Design
Atlas™ Target
Long life, “easy repair”, sectional competition target.
The Atlas™ Target represents nothing short of a revolution in archery target technology. It is a combination of highly innovative design and cutting edge materials. Intended primarily for tournament use, the patent pending Atlas target is also a cost effective target for high-level practice... but what makes it so different from the rest?
The most obvious difference is the sphere, located right in the centre where the target takes the most punishment. Experience indicated that it’s the close grouping of arrows in this area that causes the most damage to conventional modular targets. Manufactured from an advanced polymer blend, the sphere has exceptional arrow stopping capabilities, combined with excellent powers of recovery. Its unique material formulation also enables arrows to be removed from the target with less force.
Here is the really clever bit…
After receiving a number of arrows that would shoot the centre out of a conventional modular target… with the Atlas target you can simply partially rotate the sphere and the target is ready for many thousands more arrows. With each partial rotation, “new” target material is presented to the archer.
With a conventional target, the closer you group your arrows the quicker the target wears out; but with the Atlas target… The more accurately you shoot… the more partial rotations you will achieve from the sphere and... the longer the target will last!
Tests have shown that the unique sphere material recovers up to 98% by volume within 10 seconds of the arrows being removed... the sphere alone will outlast other modular foam targets!
Lets take a closer look at how you rotate or replace the sphere...
To access the centre sphere,first unscrew the “T-Handle” compression bolts and remove the top beam. This enables the top foam section to be removed easily... just slide it out. The centre "clamshell" section can then be slid out in a similar fashion.
Splitting the clamshell reveals the sphere... the heart of the Atlas design. This sphere is made of a unique advanced polymer, specially developed to minimise the incidence of arrow “pass through” while reducing the force needed to remove arrows from the target. It can easily be prised out of the clamshell and rotated to present new target material to the archer. The sphere can be presented in up to thirteen, 45° orientations, or eventually replaced when shot out.
When the sphere has been partially rotated, the clamshell is re-closed holding the sphere tightly in position. The complete centre clamshell section is once again slid back into position and the wedge design keeps it tightly closed… (There are no fiddly infills to concern us). The top centre section is then slid into place and the top beam is replaced and secured using the T-handle bolts.
In practice the whole repair / sphere rotation procedure takes substantially less than two minutes and the target is once again ready for use.
Shooting accuracy dictates how many rotations can be achieved from a single sphere but users have indicated that up to 16 separate rotations can be made, extending the useful life of the target dramatically. And when a sphere is eventually shot out, it’s both simple and economical to replace.
Let’s take a moment to look at the foam construction of the rest of the target...
Firstly, the whole target is a full 275mm thick, manufactured from closed-cell foam of different densities, laminated in such a sequence as to provide optimum stopping power, with reduced arrow removal force. Note that the sections fit together in a wedge arrangement to ensure that there are no straight joint paths from front to back, virtually eliminating arrow “pass through” potential.
Another unique feature is that the centre clamshell has a plain side for competition use while the reverse side has a hole that exposes a small portion of the sphere… for practicing without using a paper target. The centre clamshell module can be rotated, in isolation, within the target without having to rotate all of the surrounding sections.
Atlas target integrated frame...
Each Atlas target is delivered with a substantial integral stand, that conforms to FITA competition regulations, so there’s no extra stand to buy before you can use it!
Atlas targets are available in three sizes, in both FITA target and field archery configurations. They are highly weather resistant and will give sterling service for many years. Further details are available within the products section.
The Atlas Target...
- A revolution in archery target technology
- Long life targets you can trust to save you money
- Designed by archers… for archers