Ratus

I think the idea of the limb lams are cool but what are your thoughts about how long they'll last before coming off?

I saw a post on a different board where the person said they saw two bows at the ata show that had these lamintes peeling off the limbs up by the limb forks. He had said one was in the Merlin show booth and the other was in a bow rack display booth.

Are they perhaps using these laminates to clear up any issues with soft paint I've read about?

Jerry/Pa

PW, I sent you an e-mail about ordering a Merlin shirt an towel. I know how busy you must be but when you get the time e-mail me back with ordering info. Thanks Jerry.
BTW Loving the omega.

Pinwheel 12

Ratus-

People simply do not ahve the facts about the laminates, and I welcome anyone to try to rip one off a limb---ain't gonna happen.

Merlin's process brings the laminate adheasive to within 1/16" from the limb edge on both sides, therefore you can actually "roll" the edge slightly, and this is what the hubub was about in regards to "peeling". They will never "peel off" . If more people at the show had asked someone who knew the deal instead of just thinking this was a flaw, they would've gotten the correct answer as others who asked did---This is designed into the limb as such so the laminate adheasive does not run out and look unsightly along the limb edge. The laminate will NOT peel off, no way--you will tear the material itself or pull a chunk of the limb apart first! In fact, they tried at the factory and the only way to get the thing off was to sand it with a drum sander down to the limb itself. Once laminated it is there to stay.

The overall purpose of the limb laminates is twofold-- first, to eliminate shock and vibration-- and secondly, to protect the limb both front and back. Yes, Merlin had a few minor instances of soft paint in the past due to high restrictions in England on certain paints and products, so rather that spit into the wind and continue to have that problem, they decided to take an alternative approach while designing something technologically superior to any other limb design in the process. They effectively reached that goal. Good shooting, Pinwheel 12

Ratus

I can understand some of what your saying, glue running out of the edges would be unsightly and all. Correct me if I'm wrong but these laminates are unproven and at this point in time and to say there will not peel off, NO Way is yet to be proven after being in the field and tested under harsh hunting conditions.

I've got another question. I understand that there was quite a few problems with limb failures when they went to their latest limb design. Now that they are using these rubber lamintes over the limbs, how's one to check for cracks or delaminating limbs now? This reminds me of what High Country did back in 97-98? when they put a coating on their limbs which had been failing pretty badly prior to that.

Any thougts on this subject would be appriciated.

walks with a gimp

Is the new limb material a soft vinyl? Ratus got me thinking about the hundreds of locus trees on my property, not to mention everything else that has thorns and the barb wire. Maybe the material should be replaceable???

PABowhntr

Congratulations on the new bow. From what I hear it sounds like one sweet shooter. Maybe someone locally will get one and I can then get my hands on it as well.

Pinwheel 12

Ratus-

These laminates are NOT "unproven"--they have been tested under extreme conditions for many thousands of cycles before we ever put a set of production ones on the bows. They are made of a heavier-rubber material and are very tough. Yes theya re the first ones ever to show up on a compound bow, but please do not knock them until you try them.

As far as the limbs go, no you are incorrect there also. The Pro-Fusion Plus process is third-generation and they have not experienced any failures with this generation--in fact even as far back as the generation one Pro Fusions they have had only ONE actual failure(blowing up) on a set of limbs that were on a persons' bow in Israel. This percentage is far lower than any other limb on the market, and other manufacturers are looking closely at using the Pro Fusion Plus on their bows in 2005. Other than that everything has been minor instances of the clearcoat cracking due to the paint restrictions. As stated, they have effectively taken care of any potential issues with that.

And if you need to check to see if there are "any problems", all one has to do is look at the side of the limb---there is no rubber on either edge.

WWAG-

The material is rugged. It is not replaceable, but the limbs are, and are under a full warranty by Merlin.

Frank-

Yep, you of all people need to shoot this bow seeing as you like short ATA hunting bows. Good shooting, Pinwheel 12

Rangeball

Pinwheel, is that more than the norm? For some reason I was thinking one of the advantages of 8125 was it's lighter weight compared to other materials which when compared strand for strand made it slightly faster?

If one used less strands with an aftermarket string/cables, I assume you'd pick up speed but what do you think it would do to the noise and vibrationless qualtites of the bow?

Pinwheel 12

Rangeball-

My point exactly! But sadly, some manufacturers do just that anyway. Remember--for every strand of material you drop, you pick up anywhere from 3-6 fps! Couple that with paper thin cams,(lighter is faster, but no very durable) pre-stressed limbs, (which will fail much sooner) and other little known "speed enhancing tricks", and you are soon shooting much higher speeds than the competition. Run drawlengths a little longer than aMO, and gain a few more fps. Unfortuanately, all it is is alot of smoke and mirrors, and you ALWAYS pay for high speed because of what has to be done to gain it.

Rangeball

Any idea what the strand count is for most stock/aftermarket 8125 strings/cables are?