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Following on from Jörg's Condom Catty/ Durex Destroyer and my own ill-fated experiments with rubber band chains, I continue my personal grail quest for fast bands.
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Jörg's video where he shot a huge amount of very thin medical latex was my inspiration. Very thin latex has excellent shooting properties, but there's sooo much of it that I think there'd be an issue of controlling it. I could cut many strips and have a stack of bands, but that would exacerbate the second problem, namely thin bands tend to tear and tears often start at the edge. Many edges and thin bands would make for a very short-lived band.
My initial idea was to contain a roll of the very thinnest exercise band in a sausage-type party balloon. Well, it took me about an hour, but I managed it, a full width of exercise band rolled inside a balloon. I shouldn't have bothered and I don't recommend that anyone does. The result pulls and returns much like a solid rubber roll, only it has a tendency to kink and has very poor wear characteristics, having been so badly abused by a bloke with a stick.
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FAIL
Then I got to thinking. A balloon is just about the thinnest dipped latex tube you can hope for and they're cheap and easily obtainable. So instead, I just strung up a frame and pouch with three balloons per side doubled because they stretch so long.
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The result is a short bandset that still draws to full length and returns very fast indeed. When I shoot it facing a white wall, I can catch a glimpse of the pouch and bands flying out straight and unhindered right between the forks. The pull is about 15lbs and it feels a bit like two one inch wide bands of Thera-band silver per side. Theraband Gold gives about 35lbs. It shoots straight and very fast. Everything from 6mm steel BB to big lead sinkers zipped down range very flat and straight.
I've been using special balloons from balloonbed.com. These are supposed to be very durable; durable enough to sleep on for a night on rough ground. They're expensive and probably not as good as the regular party balloons which would be thinner.
Despite their heavy duty, these balloons offer a spectacular cross sectional perimeter-to-area ratio of 7.2x, triple that of Thera-band gold or a stationary store rubber band. In addition, the very high elongation ratio means that the shot is under tension for a greater distance. These two properties explain the speed.
As I said, I've been shooting 3 doubled bands per side. I need to get a chrony and do some proper testing, but depending on the balloon and the weight of the shot and pouch, I'd say the ideal would be between 2 and 4 bands per side.
Durability hasn't been bad, considering how thin the rubber is. Balloons are engineered and formulated not to split on stretching, chafe or perish quickly and of course there is no edge. If a balloon breaks, you can just cut off a the bad band and one from the other side. If it breaks during a shot, it shouldn't be too dangerous, as it has only a small draw force and little mass.
Further enhancements are possible. I'm not sure I have, but if you have the skill and strength to shoot butterfly stance, not doubling the balloons would mean an even greater effect of the superior elongation. Com-bow rollers and long fork extensions would help too. I'm also working on ways to achieve a taper. I suspect that if I include a length of Dyneema braided fishing line to selected balloons, I can get the same effect.
There are some downsides to using balloons. Firstly, it's ugly. Secondly, there is a whole tangle of bands. Tying the bands in the middle with elastic thread would help.
Ooooooh, bundles of elastic thread: now there's an idea!
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Jörg's video where he shot a huge amount of very thin medical latex was my inspiration. Very thin latex has excellent shooting properties, but there's sooo much of it that I think there'd be an issue of controlling it. I could cut many strips and have a stack of bands, but that would exacerbate the second problem, namely thin bands tend to tear and tears often start at the edge. Many edges and thin bands would make for a very short-lived band.
My initial idea was to contain a roll of the very thinnest exercise band in a sausage-type party balloon. Well, it took me about an hour, but I managed it, a full width of exercise band rolled inside a balloon. I shouldn't have bothered and I don't recommend that anyone does. The result pulls and returns much like a solid rubber roll, only it has a tendency to kink and has very poor wear characteristics, having been so badly abused by a bloke with a stick.
FAIL
Then I got to thinking. A balloon is just about the thinnest dipped latex tube you can hope for and they're cheap and easily obtainable. So instead, I just strung up a frame and pouch with three balloons per side doubled because they stretch so long.
The result is a short bandset that still draws to full length and returns very fast indeed. When I shoot it facing a white wall, I can catch a glimpse of the pouch and bands flying out straight and unhindered right between the forks. The pull is about 15lbs and it feels a bit like two one inch wide bands of Thera-band silver per side. Theraband Gold gives about 35lbs. It shoots straight and very fast. Everything from 6mm steel BB to big lead sinkers zipped down range very flat and straight.
I've been using special balloons from balloonbed.com. These are supposed to be very durable; durable enough to sleep on for a night on rough ground. They're expensive and probably not as good as the regular party balloons which would be thinner.
Despite their heavy duty, these balloons offer a spectacular cross sectional perimeter-to-area ratio of 7.2x, triple that of Thera-band gold or a stationary store rubber band. In addition, the very high elongation ratio means that the shot is under tension for a greater distance. These two properties explain the speed.
As I said, I've been shooting 3 doubled bands per side. I need to get a chrony and do some proper testing, but depending on the balloon and the weight of the shot and pouch, I'd say the ideal would be between 2 and 4 bands per side.
Durability hasn't been bad, considering how thin the rubber is. Balloons are engineered and formulated not to split on stretching, chafe or perish quickly and of course there is no edge. If a balloon breaks, you can just cut off a the bad band and one from the other side. If it breaks during a shot, it shouldn't be too dangerous, as it has only a small draw force and little mass.
Further enhancements are possible. I'm not sure I have, but if you have the skill and strength to shoot butterfly stance, not doubling the balloons would mean an even greater effect of the superior elongation. Com-bow rollers and long fork extensions would help too. I'm also working on ways to achieve a taper. I suspect that if I include a length of Dyneema braided fishing line to selected balloons, I can get the same effect.
There are some downsides to using balloons. Firstly, it's ugly. Secondly, there is a whole tangle of bands. Tying the bands in the middle with elastic thread would help.
Ooooooh, bundles of elastic thread: now there's an idea!
