Anyone know where a guy could get a hold of carbon and/or foam material to be made into bow core laminations? I see many bowyers using these for laminations and was curious where this raw material can be purchased.  Thanks Gang, Matt

You can get carbon from Binghams or Old Master Crafters. Not sure where the foam comes from.

The foam is called "syntactic foam" and is usually a mixture of epoxy resin and microscopic glass spheres.  Do an internet search on syntactic foam and you will find good info.

Kevin

Cool, thanks guys!

Does Old Master Crafters have a website? Is there any place to buy a block of the stuff to saw lams from? Also, where is the best place to buy the foam from?  Looks like it's used in offshore and insulation applications.  Is there a certain type to look for?  Thanks again guys, Matt

Anyone?

Old master crafters doen't have a website. As far as your other questions, you'll have to wait for someone else to fill you in on those.

Hope you find what you're looking for,

hnh

To get the foam you will have to make it yourself by mixing epoxy resin and glass microspheres.

Don't be scared, this could be a lot of fun.  One large company that makes the spheres is Cuming Corp.  cumingcorp.com

I have a bottle of spheres I bought at a hobby shop 30 years ago; RC modelers use it in their epoxy to make there planes lighter.

Search the web form the foam or glass microspheres and you should find a lot of leads.

I was talking was Bob Morrison this past weekend and he said that he has his own foam core made.  You might give him a call.  If he doesn't sell it he might give ya a lead. dino

..........and it works!!!!!!!!!!!!    

what kind of epoxy would you use? do you mix an pour into a mold? -Scott

It would be great if someone would post a how to on this topic!

Dang guys foam core limbs are some of the highest end target archery secrets out there.  Every country has there "trade secrets".  I would be real surprised if you get any response on this one.

Mike

BTW I don't know how to do it.

Mike,

That foam would fit in real nice between the osage lams on a BBO!    

I think Wingnut is right about this one.
How about soaking an old foam mattress in superglue and cut it into strips? LOL.
Bue--.

I believe I'll just sip the foam off a good beer!

Being an engineer in high tech (higher tech than computers) I get a kick out of things that are considered "BIG SECRETS" that I think are just creative applications.

For foam cores I think a little experimenting will get you very far.  Get info from the web on  the marine foam applications.  You should find a good amount of stuff on mixing these foams.  Then try stuff.

I have been working on something that is a syntactic foam for a different use and that is what we did: a little research, get material, experiment and viola...

Here is what I am going to try:  Get a limb-width board of, say, maple; mill a groove down the center that will be narrower than the final limb width.  Mix and pour your foam into this groove; after it cures re-saw on the bandsaw and drumm sand to thickness just as if it were a regular limb lamination.  Build the bow as usual.  What could possibly go wrong? go wrong? go wrong?

The groove needs to be narrow enough that there is still wood at the sides of the limb after final shaping.

If I can stop working so much and get my garage shop fully pimped-out to make bows this is what I plan to do after I learn the basics of laminated bows.  It should be great fun.

Invention is 10% inspiration and 90% persperation.  Who said that? Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson?  Wasn't me, but I have invented a few things and this statement is true.

So are the carbon laminations simply a carbon fiber weave? I've been looking around a bit into this and several places sell different types of carbon fiber for a reasonable price(unlike binghams). I suppose the high strength stuff could also be used for belly laminations as it has a very high compression strength.  Any comments guys?

Also, I would think kevlar would make a great backing material, no?

I forgot to mention I recently purchased a set of the new hoyt cx 900 limbs for my FITA bow and they are sweet! my coach Butch Johnson said they are the best limbs hoyt has ever made. They are basically caron foam limbs without fiberglass on them(solid carbon). If someone could figure out how to incorporate this new technology with a traditional bow it would be awesome.-Scott
PS it still would be an all natural bow because carbon isn't carbon one of the basic elements or something.