Over the last year I have done quite a bit of band testing. In the end I decided to stick to Thera-band because it is the gold standard, being both durable and fast, but if it's not available locally, you may want to test other exercise bands and medical latex sheet.
Some materials shoot a lot better than others. However, it's easy to tell if a rubber sample will make a good slingshot band. Just stretch it out and release and if it sounds like a whipcrack and stings accordingly, then it'll shoot reasonably fast. If you want to be more sure, you'll need to to a lot of testing. Shoot some ammo over a chrony comparing the velocities to a similar thickness sample of a known benchmark brand, such as Thera-band.
I'm not too hung up on thickness either. As a general guideline, just about any thickness up to about 1mm (or so) should be fine. 0.5-0.75 is my personal sweetspot, but that's not to say that bands significantly outside this range shouldn't work well. Thinner bands are better suited to lighter ammo that can benefit from the extra velocity and thicker bands are more rugged.
The biggest point of differentiation is durability. For a start, it shouldn't tear under tension, you shouldn't see any bubbles and no surface peeling. The acid test is how does it wear or perish in real-world conditions, to know that, use it for a bit and see how it wears.
Finally, whether it works out well or not, be sure to post feedback in this blog or this forum so that we can share your knowledge.
I run a latex supply company out of Toronto. It's www.sheetlatex.com and we normally sell to medical, fetish and clothing manufacturers, but our sheeting is also used by artists, crafters and yes SLINGSHOT builders!
We have a wide selection of sheeting from 0.20mm through to 1.20mm thick in a wide variety of colors.
You can purchase by as small a unit as one yard of material (which will make you a good number of slingshot bands) and I'd be happy to offer anyone who buys anything from our store $5 off their first order.
Just enter "five5" at checkout in the coupon code box and that'll be applied to your order.
Latex can be glued together with Best Test rubber cement. It's best if you clean the latex first with Bestine rubber cement thinner. Glue should be applied thin to both parts being stuck together, let dry to tacky, and then placed together carefully without bubbles. Then roll firmly to stick strongly. The glue is ~80% strong after 15 minutes and cures to 100% of it's strength after 24 hours.
Latex does suffer from exposure to the sun - so treat it with armor all or another UV protecting rubber treatment... but only do this when you are done gluing the latex as it will prevent future gluing.
We have a laser cutter on site at www.sheetlatex.com so if anyone is interested in having custom cut latex shapes for your slingshots (tapered preped latex anyone? Just email me the dimensions and I'll see what I can do - [email protected])
We can also use the laser to lightly engrave the latex with print or pattern for something custom and fun.
Adding engraved grooves to the surface of the latex thins the latex in that region, so that opens the door to having two or more regions in your latex band that have different effective thicknesses and thus different elasticity. I'm not a slingshot expert - but that's something to think on.
Other latex suppliers:
Radical Rubber - UK = Very good latex, expensive to ship from UK.
4Drubber - UK = Considered the very best but only sell in large QTYs to USA.
MJtrends - USA = Carefull with MJ trends, their rubber is of lower quality and tends to tear/stretch out/degrade quickly.
Sheetlatex.com - Canada = That's me and our latex is really nice.
Anyways, I'd be excited to work with anyone who wants to explore latex sheeting for your slingshot needs.
A good rubber sheet made out natural rubber or silicone rubber has the ability to withstand wide range of temperature and it is known for its elongation and tensile strength. Good rubber sheets are resistant to water and chemicals, acids, ammonia and other chemicals. There are many types of sheets such as pure natural rubber sheet, white rubber sheet, Duro red silicone rubber.
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