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Heavy metal!

3K views 23 replies 19 participants last post by  Covert5 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
New to the forum, hello.
I thought I'd show my design for what for me is the ultimate slingshot.
Made from aluminium, brass and stainless steel.
There's storage for 30 steel balls in the handle, the head unscrews and re-attaches the other way so the length is reduced for carrying (I can wear them hanging from my jens belt loop).
They have sights adjustable for windage (with tools) and elevation (by fingers) and the bit that made the most difference to the accuracy is what I call a gimble sight.

There's a large hole in the lower arm and set back behind that is a brass plate with a smaller hole. The brass plate is adjustable in two dimensions. By lining up the two holes concentrically I can eliminate pitch and roll when I take aim.
I have found these to be very accurate, I can strike a half sized bake beans can 10/10 at 15yds. I realise others on here will be better than that without all the technology but this is what I built to improve my accuracy.

I find the large tube to be the most comfortable handle as it eliminates any hotspots.

I use Dankung because I've found them to be the most accurate and they retract extremely quickly giving a fast lock time which further improves accuracy. I've tried flatbands and they're too variable for me, the weight of the knotting at the pouch I think limits their velocity too.

The main reason I like Dankung is that if you put a notch in your top fork you can aim at things below the level of the bands. For me with a 100mm fork, which is the narrowest I will use (to prevent fork strikes) the point of impact is always below the top band. This was also true for flatbands unless I used a floating anchor which was just hopeless. With this setup I can anchor my thumb 2nd knuckle in the hollow of my right cheek and get a consistent triangulation between eye, anchor and sight.
 

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#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
Here's one with the head swapped for carrying, and the detail of the ammo storage.

There's more polishing and finessing to do. I'll turn down the heads of the countersunk screws holding the tube end caps for instance.
 

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#6 ·
I like your work, think functional fork, effective and looks small enough to be hidden. May a say that it reminds me to the Steampunk style? Very good work.
Bob
Thanks, I like to engineer my way out of a situation (in this case not being consistently accurate).

It's not deliberately steampunk, but then I did pick brass and stainless to contrast, so maybe it is?

In terms of the beauty, or lack thereof, my priority is always utility first and foremost (and secondmost), then I'll bung whatever I end up with on the polishing wheel at the end :)
 
#11 ·
I like your work, think functional fork, effective and looks small enough to be hidden. May a say that it reminds me to the Steampunk style? Very good work.
Bob
Good to hear from you! Are you still making those beautiful works of art slingshots?
Hello Grandpa, nice to hear you, I'd like to start again if I can, It's only a question of time. Cheers!
Bob
 
#15 ·
Welcome to the the forum brother and very cool sling....1st thing that came to my mind was also Steampunk....and SHANE, don't go into the light buddy, it's a trap, LOL
(search out Island Made on the forum, he's a Metal Magician )

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#18 ·
Thanks, yes I've learned a lot along the way. The first one sort of evolved as it went, there were 3 heads and 2 designs of fork before I arrived at the best solution.
Then I made 2 more identical twins using what I'd learned from the first. I made these 2 side by side.
The only real difference is that the first one has the balls exiting the side of the handle tube, but the next I put the ball exit in the bottom.
The forks and heads are all identical and can be swapped between handles.
 
#19 ·
I really admire your design and machining talents, especially the sight innovation. The one feature I couldn't embrace is having it hang from a belt loop - maybe that's a biker thing. To have a substantial hunk of metal (full of ammo) banging against my person because of movement or sitting, would be unacceptable ... also, I don't want the whole world knowing that I'm carrying a slingshot. If these aren't issues for you - fantastic. Once again, your creativity is most impressive. :thumbsup:

And of course, welcome to the forum - you bring a lot to the party.
 
#23 ·
More detail on the sights, I hope you can see the difference between the two photos of the gimbal sight, one off line and one in line.
The aiming sight is just an M3 brass screw with the tip ground to a point. I've turned the screwdriver slot off the head and knurled the edge to make it easy to adjust with fingers
 

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