SpudFiles

will the larger model still be made of wood?

very nice slingshot do you mind if I make one of my own but some small mods

Have now oiled it with red-brown stock oil. I think it looks much nicer now!

Had these rollers lying around, from a DIY shopping spree a while back. They are really cheap, originally for rope of course.

I also had some aluminum tube with just the right diameter to serve as axis - so I decided to do a variation of my 4x4 design, but in wood, and for tubes.

The design came out really well. It gives me about 22 cm of a draw extension, ideal for the task as it is easy to load a ball into the pouch and it does allow full butterfly.

This is really powerful, especially with heavy lead balls!

It is also not so hard to make, I consider making a tutorial video soon.








Jörg

Ok, someone mentioned that the Saunders would be a good slingshot for customizing. I happen to have one lying around.

The Saunders has a lot of advantages:

- Inexpensive
- Quick band change
- Flat bands
- Great pouch

But it also has some disadvantages.

- High fork
- Small, thin, unergonomic handle



So I set out to correct the fork height and also to make a new ergo handle for it. My goal was to make this reversible, at least the handle change.

So I started by disassembling the slingshot.



Then I clamped the fork arms into the vise and lowered them from 5 cm to 3 cm.



Then I sawed out two handle parts, front and back, with the finger and thumb grooves already outlined.

Next, I put in a groove for the steel frame.



The two halves already fit in this picture! But of course the handle was far from finished at that point.



Sawed out a piece of multiplex for the palm swell, "Baumstamm style".



After lots of rasp and file work, the handle was shaped and sanded, ready for some color.



Then, I died it in blue, came out almost purple.



Have now finished it. Added nice poly coating, sanded and spraypainted the fork, and outfitted it with TB gold, 2 layers, 18 cm active band length, 2,4 cm (fork), 1,5 cm (pouch). This is the toughest band I could attach without altering the original band holders. Much more power than the original Saunders bands.



Here is the video!



It's now a much better slingshot, and of course one of a kind.

Jörg

I hadn't caught up on the progress in this thread, amazing stuff as always.

Jörg, I understand your hands are tied by local laws but I'm sure everyone here will agree that it's a shame you can't turn your talents to something that is powered by something other than rubber bands.

Have cut a nice fork from a thorntree that I can't identify. It still has leaves, so it can't be blackthorn.

Anyway, properly microwaved it and turned it into a semi ergo today. It has a palm swell where needed and it also has grooves for thumb and index finger. What I like is that even though it is heavily sculpted, it still looks like it could have been grown that way.

It was really bone white and the grain was hard to see, therefore I used my ink dying method to bring it out. I used dark brown ink.

Worked really well. This needs some cleanup in the grooves (polishing paste revealed by the photo flash), and poly coating. But otherwise it came out good.











Here is a little video about how I made it:



Jörg

Review: The Hand Howitzer



The impact of the 30 mm steel ball is amazing.

JoergS wrote:Review: The Hand Howitzer



The impact of the 30 mm steel ball is amazing.

Wow... You can blabber on about velocity, energy and whatever you want but I would NOT want to be hit by that. Very impressive as usual. Especially how you've put work into producing a commercial product. Have you thought about perhaps licensing out another design but asking for royalties/a share of profit etc.

Very nice as per usual

Can't and won't ask for money, my employment contract is very rigid in that regard. Plus I don't want the pressure, it's my hobby after all.

JoergS wrote:Can't and won't ask for money, my employment contract is very rigid in that regard. Plus I don't want the pressure, it's my hobby after all.

Your employment contract says you can't have a second income ???

Yes. That is quite normal for executive positions. They want you to relax in your leisure time so you are well rested for the job.

Joerg, when do you plan on beginning the build for the full scale Slingshot cannon? Are you waiting for warmer weather?

I want to wait for the summer, so the team can have some fun in the camp. And I have yet to select a location. I have one loose invitation to go to Ontario, Canada for the event. That is a bit far, but tempting.