you have to use your left eye when shooting left handed, and I am mostly blind in my left eye. So I shot a left-handed bow right-handed, and needless to say, I had some "interesting" groups.
I spent my summers shooting that bow, and others later on with my cousin and some of my friends. I never really got to shoot much with my dad and brothers as both of my brothers moved out when I was still fairly young, and my dad began shooting a crossbow as soon as they were legalized. I still treasure that time of just being out there and sticking arrows into a big block of white styrofoam. I find few activities as relaxing, and I am convinced there is no better way to clear one's mind. Even while in college (I lived at home), just before big exams, I would go out and shoot a bit to clear my mind before heading to campus.
Since about middle school, I began coming up with ideas for improving archery products. I don't know why, but whenever I see something new - anything - my mind often wonders how I could apply it to archery. I started drawing the ideas in a notebook and never took it further than just a sketch. Imagine my excitement (frustration?) as occasionally I see some of those ideas on a store shelf or in a catalog. Eventually, I decided to do something about it.
This brings us to 2010 when I filed my first provisional patent for a broadhead design that was truly unique. I had a "eureka" moment on this idea and started working on it right away. I made detailed drawings and had prototypes fabricated. In theory it worked, but the concept hinges on a realm of physics that is not that well understood. The results of the static tests agreed with my calculations, however, in dynamic testing, I saw results basically opposite of what I expected, defying what I learned in college (I hold a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech). To be short - at the time, I was not dedicated enough to follow through and just shelved the idea, intending to revist later. I didn't file a utility patent application as I was certain that the amount of work required to make this design a reality would be a major limiting factor for myself or anyone else.
Around this same time, I had sort of a rennaissance period where I had a stream of fresh ideas and worked on many of them - one of them being the FletchApp - but, again, I never followed through with more than a conceptual CAD drawing. This all happening during the "Great Recession" and its uncertainty, my stable salary as an engineer with a major international company was more attractive, and the dream began to smoulder.
Occasionnally, the dream flamed back to life, each time drawing me closer, but the jump was always too large. The advent and the rise in availability (and accompanying fall in cost) of 3D printing gave me new hope. I found that I could have a manufacturing facility in my living room! After the birth of my twins, I got an impressive tax refund and used that to buy one of the higher end models. Then, I got to work, starting with the FletchApp due to its simplicity. After about a year of prototyping and testing, I filed the utility patent application, then further tweaked the design to improve performance and manufacturability.
All told, at the time of writing this, I have been using the FletchApp myself exclusively on my arrows, both for 3D and hunting, for about 3 years. With its superior performance and the interest I get from random strangers at 3D shoots, I feel obligated to make the FletchApp available to the general shooting public. Now is the time to make the leap, and the flame is burning strongly within.
The mission of AroFletch is to offer products that solve the problems archers and hunters face which the industry as of yet has failed to address, at a price that is affordable.