Well as a lot of you are aware I picked up a whole bunch of new timber the other day, all Australian natives except for one. LINK
A few of the different types had already been cut and dressed for use as floor boards and decking material, 20x85mm, so I set about creating a new design to make the best use of it.
Starting with my Dragon design, I played around and created a design that would fit these dimensions. Using Inkscape for the initial idea I then transferred it to my favourite prototyping material, 5 layers of cardboard glued together as a laminate. After a bit of resizing and tweaking, I finally settled on a design which I call the "Hrawkeye". Yes, I just finished watching the new avengers movie
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I have uploaded the design to the DIY Downloads section if anyone else would like to have a play with this design. LINK
Moving on, I know you all like build logs, so I will be documenting the process as I make 20 of these slingshots.
I have started with using the Grey Ironbark as it's such a perfect wood for making slingshots. Incredibly dense and one of the hardest and strongest woods in the world. On the Janka hardness scale, it rated the 7th hardest wood in the world behind, 1) Australian Buloke, 2) Lignum Vitae, 3) Patagonian Rosewood, 4) Brazilian Ebony, 5) Brazilian Walnut and 6) African Pearlwood. LINK
Ok, enough of my rambling, lets get to the pics
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First pic is of me roughing out the template I will be using to router cut all the frame blanks. Cut from some scrap 3mm 6061 aluminium plate I had. As per my other tutorials, I use a printed template glued to the material I am using. Your standard run of the mill glue sticks designed for paper and card work great for this. Easy to remove and do not stain the timber.
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After finishing up the template, drilling the holes which will be used with a transfer punch to mark the timber, I set about cutting up the stock that will make the actual frames. You can really tell how tough this stuff is once it hits the bandsaw.
![]()
A few of the different types had already been cut and dressed for use as floor boards and decking material, 20x85mm, so I set about creating a new design to make the best use of it.
Starting with my Dragon design, I played around and created a design that would fit these dimensions. Using Inkscape for the initial idea I then transferred it to my favourite prototyping material, 5 layers of cardboard glued together as a laminate. After a bit of resizing and tweaking, I finally settled on a design which I call the "Hrawkeye". Yes, I just finished watching the new avengers movie
I have uploaded the design to the DIY Downloads section if anyone else would like to have a play with this design. LINK
Moving on, I know you all like build logs, so I will be documenting the process as I make 20 of these slingshots.
I have started with using the Grey Ironbark as it's such a perfect wood for making slingshots. Incredibly dense and one of the hardest and strongest woods in the world. On the Janka hardness scale, it rated the 7th hardest wood in the world behind, 1) Australian Buloke, 2) Lignum Vitae, 3) Patagonian Rosewood, 4) Brazilian Ebony, 5) Brazilian Walnut and 6) African Pearlwood. LINK
Ok, enough of my rambling, lets get to the pics
First pic is of me roughing out the template I will be using to router cut all the frame blanks. Cut from some scrap 3mm 6061 aluminium plate I had. As per my other tutorials, I use a printed template glued to the material I am using. Your standard run of the mill glue sticks designed for paper and card work great for this. Easy to remove and do not stain the timber.
After finishing up the template, drilling the holes which will be used with a transfer punch to mark the timber, I set about cutting up the stock that will make the actual frames. You can really tell how tough this stuff is once it hits the bandsaw.
