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My $1.00 E Bay Sling Shot

6K views 31 replies 12 participants last post by  wll 
#1 ·
Plant Lantern Pollinator Wood Tree
Reptile Snake Pliers Scaled reptile Serpent


I put on some tubing I had. It is thin a very snappy. Used to hold pencil lead. The pouch is one of Flatbands. this pouch happens to relly be good for this set up. I pushed the tubing through the hole in the slingshot and stuck a 8mm plastic bead in the end to hold it in place. You can shoot straight or over the top. I took it outside and shot my usual target, again beginners luck and hit it the first two shots, the third and fourth shots hit the frame holding the butterfly. On the 5th shot I heard a funny noise and pulled my head to the side as one of the tubes just nicked my cheek. One of the beads came out, now I put a drop of finger nail polish in the end of the band. For $1.00 I am ordering more.

Plant Property Tree Sky Porch


This how the target looks from my deck. About 40 feet.

Plant Lantern Pollinator Wood Tree
 

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#7 ·
Yep it's zinc or some other alloy, you'ld better through it away, I've had mine and it's only lasted a year and a half so far.....but you'ld better stick with the common wisdom. I'm sure I'm just lucky.
 
#8 ·
I have heard those stories before. This one was advertised as being SS. It is heavy and not magnetic. I tried to break it with my hands and could not. No, this one is a keeper. If I can't break it I really doubt the light bands I am using will bother it.
 
#10 ·
Again if I can't break it with my hands why would it break with light bands. Does any one have a link that talks about these breaking while shooting. I did read on a post that the rumor was started by a competitor.
 
#12 ·
see on this section,shooting a sharpies cap,the fellow paul in one of the vids is shooting a dankung copy just like that one uve got using 3/8 steel,using 4 (2 aside)1745 bands,and has done so for over a year,but as has been said in this thread,he might be one of the lucky ones
 
#13 ·
Here is what a few quick searches showed. Stainless steel is not magnetic as a whole. There are some SS alloys that are but they are really expensive. Zinc is normally used only for plaiting. So if you have an alloy slingshot that is zinc plated it could be a problem and it might be brittle and the zinc could hide the pores. Also it would be highly magnetic.

My slingshot is not magnetic. It does not even resemble the slingshots in question. If my slingshot had been magnetic I would probably been able to break it especially with the amount of force I used.
 
#14 ·
I'm was trying to be good...I really was
Killdeers were made of zinc in a garage with home made casting equipment and that was 50+ yrs ago and they are still shooting.... zinc may not be idea but the neither is plastic Victor 20, solid hardwood Wham O but they do the job and have been for half a century.

as far as I am concerned as long as you use common sense and due care you should be fine with it....but what do I know...
 
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#17 ·
Here is the link for the Killdeer
http://www.wisegeek.com/is-stainless-steel-magnetic.htm
Here is the link for the SS article
http://www.wisegeek.com/is-stainless-steel-magnetic.htm
Pure zinc cast is not magnetic but steel or carbon alloy zinc will be magnetic. Here is the link on magnetic zinc alloy
http://www.gets.cn/wholesale-Zinc-Alloy-Magnetic-Clasp-2752.htmlAll I am saying is I believe that my sling shot is stainless due to the strength, high luster polish, and heavy weight. I do not believe it to be a alloy zinc cast. I was not aware that pure cast zinc could have a high polish.
If my post has misleading information then I apologize and did not mean to mislead anyone.
Here is a link on zinc casting
http://www.diecastingzinc.com/
Bottom line is weather the story of the broken zinc slingshot is true or not. Can you find a person that this has happened to? Do you have anyway to prove it. Could this be another Moma Cass story? The rumor was she chocked to death while eating a ham sandwich which is totally false. It almost makes me regret posting about the article but it has been educational and that is worth something.
 
#23 ·


Here is the link for the Killdeer


http://www.wisegeek....el-magnetic.htm


Here is the link for the SS article


http://www.wisegeek....el-magnetic.htm


Pure zinc cast is not magnetic but steel or carbon alloy zinc will be magnetic. Here is the link on magnetic zinc alloy


http://www.gets.cn/w...sp-2752.htmlAll I am saying is I believe that my sling shot is stainless due to the strength, high luster polish, and heavy weight. I do not believe it to be a alloy zinc cast. I was not aware that pure cast zinc could have a high polish.


If my post has misleading information then I apologize and did not mean to mislead anyone.


Here is a link on zinc casting


http://www.diecastingzinc.com/


Bottom line is weather the story of the broken zinc slingshot is true or not. Can you find a person that this has happened to? Do you have anyway to prove it. Could this be another Moma Cass story? The rumor was she chocked to death while eating a ham sandwich which is totally false. It almost makes me regret posting about the article but it has been educational and that is worth something.




Zinc plating is not a very pretty finish, it's mostly used in industrial applications, zinc plated nuts and bolts for example.
Cast zinc slingshots are not polished zinc, they are nickel or chromium plated, this gives a bright polished finished that doesn't tarnish.



I've got a Dankung Black Eagle, neodymium magnets stick to it fairly well about the same as 304 stainless sheet, it's immensely strong.
I've also got a cheap Dankung copy that neodymium magnets didn't stick to and it snapped like a carrot while I was testing it's strength in a vice with my bare hands.

Make of that what you will.


At the end of the day your still left with the question of how much quality control is there in a factory that produces a slingshot for less than a dollar?




 
#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi,

I rather not get into a technical debate but I'll chip in my 2 cent...

As an Engineer, I can say that I prefer using 250 MPA steel round bar rod for a slingshot rather than 270 MPA cast zinc alloy.

My metalurgy days are over since years now but if you asked me what is this zinc alloy we are all talking about. I would say it is 'zamak'. Zamak is about 270MPA. What make it dangerous is the brittleness. A 250mpa steel goes plastic before failing where as zinc just fail witthout going through a deep plastic stage. I.e just break without consequent plastic deformation due to its structure. I would also add that a zinc cast can have impurities defect like other alloys but has an impact on the strengh and week spot. Brittleness that is the main fear here.

I've seen ad's on the Dankung website about zinc alloy warning, never clicked on them as I know that, I've dealt with them and I hope they know what they are talking. I've exchanged more than a dozen emails but I'm in doubt!!! Everyone can claim a product is 330 Stainless steel like others can claim otherwise until proven.

How can the client know that the advertise $5 slingshot is not of stainless steel, while another can sell a slinshot for $30 and claim it is! Well, it's a debate....

For me now until proven by a steel certificate will buy only tubes from Dankung.

Sorry for the rant here but it came into the discussion.

p.s I'm not throwing my dankungs away, but claiming that 330 S. steel with just words is not enough for me, and yes they are made with stainless steel which is acceptable for safety.

But gold is still gold at 24ct and 18ct. But can you claim a 18ct gold to be 24ct, if you get my point.
 
#19 ·
Thanks for the post. At least now we know more than we did. We are still back to my original post, I cannot break this thing with my hands so how can light rubber tubes break it? If I were to drop it on a hard surface I would test it again. I have broken a lot of hard wood slingshots but never a metal one.
I have a stainless steel sink in my home and it is not magnetic and I am using medical magnets which are really strong for their size.
 
#20 ·
I have said this before. I bought a cheap one from ebay that was listed as zinc and this thing is unbreakable. I have faith it will not break. I used it as a target for a couple of months and even shot lead at it. I put it in a vice and tried to break it. At least the one i got is plenty strong enough. I cannot say that for ALL of the ones on ebay though.
 
#22 · (Edited by Moderator)
Rubberpower,

You might not be able to break it by hand but by 'brittleness' definition, it can break suddenly under load.

For e.g, by dropping it or throwing it against a wall but since this 'alloy's doesn't goes into a deep plastic defeformation it would be hard to test it in simple ways. It can just break by giving no significant sign.

If I knew the tensile strength I can do some calc to check a few things but we shall not forget that we are on an internet forum. for example I would not say this is safe to use with a 20kg force, eventhough the calc is straight forward. Liability is one thing, also giving companies arguments is another by making a statement.

It would be easy to find the tensile strength by testing, cost is resonable in my country and you get a local standard report with a certificate signed by a governing body.

What is acceptable by one may not be by others.
 
#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
I had a pair of pruning secateurs that had a nice chrome finish. I used them for a while without any problems, then the handle just snapped one day and gashed my thumb. When I examined them later the break was dull grey and full of voids and looked like zinc. I had only paid £1.50 for them so I just binned them and bought a B&Q set for £5.99. Hate to have had that gash in my eye.
 
#26 ·
Unfortunately you can get poor quality in any product regardless of the material. Just this morning I was putting bands on my PFS that I cut out of Baltic birch and the top layer started chipping off. Apparently there was a problem with glueing on this sheet so I will check all of the ply I have now to make sure I do not have this problem again. If it is a problem with each layer then I have some really weak wood.
 
#27 ·
Honestly Rubberpower everyone here against you continuing use of that slingshot only have your well being in mind, it is like vertical grain vs. horisontal grain both would be wood but the quality of the horisontal grained slingshot is much lower. sure it maybe be a cheap slingshot but is the product you have in a repeatable quality. It is ultimately your choice in whether you want to risk your eye sight for a cheap shooter.
 
#28 ·
I bought a slingshot for a well know maker here in the US and when it arrived it was truly a work of art. On the third pull one of the forks broke off flew past my face, snapped the band and buried itself in the wall. I sent it back and got a full refund and the maker discontinued the model. There are no guarantees in life and even the best can have one slip by. Thanks for the concern
 
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