[JoergS]

Hello,

using thin, wide bands leads to very powerful slingshots, as we all know.

I have noticed that many people cut out individual stripes, like three layers, and attach those to the fork and pouch.

I never do that, I fold the bands lengthwise instead. This has advantages:

- Faster to cut out
- Less tearing (the tearing is mostly caused die to nicks in the cutting - less cutting, fewer nicks)
- Less slippage at the bindings

I did not notice any disadvantage.

Opinions?

Jörg

 

[JoergS]

That is weird; I have found that folded bands, even though they are more work last longer for me. Folded bands have always torn at the kink where they were tied (either at the fork or pouch). I am shooting a two strip Saunders band set (actually one strip doubled with no tie at the pouch) right now with well over 1000 shots on them and still no tear has started. My own sets don't last that long because even though I use 2 strips there is still a kink at the pouch tie. Tex

My bands always tear at the pouch, never at the fork. But it is strange, they do not break IN the kink, but about 3-5 mm before the kink position, in relaxed condition. At full draw, this means that the tear occurs about 15 - 25 mm before the pouch! I do not know why that is, but I have seen others reporting the same thing.

It may be the case that the tearing happens when the bands hit the fork. The pouch side will have the highest speed and momentum. But that is just a theory.

I did notice another effect: Heat. You can do a little test yourself. Just put a weak band with thin flat rubber (Thera Band of any type, just not much of it) on any kind of slingshot you own. In example, for Thera Band Gold, use a single strip of 1,5 cm x 1 cm. Then draw it out in full, with no ball in the pouch. Now put your upper lip (very temperature sensitive body part) against the drawn out rubber. You will notice that the rubber just before the pouch is very warm, but the rubber near the fork is much cooler.

Jörg

 

[JoergS]

On the subject of heat and hence internal friction, I notice from one of your videos, Joerg, that you rated the TB-black band over the gold and were thinking about the thinnest available - any conclusions yet? And have you found the extra width to be a problem?

And on taper, has anyone found an optimum ratio of forkouch width? Oh, it's all a bit technical...

Tapering works, believe me. The more, the faster! But extremely tapered bands do not live very long. I am now using a ratio of about 3 to 2. This seems the best compromise for me.

Thera Band Black is faster than Thera Band Gold, and Thera Band Blue is even faster. If you go any thinner, the advantage is not apparent anymore. But you have to keep in mind that my most powerful set of Thera Band Blue is 28 cm wide at the fork (2x14cm), but only 20 cm long!

I tested the tan Thera Band, clearly the thinnest stuff. You can read a newspaper through it. But it is powder coated, like surgical gloves, and slips out of the attachments easily. You need like six layers of the stuff for good power, simply tedious to do and the speed isn't really better than for Thera Band Blue.

Thera Band Black is the thinnest material that allows you to cut out of a single layer (folded of course). So I recommend it.

Jörg